Colin Cowherd Podcast - Shorthanded 49ers STUN Eagles, Josh Allen Is ALL-TIME Great, Caleb Looks Like Elway, SEC Dominance Is OVER - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Josh Allen is the Louisiana Hot Sauce Player
of the Week. Three hundred and six total yards, three
touchdowns In Buffalo's win over Jacksonville, the Bills got their
first road playoff win in thirty three years. The original
Louisiana Hot Sauce. I love this stuff. Perfect balance of
Pepper's vinegar, salt, wings, nachos, burgers. I put it on

(00:22):
my eggs hit any tailgate food, bold handcrafted flavor of
the original Louisiana Hot Sauce. That's Louisiana Hot.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Buy you some.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I love that line, all right. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout,
joining us four for four, four great playoff games. The
league is just fine without the Kansas City Chiefs in
the playoffs. That's the difference between the NBA in the NFL,

(00:53):
between baseball and the NFL. Mahomes Burrow, Lamar jackson Out.
Best wild card weekend I ever remember.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Four for four.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
San Francisco and a superior coaching staff beat Philadelphia twenty
three to nineteen. By the way, the Eagles went up
thirteen to seven and then they went three and out
and four of their next five drives. I thought it
was really an indictment. This is, you know, John, like
the truth eventually comes out the fact that Kyle Shanahan

(01:25):
can go into this game, lose George Kittle early, doesn't
have Warner, doesn't have Bosa, hasn't had Ayuk all year.
You go into pretty much a stack croster that you
could argue the weather favors Philadelphia. They don't like to
throw the ball, pretty throws two picks and San Francisco wins.

(01:47):
The gap between Shanahan in Sirianni, I still contend Sirianni's
a coordinator, but you know, you know what I mean,
Doug Peterson won a Super Bowl with nick Fole. Shit happens.
I thought it was so an indictment on the Philadelphia
offensive staff.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the worst
playoff losses you'll ever see. I mean, the forty nine ers,
they lose their best player with what in the first
quarter with the torn achilles, So the ramifications, the ripple
effects that has, and he's best friends with yus Jack McCaffrey.
They don't flinch. Sirianni doesn't do anything to impact the game, right,
he doesn't call the place, So it's it's it's Kevin

(02:26):
Patola and Vic Fangio against Kyle and Robert Salad, which
is a massive advantage the Eagles. You know, it's reported
this morning Lane Johnson right was gonna go and then
he couldn't go. Well, that doesn't impact this game because
the forty nine ers can't rush the passer. You know,
Charles Haley a walking through that door to me to
get two interceptions from Brock, especially the one in the

(02:47):
second half. The Niners are up by one point, they're
in full control. There's what seven eight minutes left to go.
When he throws that interception Colin against a good playoff team,
that game would be over on the road, it would.
But the Eagles, they're two interceptions. They got three points
total out of it. They can't move the ball at
the end. You can always manipulate a little bit when
you go in that two minute up tempo. Most teams

(03:09):
in the NFL move it more than they normally do.
But with that much talent on the field, and listen,
aj Brown is a fantastic talent. But if you're gonna
talk that much and hate on your quarterback that much
and make that much money, you got to come through
because listen, if the Niners lose this game, party would have,
you know, bore some responsibility. You can't turn the ball

(03:30):
over in the second half because you're in the game.
The game's weird. You got a shot, but you got
to give him credit. They got the ball back. He
drove him right down the field. He made a big run.
He made some big throws. Mental toughness right there, Colin
and great coach.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
By the way, you know, I've defended Darnold on interceptions.
Brock Perty had two today. He's still out played Jalen Hurts.
I just don't And by the way, one of Pretty's
picks was awful. The other one, you know it's windy.
I give it. I give both these quarterbacks a pass.
I mean aj Brown twice they threw the ball down
the field. He was like a center fielder that lost
it in the lights, like you know, the ball's moving.

(04:01):
He's a partner turner. Almost he can't he can't quite
get it again. Purty throws the ball down the field.
You almost have to bake in one bad pick of
Sunday for Purdy, Like that's just kind of who he is.
And that's why I always say about Arnold Matt Stafford.
He throws some really ugly picks. But I'll tell you this,
here's the thing about Purdy, it doesn't affect him. He

(04:23):
is He's not affected by interceptions because he has so
much confidence. First of all, how about the I mean
the opening here's the coaching San Francisco. The opening drive,
I mean, devastatingly brilliant. San Francisco is seven nothing. The
trick play to Jennings probably the best timing for an
over the top I mean, I'm not talking to like

(04:44):
a hook and lateral, you know, or you know, there's
some stuff in the red zone that's cute, but it's
like twelve yards. That was a big trick play. I'm
not sure you know what I thought of when I
saw that. The last time I saw trick play so
perfectly called it was Edelman Patriots Ravens. Remember that throwing
out to the flat. Edelman throws it to double pass.
I think he threw it to either Chris Hogan or.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
What it might have been.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, Like that's what it reminded me of, Like, oh
my god, that says that takes a special kind of
offensive coach, because you know, you have that thing in
the bag. You probably wanted to use it three times.
I thought between the opening drive, the trick play, and
Purty's perseverance to overcome the picks, not care about it.
It just to me it was just a masterclass in

(05:33):
winning a rough, tough, few mistake road game. That's how
you win in the NFL when you don't play perfect well.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Listen to Kyle in niner Land, right, it's a it's
an intense fan base. The expectations are high, can get criticized.
He was eight and four coming into this game in
the playoffs. Now he's nine and four, and the difference.
You know, Sirianni had a good playoff record coming into this.
But we all look at their team and go, yeah,
it's a lot of how like you watch this game,
you're like, yeah, that's Sola and Kyle with with Perty

(06:04):
and us check, DeMarcus Robinson, Colin. They're throwing the guys
number eighty one. There's not a soul in America beside
the guy's family. He has ever heard of the player.
You know, Eric Kendricks felt like was out of the
league a couple of years ago. As Brady said, they're
on their seventh eight to ninth linebackers. They have no
pass rush. They are dead last in the league, you know,
like the Jets last in the league in interceptions forty

(06:25):
nine ers are last in the league in pass rush.
But we all go, it's not really their fault. They're
just missing everybody. You know that Nick bosas third on
the team in sacks. He hasn't been on the hast
played a game in three months. So I think today
was you know, people try to argue for Sirianni and listen,
he's won a lot of games. But if you pulled
everyone in the NFL, I mean the two coaches today,

(06:45):
it ain't even close. And this was say what you
want about Kyle, and this is the thing I always respect.
We'll get into McVeigh. A lot of these young coaches,
they get pass happy solidly. These are fantastic coaches. Kyle's
old school man. He will run it even early in
the game with the Kyle call some passes. He is
he is wired much more like a guy from his
dad's era. And that plays to the playoffs. And what

(07:08):
do they do tonight? They made this game weird and
the Eagles that they've played in that game, what seventeen
times this year that they ended up winning a lot
of them. But today they got into a spot where,
like this coaching staff and Brock a lot of experience,
mental toughness. We'll talk about this. I'm sure during the
draft time upstairs. You and I have talked about this before,
just playing the position. But I thought when he threw

(07:30):
that pick, I'm like, oh my god, he's gonna but
he's not mental experience, Like that's why they like him,
you know. Even me. I was like, I'm like, they're
going to lose this game, and he drove him right
down the field.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
I mean, they also had a really bad punt that
Philadelphia got a field goal out of two interceptions. There
was every reason in the world to lose this game.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
You could have sky Moore caught a punt at the
five yard line tonight. What are you doing?

Speaker 1 (07:54):
I honestly, I will say I'm not into firing People's
not my thing. I Mean, there's times when you see
certain coaches You're like, Okay, they're totally over their skis.
Brandon Staley was about as hard as I've ever been
in a coach tom and that's not what we have here.
But I do think there's a discussion. Sirianni's barking it.

(08:14):
I mean at aj Brown, this is embarrassing. I mean
Stan Francisco walked in, and remember vict Fangio is a
respected defensive coordinator. This falls on Sirianni and the offensive staff.
I mean you and I both know that Jalen Hurts.
I mean I always laugh people in Philadelphia, they know

(08:36):
the truth. I run into Eagle fans everywhere in this
country and they're always like, you're too nice to Jalen Hurts,
And I always say, I love his intangibles. I think
he's a great kid, great at the podium, great leader, tough, resilient,
and he does throw a nice deep ball. But you
can see the limitations here. On that final drive, two
balls were almost intercepted. I mean they I thought they
were going to score. I'm like, oh my god, they

(08:57):
got that. Hurts got that huge Dallas Goddard completion, then
Devonte Smith and I'm like, oh, oh okay. San Francisco's tired.
They're at home, and then all of a sudden he
sales won. Then another one's almost intercepted. He is a
very limited If you take out the deep ball, he
is a pretty limited pocket quarterback. And brock Purty is
not Rock Purty gets banged up a lot. Brock Purty

(09:20):
can be a bit reckless. Brock's pretty damn good from
the pocket. He's pretty good in a muddy pocket.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well. And the other thing is Tom was showing that
with the wind throw it down. Well, It's like, Tom,
you're six five sixty six, so you could look down.
Brock can't, Like, he can't even attempt that to throw
it down. He's just not tall enough. But the one
thing Perdy does that Jalen just no longer does is
leans into his legs. That there were times if Jay,

(09:46):
if the Eagles wanted to win this game, Jalen should
have had fifteen carries today because the forty nine ers
never would have stopped it. They're playing with third stringers linebacker.
They're playing with the guy that probably thought he was
retired two years ago, but he doesn't want to run.
He the conversation. Forty nine er fans know a lot
about this, the Russell thing that happened, right, I want
to be a pocket quarterback, Russell. Lean into your skill,

(10:07):
your skills an all timer. You're the greatest playmaker we've
ever seen Jalen's a great playmaker, but he won't. He
just wants to play like Tom Brady in it. It
does not work, and the OC's done. I mean, he's
one thing in Philly they will not to Alright, that'll
he'll be, I'm sure fired in the next forty eight hours.
He was already in trouble. But it's you could bring
in Kellen Moore, you can bring in Shane Siken. If

(10:27):
he's not gonna move, I don't care if Walsh is
calling the offense, They're gonna have problems because look, you know,
Kyle's offense is predicated a lot on party and Pertty
has no problem. He'll take off and run. It's not like, well,
I don't I want to prove I'm a third. What
do we gotta do to win? Well, Jalen today to
beat this team, you know Saquon that they were selling
out to stop Saquon. He had some moments, but then

(10:49):
he gets banged up. Just take off, bro. They were
not gonna say Jalen. You know, unlike Lamar and Michael Vick,
these guys that were like a track star speed, Jalen
actually is much more like a Frank Gore. But his
instincts is a running back or elite when he's in
the open field, but he hates doing it. Clearly he
doesn't want to do it.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Pretty now, four of his five playoff wins are game
winning drives.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
You got to give him credit. Calm, that was all brought.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
I was saying when he threw his second pick. First
one was ugly, second one, it's windy. It's man the
man coverage. I have always defended Darnold. I remember when
Perty on a Monday night football game had three picks
against Carolina, and I said, he's not healthy. You can
tell the ball's dying. Purty's ball doesn't die. Remember he
threw those two over the middle picks. They both died,
were both behind the receiver, and I said, this isn't

(11:38):
the real Purty. Purty's ball doesn't die. He's got a
good arm. He doesn't have a great arm, but he's
got a good arm. He also was five for seven
one hundred and twenty six passer rating once they lost Kittle.
I by the way, I've seen Purty in the last
month win twice without Kittle, so that to me is growth.
They had Trent Williams, but this Shanahan has a real

(12:01):
offensive philosophy. I'll go back to Nick Sirianni. What is
his You don't see you see the coaching with Kurt Signetty.
You saw the coaching today with Kyle Shanahan. You don't
see it with Sirianni. What is he?

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well can I and how He's probably gonna get mad
at me about this, But they made a mistake. Aj
clearly wanted out. It was not going well. They should
have traded him at the trade deadline. Because one thing
that was very evident today is the forty nine Ers
guys and by the time they were, you know, halftime
of this game, it's it's you check McCaffrey's probably sixty
percent some random wide receivers. They're ten toes deep all in.

(12:39):
They are gonna go down swinging. They are all to
get Trent Williams is playing probably seventy percent with a hamstring.
It is no point. They really like each other. A. J.
Brown's like drops the balls, like whatever, you know, I'll
be gone anyway in a couple months. Anytime you bring
that in, you got him and Sirianni barking at each other.
And listen, I know Brady's like, hey, emotions, there's that's

(13:00):
different between just emotions players. These two. This whole thing
now John.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Two years, get him out of here. Defonte's Smith is
the number one. Goddard is one of the top six
tight ends in the game. Saque, this is a team
that doesn't need a number one. They've got one. Infante's
a low one. AJ's a higher one. But I think
what bothered me was the effort, you know, because AJ
Brown complains a lot, and he had that ball that

(13:28):
he kind of lost, so they went back to him
and he did it again. And that's when Sirianni raced
down it as if to say, bro, you are barking
a lot. We threw you ball twice. You wentz for
two and those are catchable balls.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
That thing, that thing just catches up to you, you know.
And I think today was very, very evident about the
fractures internally, because the one thing you say, their defense
is really good. I mean the defense took a trick play.
I mean it took you know, their offense just going
three and out punting constantly. Their defense was fine. They
had a defense so that you could win a super
Bowl with. They feel like the crappiest talented offense I've

(14:04):
ever seen, because there's no disputing the talent they have
on the offense, right, I mean, it's it's really hard
to watch, but they don't have a coach, the play caller.
First time Colin plays just completely outmatched. You saw Robert
Sala who I mean, it sucks for forty nine of people.
He's probably gonna get a had job. You know. I
think that his Jets tenure felt like an age better

(14:25):
with every game they played. You know Sam Darnold too.
I just think that that was that was one of
the best Kyle Shanahan jobs you'll you'll ever see. They
had one against Green Bay, remember in a cold game
against Aaron Rodgers. He had won the MVP and they
blocked a punt. But that team was much better. This
team had no business that they would have probably been

(14:47):
in a game against Carolina like let alone the talent
of that Eagle team on the road in the in
the under the lights, that first grade of a win
is this for Kyle and the forty nine ers, and
it is. That's one of the worst ploff losses you'll
ever see. It really is fact.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
During the tire Sirianni preaches, win the turnover battle. You're
at home, you win the turnover battle. I mean, think
about that, George.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
You get a second half intercept.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
George Kittle gets hurt, the Niners have a twenty seven
yard punt, everything lined up, and you still couldn't win.
And again, I'll say it, when you watch great coaching,
you can see the coaching through the television. Vic Fangio's coaching,
I can see Brian I can see Brian Flores coaching defensively,

(15:33):
hyper aggressive. I have no idea what the Eagles offensive
philosophy is. That's why they are so coordinator dependent. Like
McVeigh and Shanahan, Andy Reider not coordinator dependent. Harbor, his
career hasn't been coordinated dependent. Nick Serreanni is completely utterly

(15:53):
coordinator dependent. And in the end, twenty three to nineteen
Niners win. Uh. By the way, so.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
I got one for you really quick, Colin. I mean,
if you were a Philly you know he worked from
nineteen ninety eight to two thousand and seven for the
Philadelphia Eagles, would you be very interested in John Harbaugh
because he's just a way better guy.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, But I don't know if Howie Roseman wants somebody
that has that much personality, culture and power, like Howie
struggled with Chip Kelly. Remember he battled with Chip because
Chip sees the world differently. Harbaugh's not coming in and
having and having a GM that makes all the calls that.

(16:33):
I think he'd be great, but I don't think he works.
Kevin Stefanski. I would who doesn't have any interest in
the personnel, like and Andy Reid, like he he's very
respectful of the position. Stefanski wants to coach. Oh, I
could see Stefanski going there in a heartbeat.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
They already got the defense set up, you got the
defensive coordinator under contract, you got the players, you got
players on offense. I think, listen, the OC has been
a polarizing individual. Wall Sea's long. I think this Sirianni
thing will get loud here in the next mes philadelph
the way, it's what makes.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Forty nine ers. Now we'll go to Seattle. Seattle is
a six and a half point favorite according to hard
Rock Bet. The Rams will be a four and a
half point favorite at the Bears. Uh. I don't know.
I think I would.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
You said Rams are a four and a half point
my favorite COG.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
I think I would probably take both dogs. I would
take the Niners plus six and a half to keep
it close, although you can prepare now knowing Kittle's not
going to play that hurts. Also, also, this is a
really physical game. Just let's just wait for injuries on
San Francisco Bears plus four and a half. I'm telling you,
Soldier Fields twenty six miles from my house. It's like

(17:46):
I could hear the place at the end of that game.
That place was wild. Four and a half is a
lot of points. It's going to be really cold and
crappy weather. Yeah, yeah, I think I like thee.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Like the Angels and the football gods are just hanging
out in Chicago this year, So I wouldn't touch the
Bears at this point. The Niners, you know, Chicago. I
would say the thing about Chicago and the forty nine Ers,
their seasons were both validated Saturday night and Sunday afternoon,
Sunday night, like this, they're playing with house money. The
thing you would say with Chicago, they just still have

(18:20):
more firepower, you know, dressing out on game day, so
you can never count them out because offensively, I mean
Lovelin looked like Kelsey in his prime. The other receivers
they have, I mean, Caleb's magic. It does feel like
the forty nine ers. It's gonna be hard to not
be out of gas after losing George Kittle, who really
is the heartbeat of the operation. He's so good. Terror's Achilles.

(18:44):
I'd be it's a pretty good spot for Seattle. You
just killed them. I think you'll get some fight, but
I would imagine that's not gonna be a nice weather
game Seattle mid January, and I don't know, they don't
have the game time to do that. No, not ye.
I would say that's a pretty good draw. I'm sure
we'll get into the Rams. But you know this might
open up a little bit for the Rams. You get

(19:04):
the Eagles defense out of there. You know, you get
a lineup if they can take care of Chicago, which
is going to be difficult with a matchup with the
team they know very well in Seattle. So they got
life after yesterday. God, they looked weird.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
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(20:45):
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Buffalo Bills twenty seven, Jaguars twenty four. By the way,
Josh Allen, while trailing today, went fourteen of sixteen with
one hundred and thirty three passer rating and three total touchdowns.

(21:07):
You know, Josh Allen was ninety percent of the bill's
yards lebron Esque five for five and sixty five of
sixty six total yards on the game winning drive. You know,
playing from behind on the road, being totally dependent on
one guy isn't a recipe for success. You know, somebody

(21:27):
had said it, whoever won that game is going to win,
is going to win the AFC. I don't believe. I mean, listen,
Josh Allens is as good a football player if I've
ever seen in my life. I mean, I'll just say
that he's as good a football player in the history
of the game I put him. I think he's better
than Elway. I think he's better than Marino. I think
he's I think he's more talented than Mahomes. I just

(21:50):
don't know how long forget a superhero. He's like Zeus,
He's like a god among gods. Like it's just a
different level of player. What was your big take? I mean,
by the way he got checked for concussion, he twisted
his knee, so he was not playing in one hundred percent,
and yet he wins in Jacksonville. What'd you make of it?

Speaker 2 (22:07):
I thought, you, like everyone, he was remarkable. That that
was the Jags are really good, like really good. Now,
the quarterback was a little shaky, and that was a
big difference in the game. I thought, I mean, Josh
dominated the game. The Cook, who is you know, one
of the better non quarterback offensive players in the league,
had forty six yards on the ground. But part of

(22:28):
that's Jacksonville. It's hard to run against them. I just
thought Buffalo all their chips going into this game were
on him being a plus, and he was. His stats
don't even do him justice, right, this is the one
touchdown in the air he ran for two. But the
Toush pushes which bit them in the you know what
against the Chiefs, right, And they were mentioned this on

(22:49):
the broadcast. They told Dance Spagnola last year he likes
to go left on the Toush push. They knew it
was coming and he was just getting I mean the
one that went almost ten years parts. I don't know
where you stood. But when they had a minute left
and the Jags only had one time out, I probably
would have melt it and ran that thing down to
like twenty five seconds and then tried to just three
touch pushes because they had the timeouts. Their kicker in

(23:11):
Jacksonville can kick it from like eighty yards. The Bills
defense is obviously they made a great play but I
thought that was pretty bold just to score that fast.
But yeah, I mean I thought, you know, Jokic, it's
much more of an NBA operation, Steph Curry, Lebron, Kobe
in his prime, just a guy that's completely unstopable. You
don't really see that. I mean though, right because Peyton

(23:32):
Manning or Tom Brady's team were much more balanced, that's
not the case.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
The Bears did it, and we'll get to them in
a minute. But the Bears scored very, very quickly, and
so I think sometimes in these playoff games, I mean,
Jacksonville doesn't get to the playoffs much. They just want
the points. You know, They're just gonna take the points.
Chicago didn't get to the playoffs much. They're facing Green Bay.
If we can take a touchdown. That's what Lincoln Riley
said when they took the lead on Illinois. It's like,
we're on the road, I'm gonna take We're gonna go

(23:55):
for the touchdown. So I'll never rip a staff for
doing that. Like sometimes you're like, guys, this is foreign territory.
I'm not like I thought Ben Johnson got too cute
in his coaching. I think Liam Curry's like let's just
get in the end zone. Let's not worry about it.
If they beat us like that, then then we lost
to an all time great. You know when it's funny

(24:19):
about Buffalo. So like I didn't think Jacksonville played poorly,
they did get beat by the Rams soundly earlier this year.
Jacksonville's one of those teams, and I really failed to
buy into them all year until the last two weeks
when they beat Denver. I was like, Okay, I can't
deny this. Do we take something from this because they

(24:42):
they were Buffalo was a favorite in this game, and
I didn't get the line. I said, I don't understand
the line. I think it should be like I think,
I think Jacksonville should be like a three point favorite,
not a point and a half dog. Like I thought
the line was four points off.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
But I think I think it flipped by kickoff. I
think it was like JAG's bos one. So I think
a bunch of money came in on Buffalo over the.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Course of the I did think early in the game,
Sean McDermot and his staff I could see the plan,
like I thought they came and energized because they'd struggled
all year. As a first half team. But I watched
the first half and I was like, I kind of
felt like I was watching the plan and I was like, okay,

(25:23):
because my fear all week. I was like, oh, I
could see it being twenty one to three and Jacksonville
just coming out home playoff game. Buffalo's a slow starting team.
But I thought Buffalo's first half it's not just the
end of the game. I thought they'd played a really
strong first half. It was imperfect, but you know, I
said all year long, I don't trust Jacksonville. They're just released,

(25:47):
they're squirrely. I don't trust them. Did you feel like
it was like are you disappointed with the Jags or
do you feel like you know it's just the first
Liam Cohen step and this is it's always been about
and playoff football.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Well, their team is really talented, but their quarterback had
been lights out the last two months of the season.
I mean he had been in December. He was There
was not a hotter team coming into the NFL, and
he was a massive part of it. Today, I thought
he was all over the map. I mean, obviously he
made some nice passes, but there were passes he was

(26:23):
putting it into Harm's way constantly. There was a gap.
This happens in the NBA series. A lot right. Pick
the team with the best player is usually the old
adage when gambling on a playoff series in the NBA.
That was kind of my logic in this game, because
I think if you reverse the quarterbacks and push Josh
Allen on the Jags, Jags would win this thing, like
thirty five to ten. They would kill them. It would

(26:44):
if you told me Josh Allen's on the Jags roster.
I think the Jags would cruise some Super Bowl in
the AFC. And Trevor had like taken the step and
been like, Okay, this is the guy that we had
kind of anointed. They gave two hundred million dollars to
last year, and today I thought, actually they got a
little pass half. I get when McVeigh does it. It's
like I don't always agree, but it's like he's got Stafford,

(27:05):
he leans on him, okay, or Andy, he's got Mahomesy.
Like Trevor was shaky, you were. They were running it
for over six yards of Carrie etn a ten carries
for almost seventy yards. John the Twutin guy had four
carries for fifty yards. He was and his longest run
was twenty, so it's not like he had a forty
yard run. They were having. The Bills are not. They
have a lot of guys on defense beside their d

(27:25):
line's good, but their safeties and linebackers aren't exactly you know,
John Lynch and ray Lewis, so you can push. That's
the thing with Baltimore when they lost him last year,
It's like, how did you guys not just lean on them?
When you get pass happy in the NFL, look at
the diners. Weird things can happen. dB can kind of
stay in your hip pocket, a ball gets tipped, the
ball's picked, and I thought, you know Liam Cohen, I

(27:47):
understand his quarterback had a bunch of momentum, but you
can feel it out in the game, like, hey, Trevor's
a little off. And the other thing that benefited Buffalo
is you watch Chicago, you watch Philly were it's freezing cold.
I mean people were in the pool. There benefit Josh
Allen to play in a seventy degree day. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
And the other thing is when I look at that game,
is that like I love Parker Washington. I mean the
fact that he was a sixth round pick. There's so
much talent in this league. Kittle's a fifth round pick,
Parker Washington is six. I think brock Perty's a seventh.
I think Jennings is a six or a seventh for
the forty nine ers. There's so much damn talent in
the NFL. I mean, there's so much talent just spread

(28:23):
across the world. Parker Washington is I'm trying to think
of the great ab was a sixth round draft pick,
the great mel Gray was a sixth round draft pick.
Parker Washington sixth round draft Like, there's been great players
in the sixth round at wide receiver, and that's a
position there's just a lot of, you know, especially in
the last ten years. But when I look at Trevor

(28:44):
Lawrence Is, I think it was one of those things.
He was so good as a freshman at Clemson, beating Alabama.
He was so good in high school, he was so
good in college that I think I always just put
him in this elite Andrew Luck class, and when I
watch him play, I think he's really good. He's not
a great talent. He's a good quarterback. His arm is good.

(29:05):
It's not great. His athletic ability is good, it's not
it's it's not like a plus plus. I think he's
a good quarterback, but I think I've just overvalued him
because I liked him so much in college. I was
I mean, you beat Nick Saban and the Dynasty as a
freshman and you're like key to the game. It's like,
I just couldn't unsee that, and I just for years.

(29:27):
And it's funny because Greg Cosell very early came on
my show. It was like year two of Josh Allen
and he goes, Trevor Lawrence is not close to Josh Allen.
He goes, I'm just telling you what the tape says.
Josh Allen is going to be so much better. And
I'm like, really, okay, Well, I mean Trevor's banged up,
and I think I've just always overvalued Trevor, who is

(29:48):
a good quarterback, but he's not. You watch Caleb Williams
on a couple of those throws. That fourth and eight
throw with five forty left by Caleb Williams is one
of the best throws I've ever seen in a football
game by a quarterback, a right hander throwing moving left.
I'm just watching him like I don't even know what
that and then they show it from behind Caleb and

(30:08):
you're like, what the hell did he see? Like how
did he do that?

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Well, there are three guys. There are three guys in
the league that could have pulled that off, obviously Caleb,
Josh and Justin Herbert. And now looking back, Josh and
Justin Herbert, I think we'd all agree are just pure
talent wise, as talented as any human beings that have
played in this league. When you talk about size, speed
and arm, you know, velocity. Thing with Trevor Lawrence, he's
much closer to the to the Manning crew in terms

(30:34):
of arm strength Philip Rivers in his prime, but he's
not that accurate. He's not mister Accuracy. So like part
of it is like he was with this great prospect
like Luck or Peyton Manning, because that was the buzz
when he was coming out. But part Luck had a
better arm and was much more of a physical player.
You know, Trevor has some times when he's running he

(30:54):
gets tackled, like he goes down. You know, Josh gets
tackled he's flying forward. But I'm looking this, he threw
sixty percent and I think Brady and Peyton Mannaby the
first to tell you, like, do you watch this league now,
if you're not in the high sixties with the rules
on your side, that's a problem in an offensive oriented league,
and that they're pretty loaded offensively with talent. So I listen,

(31:16):
he's much improved. I think the thing that you have
to be excited for if you're Jacksonville, you know I
had him in like that to a world like this
guy making a lot of money, he's you can win
with him if you build the team. But like I
A'm betting on this guy in a playoff game when
he's playing Josh Allen or Jill Burrow or Lamar Jackson
because there's a gap there that.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, he's not an effort, he's not a first tier guy,
and that's okay. He's not justin Herbert. I don't think
he's c J. Stroud. C J. Stroud's accurate, like like Trevor's.
I think to your point, his delivery is a little long.
I just don't think he's a terribly accurate thrower. And
by the way, either is Caleb. But Caleb gives you
so much horsepower that you can't I mean I've said this,

(31:56):
and let's just go to that game. Chicago thirty one,
Green Bay twenty seven, nine hundred total yards is and
I said this after the game, I did like a
YouTube hit and I said, you know the boxes that
Lway checked, durable, unbelievable in the fourth quarter, huge arm.

(32:17):
We'll throw some picks, but not that many. You never
really looked at him as he was accurate, but that
wasn't his game. His game was durable, tough, smart, great
in the fourth, doesn't get hurt, doesn't throw picks in
the big spots late in games. That's kind of Caleb
Williams like, I know, you know Green Bay fans all

(32:39):
want to fire Matt Lafleur. But the truth is Green
Bay fans were a little delusional John with Farvan Aaron Rodgers.
Between those two for thirty years they got They got
two Super Bowls and only three trips. They don't get
free agents, they don't pay like other teams often do

(32:59):
for core coordinators. When you don't have an owner, you
can't make those decisions on the tarmac like Stan Kronky
can make. And when I look at green Bay once
they lose Michael Parsons it's okay, but they lost also
Kenny Clark and Micah Parsons because Kenny Clark in the
trade of Dallas and at the end of that game.
You know this, John, By the time you get to
the end of a playoff game, it's three and a
half hours of football. Your defense usually isn't at its best.

(33:22):
Those big uglies up front are tired. And Caleb Williams
had a little extra time. He moved out of the
pocket four or five times, and he just those guys
are tired. These are three hundred and thirty pound guys,
and so I mean, everybody, everybody wants to pile on.
But I think what the Bears did Saturday, John, this
is what they are. They've done this like six times.
This is what they are.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, I mean, listen, you've been talking about this. I
talked about it last night on the podcast. Is you
know Caleb part of when you discuss the draft prospect
and you talk ceiling. He has one of the great
arms we've ever seen. He's one of the great playmakers
we've ever seen. Physically, his ability to move is elite.
I'm talking behind the line of scrimmage, move and run.

(34:06):
Jordan Love was a first round pick at the end
of the first round. You know, Jordan Love is I
think Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins good player, solid, but
his physical skills and he was a project once upon
a time. They're okay. He's got solid arm, pretty accurate
when he's in rhythm, can kind of move. Definitely not
the best athlete in his own quarterback room. Right, So
it's he's fine, but like you saw, the physical gifts

(34:27):
like both that both those two teams. Shit was kind
of hitting the fan. You need to make some stuff happen.
And one thing, Caleb, why you can't really nitpick on
the accuracy right now and listen, he's been inaccurate a
little bit, right, some balls are flying. He makes up
for it with these huge plays and obviously the play
might be played the year so far on that four
and eight, I mean save their season, right, twenty seven

(34:49):
to sixteen. For the eight, he throws it over. When
you really watch it in slow motion, there are three
guys in yellow right in front of him. One guy,
but you have to put it like layer the throw,
it's crazy. That's one of the great throws you've ever seen.
But so many other plays as the game went on,
he kind of gets rolling. You've been saying he's a
momentum player. Well, his momentum with this talent is unstoppable.

(35:09):
Like Trevor Lawrence's momentum player too, but he can only
do so much. When Josh Allen gets momentum, Holy you
know what, the avalanche is coming and there is no
stopping it. And the thing with the Bears, even unlike
the Bills, like Lovelin has a chance to be an
elite player in the NFL. DJ Moore had some drops,
but he's been a high level NFL player now for

(35:30):
what five six years. Roman Dunes was a top ten pick.
They got DeAndre Swift had the best year of his career.
The other running back seventh round pick, has been fantastic.
I mean, they got so much talent and they got
great guard center guard for smaller, shorter quarterback. Big picture,
I think they did lose their left tackle though at
the end of the game something, so that's not ideal.

(35:53):
But luckily, this is the thing with the Josh Allens,
the Calybs, even perty they've had, you gotta be able
to move. Jordan Love doesn't. Really, He's not a bad athlete.
But he's much closer to me, to like thirty five
year old Dak Prescott than he is to these mobile quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
The other thing is the first half is a coaching half.
To me, the second half you do need players to
make plays because you're off the script. The first half,
green Bay dominated, so don't blame Matt Lafleur. That was
basically when Jordan Love was in rhythm, on script, on
game plan. Jordan Love was rerealty good. In the second half.
Ben Johnson overthought the first half, a little desperate on

(36:29):
the going for it deep in his own territory. But
in the second half, that's a player's half. That's a
Josh Allen half. That's where Caleb Williams is shined. That's
where John Elway shined. That is not a knock on
Ben Johnson, but I thought Matt Lafleur won the first half, okay,
the second half is okay, quarterback versus quarterback. The gap
between Caleb and Jordan Love was substantial, Like it was.

(36:52):
It was a cleanup hitter and a six hitter like
it was like wow, And I actually thought Ben Johns
and got out coached, And that has not happened a
lot this year. I thought I thought the first two
two and a half quarters, I thought I thought Matt
Lafleur did a good job. But I do think ask
yourself people right now, and I guess the Bears are

(37:14):
more the topic than the Packers. But would would would
Matt Leaflor get a job instantly? Yes, despite blowing a
twenty one to three lead, he'd get a job in
forty eight hours. Be very careful. Green Bay far got
one Super Bowl title, Aaron Rodgers got one. And by
the way, the NFC is much better now than three
years ago. It's real. Okay, the Detroit Lions team that
beat Aaron Rodgers, remember that game when they when they

(37:37):
had a chance to win and go to the playoff. Yeah,
Detroit's gonna land Mike McDaniel at coordinator. They're going to
be back. Chicago's for real. The Rams are going nowhere.
Philadelphia is going to get a legit coach or an
offensive coordinator. So it's like, take a deep breath, green Bay,
don't pull a Cleveland fire Stefanski, and Stefanski's the leading
candidate for half his jobs. Chicago now will face the Rams.

(38:01):
So the Rams. Here's the good news for Chicago Matt Stafford,
especially on the road, he'll throw an ugly pick. Their
special teams are a liability every other game, like also
Luther Burden, Roma Dunze, Colston Lovelin. I don't love the corners.
I think the Rams safeties are pretty good. I think

(38:22):
their corners are. It's probably gonna be their first or
second draft pick. I think Chicago's got a fighter's chance
in this game, I really do. I think the Rams
are really good. I mean, Puka was we'll get to
that and say unstoppable. But I think the Bears match
up okay against the Rams at home.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah. The one thing Sean mcvayh will do that, you know,
Lafour tried to run the clock out in the second
half kind of he's in full and they couldn't. And
Dennis Allen deserves and the players deserve a lot of credit.
They just I don't know how many Josh Jay yards
he ran for minus the kickoff return, but had to
be under twenty. He had nowhere to go. Sean McVay
won't care. He wants to pass and sometimes he will

(39:00):
lean on Stafford too much. But the Bears dbs are
pretty bad right now, right Jalen Johnson.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
They also lost the linebacker. They lost an edge guy,
So it's like, oh, brother, now.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Who's the hard and soul of the defense. From a
from a leadership standpoint call on the defense. They lose
their left tackle, which is not ideal, you know, against
a team with some good passage. Yeah, listen, the Rams
went through a weird stretch yesterday. I mean they look
like the team that for a couple of quarters against Arizona.
You're like Sean McVay had to look on his face

(39:31):
like I might just go to Amazon here in a week.
What are we doing guys? Like this is but where
you can take advantage of Chicago is those widers. I
mean Puka, I don't think we've ever seen a receiver
quite that plays like him, and DeVante is a pretty
special number two. Their tight ends, I'll catch the ball. Well,
they got multiple running backs and can catch the ball.
He can call screens. This is a more buttoned up

(39:54):
unit than Green Bay. But like it's not like you
get the Rams coming in with a ton of momentum.
I kind of came away from that team. It's like, yeah,
I can see the Rams winning the NFC. I could
also see them losing to anybody, and like you said,
it's gonna be a freezing cold thing. Here's that this
fan base, Like there aren't that many Luca Jacksonville to day,
it just looked like a j hum NFL random October Sunday.

(40:18):
The Bears game feels like LSU at night, Like it
feels like something pretty, which is cool in this day
and age where you get online everyone hates each other,
like everyone coming together. I can't even imagine the experience
of those people walking out the stadium all going to
bars after. It had to be like a religious experience
being at that game against that team, so that the
crowd is gonna be I would put it against anyone

(40:40):
because they have nothing to go back on, like at
least seattles, like a lot of the season ticket holders
have seen super Bowl level teams like this Bear's team.
I mean, this is like Caleb didn't even get four
thousand yards. He's still throw for more yards than any
guy in the history of the franchise right this season.
So I just think that environment, Like you can tell
Eagles fans, I don't think they like this team because
they didn't trust Sirianni. They didn't trust Jalen Hurts the

(41:03):
Bear's team. I just think that environment is going to
be pretty special come next week. That is not an
easy place to.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Play, doesn't Watching football without food just feel, you know wrong.
Have you ever tried it? It's weird, like you're missing
part of the experience. The game is still great, but
I don't know something's off. Luckily, you can prevent this
from ever happening with Uber eats.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
Just open the app.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Get great game day deals all season. I got fries,
chicken McNuggets, two orders barbecue sauce today. When you buy
one on uber eats right now ten piece chicken McNuggets,
you get another ten piece free. That's twenty crispy golden
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And they were delivered straight to my door. And as
the official on demand food delivery partner of the NFL,

(41:51):
Uber Eats keeps the deals rolling all season long. Burgers, chips, dips, tacos, pizza,
whatever you crave. So don't make the mistake of watching
without food.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
It's weird.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Get some McDonald's McNuggets, your favorite sauces on uber eats today.
Terms apply. I see the app for details. Picking your
favorite sauce is like trying to pick your fantasy team.
You know, here's another advantage the Bears will have. I
was thinking about this today, is that you know, there's

(42:20):
not many pocket only quarterbacks left because Pretty actually really
moves exceptionally well.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
He really does.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Pretty really moves. He's a real athlete. Jared Goff and Stafford,
you and I talked about this could have been last week.
If the initial play doesn't work for the Rams, it's over.
And sometimes Matt will uncork a really bad throw. You
go look at the last two drives for the Bears.
John If the play doesn't work, you have a separate play.

(42:48):
Caleb Williams just you know, Romadunze, Luther Burden, Colston Lovin.
The Bears are young. Those guys are all young. They
haven't dealt with NFL injuries. I mean, Burden's a rookie.
Loveland Roma duns it, dude, there. They got kids out there.
Those guys are high energy guys, and it kind of

(43:10):
turns into a seven on seven drill when the play
breaks down. So you get Ben Johnson's play design and
play calling. Oh it doesn't work, Okay, we have a
second play. The Rams have a play, and if it
doesn't work, that's the end of the play. And so
four and a half points at home with that Ram secondary.

(43:32):
I just I mean, I watched Josh Allen today and
then I watched Caleb Williams last night, and I think
you and I know this. It feels like the Rams
peaked about six weeks ago. They're just not quite tight.
They had an injury, Kevin Dohnson didn't play, so they
had a couple of mistakes on the offensive line. They
just didn't feel I mean, I was sitting there at

(43:54):
one point thinking Caroline is going to beat the Rams twice.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
I don't understand the league.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
I don't even understand it.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Same I. They just aren't as dominant as a pass rush.
I think as we thought they were going to be.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
I mean, the I want to talk about this.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
He's not He's not the most mobile guy. And even
he got away, Caleb's a completely thirty.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Four to thirty one Rams do beat Carolina. So I
keep hearing about Chris Shula. Oh boy, this is remember
when Brandon Staley was there? Oh this this this stay guy.
And I keep saying guys raheem Morris, Oh he was
around McVeigh. This guy's magic. Now he's fired again. I
keep hearing about Chrishula. Carolina went four for four in

(44:35):
the red zone Carolina. There were multiple times Carolina on
third down made huge plays. It's like, I got nothing
against Chrishula. But I felt all year that the Rams
pass rush has kind of underachieved.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
I just I don't.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
I have a hard time watching the Rams defense and
seeing the great coaching. I see the talent Young, Verse,
Kobe Turner, Buonaford, I see the talent now an offense
with McVeigh, I see the coaching, But this defense, to me,

(45:14):
feels like it should be a little now. It was
very good on the final drive when they could pin
their ears back and Bryce Young was under duressed. And
you're like, okay, but that it should look like that
during the first, second and third quarters more often, is
my point.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
You know one thing that stood out to me in
a couple of weeks ago, they when they lost to
Atlanta on Monday Night. Aikman mentioned something on that broadcast.
He said that McVeigh called Verse into his office because
he wanted to show him that he's playing well even
though he doesn't have that much to show for it.
To me, that show is like you know, I mean,
I was like, well, not that there's fractures internally, but

(45:50):
this guy was supposed to be one of the next,
I don't know, the next Khalil Mack. I would have
bet on him to take a huge step and be
one of the most dominant players in the league after
last year. And you just watched these games and you
don't feel his specific presence, and you know, sometimes power
guys they just I don't know. I thought his power
was just so overwhelming it wouldn't matter. But they are
going if they're gonna win the NFC these next couple

(46:12):
weeks against two, you know, it's gonna be really hard
for the Niners to win, but probably against Sam Darnold
and obviously Caleb Williams, they're gonna have to just get
constant pressure and it's gonna have to start with him,
like he's got to take over these games. And you're
watching Carolina now, listen, McMillan's really talented player. That Cocher
kids playing out of his mind. Laget was a high pick.

(46:35):
I mean they got down absolutely, but if you got Rice,
he should fold. He's not very big and they couldn't
get around him and he was just making plays. So
I'm kind of out on the Rams just because something's
just off. I can't put my finger on it. But
you know, when you watch it, you go, I don't know,
something weird because that the way the game started. You
think they're gonna win this thing thirty to ten, and

(46:56):
they're up seventeen to seven driving, he goes for it,
doesn't get it. They come back score and up until
the last like five minutes of the game, they were
kind of against the ropes, way too much against a
team that listen, give give hat tip to Carolina for fighting,
but they should not be able to hold it within three. Again,
the Rams were didn't have points.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Yeah, and again Rico doubt ol tea Mac. They've got
some offensive talent and Bryce Young. Here's my question, what
do you do with Bryce Young? I mean, he's good
enough to win that division, He's not good enough to
win a lot of divisions. I feel like he's he
would be one of those great bridge quarterbacks. He's a
little small for me, it's about five to eleven. He

(47:36):
did not have a big arm. He moves exceptionally well.
The players like him he's supposed to be. He's really
a good kid, like he's all in. I don't know
what to do with him. I think if you're Carolina,
if it was a great quarterback class, maybe that solves it.
It's not. So my take is, do you just extend him,
try to get a team friendly? What do you do?

Speaker 2 (47:56):
I think Schefter said they're picking up his fifth year option.
I did the math. It will work out to about
two years, thirty two million dollars. So I'm not into
giving him one of those two Jordan Love extensions. But
Daniel Jones got fifteen million dollars this offseason, so essentially,
you're buying two years of bridge quarterback play while you
keep figuring it out. They do have some talent on

(48:17):
their team. Six weeks ago, I would have been like that,
it's insane. You watch him down the stretch, you go
listen if you could do way worse. You clearly like him.
Figure it out as you go. But I don't think
you can ever give him one of those big contracts.
He's just not It's hard to play in the league
at five ten a buck eighty. You know, when you
don't have a great army, you're not that mobile. He's
actually really impressive what he's even able to do. I mean,

(48:39):
he was a huge recruit, goes to Alabama, played well.
He's a pretty remarkable story when you just look at
how good he is with his size. I don't think
we'll ever see that again, do you a guy that's
small get drafted that high and just be a starter
in the league for as long as he's gonna be.
It's it's kind of an outlier situation, but I think financially,
I have a hard time ever seeing him getting a
massive contract.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Feel very much a mid thirties a Baker a Darnold contract.
Darnold at this point is underpaid, regardless of what you
think of him. No, I'm with you. I think you
know again, I think the Bears have a real shot
against the Rams, I really do. I kind of agree
with you that I think Philadelphia is a little bit
or Philadelphia took a chunk out of the Niners. I

(49:23):
just don't know if the Niners. You fly all the
way back home, then you fly up to Seattle, and
Seattle sitting there now. The good news is the Niners,
you know, fresh off a win, will probably be very
good in the first couple of drives of the game,
Seattle could come out and be very rusty. I didn't
like the fact that Seattle had a bye week. They're
too young. They want to play. Those bye weeks are

(49:45):
I mean, we saw this in college football. Bye weeks
hurt teams outside of Indiana. Well, that's because it's young athletes.
Young athletes want to play. If you have an old team,
you know, like Stan Francisco this week, they'd be great
getting time off. But Philadelphia was you know, you give
somebody like that time off. I don't think Denver or
Seattle will be better necessarily. I think it makes them

(50:06):
more vulnerable. But I think over the course of a game,
I think the Niners, I think they'll just you know,
they're gonna take too many shots. That feels like a
game that San Francisco could lead like thirteen ten at
half and then Seattle just relentless athletes pressure Perdy gets
hit as a beat. All of a sudden, you look
up and it's like, okay, now it's thirty twenty and
San Francisco's out of gas with about eight minutes to go.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Well, typically in the NFL, when a team, I think
you know from a gambling standpoint. When a team gets
blown out late in the season by a team and
plays them again, the score is much closer, right, and
these guys know each other really well. I do think
Kittle's a massive blow in their run game situation that's
really really hard to overcome. But yeah, I mean, the
Niners at this point have nothing to lose. So anytime

(50:50):
you play a team, to ask Philadelphia, a team with
not much to lose at all, all the pressures on you.
Of the pie chart, one hundred percent of the pressure
day was on Philadelphia. And as the game got weird, ye,
all the forty nine ers want to do is just
keep it weird, keep it close. Same thing with Seattle.
If you're down thirteen to ten at halftime, that is
a gigantic win. I mean, you know it's it's.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
And you could see John and you could see Seattle's
game plan coming in as guys, we have the better roster,
we're at home. Yeah, it's gonna be very conservative game plan.
We're gonna win this game. You could see Mike McDonald saying, guys,
we're gonna win this game in the third quarter. Let's
not make any mistakes. So San Francisco probably comes in
pretty aggressive. Seattle comes in super conservative. So if I

(51:33):
had to bet anything, I would bet the Niners in
the first half. But I do think there's just a
wave of Seattle athleticism and youth and health, and their
roster is completely healthy. I think I think at some
point rosters when you have a good head coach Mike
McDonald's several notches above Nick Cerianni, they have good coordinators
and good culture, I think Seattle wears them out.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Not shocking really thinking about it. The NFC West, who
the one seed, the five seed, and the six seed,
are three of the four teams left, and there's a
pretty good chance, you know, if somehow the Bears football
angel doesn't show up when they play the Rams, that
it's going to be an NFC West NFC championship game,
which we've seen so many times over the last ten
to fifteen years, right going back to Harbaugh and Pete

(52:19):
Carroll through McVeigh and Shanahan. So I just think that
the travel for these teams, right, I mean, look at
the forty nine ers going to Seattle's what a couple
hour flight. I mean the Rams, that's all the one
thing I will give the Rams a little bit of
that is a you play this eight nine team, I
don't know. I've never made the flight from Lax to Charlotte,

(52:40):
but it's minimum five hours. Like it it's a long trek, right,
and George Kittle talked about this last week when they lost.
When you play these playoff games against these the forty
nine ers had a four and a half five hour
flight to go to Philadelphi. These are long trips, you know.
It's why it's such a big advantage for Seattle and Denver.
You just kind of sit there and wait so and
you let the other team get the living you know
what they beat out of them, Like even the Rams,

(53:03):
it's like, well they played, they were ten and a
half point favorite. Yeah, they had to really strain to
win that game. So it's just now sometimes use that
as momentum. We've seen the ELI teams make crazy runs
right as wild cards, and sometimes you run out of gas.
So it's no different with the Bears. Like that's they've
had a pretty crazy emotional month plus wins an law,

(53:24):
I mean that Niner loss. Then you saw them come
out really flat against the Lions, but then they came
storming back, and then last night, I just don't know
how much emotionally they can ride the world. I've never
because the Commanders didn't have as much offensive talent as
the Bears do. I feel like talents exceptional, Yeah, just

(53:44):
so it's they're much more serious. But for them to
make this one with their defenses, because it did feel
when they were down twenty one to three, you're like,
they've had a remarkable season, they have the star coach,
but you're gonna get destroyed.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Even Ben Johnson, it was Ben Johnson's coach. He was like,
I don't want to give the ball back to Green Bay.
I'm going to go for it our thirty two yard line.
I mean, that's just basically he was telling you, I'm
not giving their defense an opportunity to have a bigger
like he didn't trust his defense. Dennis Allen does deserve credit.
I thought the second half it was much more, much

(54:18):
more aggressive game plan. All Right, a couple of college thoughts.
So a week from now, on Monday. A week from Monday,
Indiana is going to be potentially the third straight Big
Ten team to win the national championship. Third straight year
an SEC team doesn't even make it and it's really interesting.
I went and looked today. Six of the seven top

(54:38):
quarterbacks next season Dante more Mayava Underwood saying Sellers sores
be the big twelve kid that goes from Cincinnati to
Texas Tech. Six of the top seven outside of Arch
Manning are non SEC quarterbacks. Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Mission
Michigan with Winningham's going to be a very good football
team immediately. They have a ton of talent. Say what

(55:00):
you want. They stocked the cupboard. So Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon,
Michigan should be top ten teams next year. USC Washington
are as talented as they have been in the last
five or six years. That Washington had a great recruiting class.
They've been good in the portal. Se just had the
number one recruiting class. So I think USC, Washington Penn

(55:22):
State are somewhere between tenth and fifteenth or sixteenth is
I was told this weekend by an agent that he said,
listen SEC coaches privately, they know it's over, like they
just know. You see, Alabama lost two stars. Now they
went to the SEC. They went to Texas Oil money.

(55:44):
But it was funny when I watched Ole Miss because
I watched Georgia this year not only lose to Ole
Miss lose Tobama once, but they could have lost to
Tennessee Florida in Auburn, like they just weren't the same team.
Is that it's in It's interesting to watch Indiana now,
and I think we have to be honest about it
because Mark Cuban just wrote a twelve or fifteen million
lar check. Indiana now is a national power. Ohio State's

(56:06):
now in national power. Oregon is not playing Indiana. If
Oregon was playing anybody else, not in Nam. Indiana, they're
a national power. Michigan with Whittingham will be a really,
really really good team, like John I think when I
look at it now and this is why the world changes.
I was watching the story on Boeing today and everybody's

(56:27):
like Boeing now in the last six months. Boeing was
a wreck. Nine months ago, it was it was just
a mess. It was completely dysfunctional. Boeing just turned it around.
You can do this in business and you can now
do it in the transfer portal. I think everybody has
to just realize right now, Indiana, between their coach and
their nil, it's a better football program than anybody in

(56:49):
the SEC. They have a better coach, and they have
easier access to massive eight figure capital annually. That is
hard to wrap your brain around. But I'm sitting there
watching Indiana and I'm like, just if you put Georgia's
uniform in Indiana, you'd be like this, this is unbelievable.

(57:09):
This is what they are now. Indiana is with signetti
and there and there and I last year they got in,
they didn't have big money, they had James Madison players
and they made the playoff. So I guess my takeaway
on all of this is Indiana is now just give
the uniforms to Ohio State. This is what they're gonna
look like every year. Right.

Speaker 2 (57:29):
Someone forwarded me a tweet from Connor Stallion's Harboz's old
guy basically saying that you know, the local car dealership
can no longer just put twenty thousand dollars in a
bag and hand into a kid, right, because the minimum
I mean you're talking you see some of the prices
on these players. I didn't know this until the other night.
Indiana has more alumni or you know, it's disputed, but
definitely top two or three than any school in the

(57:51):
country and all the other schools beside Arizona State are
all big ten. So if you just do the math,
if I have the most kids graduating for decades, I'm
just going to have a higher percentage of people that
are gonna do well and at these schools, even if
you don't like sports that much. I had friends from
high school that went to Oregon that went to Arizona,
and I wouldn't call them like sports diehards. They're very

(58:13):
passionate about their school. And when Arizona or Oregon, when
these schools make runs in basketball or football, they are
bound by that school. And like, that's a huge advantage
for Ohio State. For Michigan the size of their alumni base,
and let's face it, like how many billionaires are SEC
graduates now, that could change. You know, their application base

(58:36):
has dramatically grown over the last but those guys are
thirty twenty eight. It's gonna take some time.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Shoes Number one booster is a personal injury attorney. Well,
you can't compete with Larry Ellison at Michigan and Mark Cuban,
the biggest Georgia booster rest in piece. He was a
beloved guy. He was a bourbon distributor. Again, awesome career.
But you're talking about now big ten schools. This is
something I talked about three years ago. Car dealer. A

(59:05):
big car dealer is a number one or number two
guy in the SEC that is not that guy's number eight,
number ten in these Michigan and Notre Dame have endowments
that are top ten in the country. There's just billionaires
everywhere in USC right now. Forget the fact they get
the ninety million dollar check. They're building a three hundred
million dollar facility. They're buying the best class in the country.

(59:26):
They have more money than they know.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
What to do with. Well, why do you think Cal
at Stanford hired Andrew Luck and Ron Rivera? I think
Cal has more billionaires than any other school in America
because if they hired John Middlecoff to be the GM
of Cal football, that guy I'm not going to pick
up my phone call if Ron Rivera calls, not only
we pick it up, Hey, come down to Google and

(59:48):
have lunch with me. Right, Andrew Luck's getting all these
guys to pick up So these schools. I'm just talking
Cal in Stanford. So think of the advantage they have
over every SEC. Program. So if they can get money in,
they immediately can compete with those schools that like. That's
Texas's big advantage. I think I saw Stuart Mandel or
someone said that by all signs point to them having

(01:00:10):
a forty plus million dollar roster. They have unlimited money.
Same thing with Texas Tech. The Texas Tech quarterback that
they just signed, they had to pay Cincinnati a million
dollar buyout to get his services. He had a buyout
plus in this country, so they gave him five million
dollars and they gave Cincinnati or the nil or however
it worked out a million dollars. Well, they can do
it because they got the billionaire guy who is all in.

(01:00:31):
And honestly, I've seen some of their I saw this
interview on Instagram with this guy going around at a
Texas Tech away game, and a lot of their boosters
are oil guys, are very successful individuals.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Texas Tech, Texas, Texas A, and M. It's Texas. But
Texas is a massive economy, so at big time if
you I mean, Texas Tech has far greater money than
anybody in the SEC not called Texas and Texas A
and M Alabama just lost just I think it was
a star running back. They lost. Over the course of

(01:01:03):
the weekend. They thought they had him. He committed, Texas
came in Boom will take him. So, I mean, what
would the SEC be now? Without Texas and Texas A and
m they'd be.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
The Big twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
They can't compete.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Yeah, when Greg Byrne put out the tweet kind of
begging for money a year ago, you knew, like, WHOA,
that's crazy, pretty crazy. I mean, that's can you imagine
that all of these other programs doing it. But I
don't even blame it. He probably feels desperate. What else
is he gonna do? Put a Venmo account? Link it
to hell.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
Two other schools that are loaded, Notre Dame and Miami
from the ACC. So they they are. So it's not
just you know, three or four Big ten teams. It's
Texas Tech, it's Miami, it's Notre Dame. So, I mean,
there's so many great high school programs and coaches and

(01:01:51):
players in the big in the SEC footprint. They're always
going to have their players. But I was told this
weekend by somebody, this is this is this isbody that
is in He's like an agent for I mean, he
had a big weekend this weekend with a couple of players.
I can't tell you who they are, but there's a
wide receiver that plays in the ACC that's going to

(01:02:12):
get paid by a Big ten team and it's a
lot of money. And I can't disclose the player or
the money, but he's in this world. And it's like,
there's so much money in the Big ten right now.
There is so much money, all right, John Middlecoff, former
NFL scout three and Out go crush that. Let's go
watch the Patriots. Chargers.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
We got we got Netflix starting tomorrow, Colin so with
the the three and Out podcast will be on Netflix
starting tomorrow. So we're rocking and rolling. A lot of
people have asked, I will This doesn't change at all
with me and you and doesn't change anything from the audio.
But Netflix, we're rocking and rolling tomorrow. So uh, come
a long way here, let's keep it wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
I'll be watching all right, the hard rock pick John.
I think I'm gonna take the Steelers at home Mike
Tomlin on Monday Night minus three. What I worry about
Houston as they settled for a lot of field goals
in the red zone, and you know, I love C. J. Stroud,
but between Gainwell Friarmouth, Jalen Warrens had a really interesting year.

(01:03:11):
DK metcalf is back. It's Aaron Rodgers at home. He's
not making a lot of mistakes. Tomlin is a dog.
I think I'm gonna take the Steelers plus three. I didn't.
I've been saying all year how dangerous Houston is, but
I can't. I can't unsee that second half of the
Steelers over the Ravens. I think I like Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Yeah, this was a Disney movie. I would take Aaron Rodgers,
but it's not. I like the Houston Texas. I like
him so Rogers had a hell of a career. I
think it comes to a screeching hault on Monday Night.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Yeah, well, that Texans pass.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
Rush gonna be a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Great stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
The volume

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Colin Cowherd Podcast - Shorthanded 49ers STUN Eagles, Josh Allen Is ALL-TIME Great, Caleb Looks Like Elway, SEC Dominance Is OVER

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Colin Cowherd

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