Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we go on a Tuesday Herd hierarchy. One hour
from now, Nick RD. An hour from now, we are live.
We're in Chicago. It's the Herd. Steelers do what they
usually do on Monday night where they're at home.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
They win.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
It is great to have you in pull me up
her twenties in Chicago. If you're like walking around with
my shirt off, absolutely fantastic. So let's let's start with positive.
Uncle Kalma. Aaron Rodgers comes to Pittsburgh. Took a tone
deaf and mostly dead offense for the last seven years,
(01:06):
and he's made it competent, not great, not elite. But
they were atrocious in the red zone last year. Now
they're top three time of possession yards per play. It's
a competent offense. But as I'm watching them beat lifeless Miami,
the downside is they're currently drafting twentieth and they have
(01:26):
a stop gap at quarterback, no long term solution, and
they don't have any assets to trade up. TJ. Watt Old,
Cam Hayward Old, Jalen Ramsey Old. They let go of Pickens,
Aaron's Old. So how many first round picks do you
want to give up to go get Mendoza or maybe
a Dante more So, again, it feels good, it's a
(01:47):
candy rush, but it's groundhog day. Stop gap at quarterback
barely above five hundred, rinse and repeat, and that's where
we are. And they also are dominant at home on
Monday Night football. They just don't lose. So I feel
like the Steeler model is what I have a problem with.
(02:07):
They care about two things that just don't matter to
people with high standards. One of them is, hey, we've
got a winning record. Sean Payton never talks about that.
In Denver. It's it's not a thing. Sixty teams since
two thousand and three have had winning records and missed
the playoffs. If you have high standards, winning record is
not a top three or fourth thing. Winning division, winning playoff,
(02:30):
winning conference championships, winning Super Bowls, winning, a big free agency,
and a star quarterback in his prime. That's the stuff
people care about winning. The other thing is winning on
winning on Monday Night football? Yepee? How about winning in January?
Been a while? So I think again, Aaron Rodgers deserves
to meet a ton of praise. He's a forty two
(02:52):
year old guy and he was much better. I mean,
he's a different class a quarterback than Tua. The Dolphin's
got to cut bait with Tua. That thing's over a
backup quarterback in this league. But I think this one
stat about the Steelers really sums up the organization. Seventeen
teams in the NFL, slightly more than half have a
(03:13):
positive point differential. Where are the Steelers seventeenth just tread
and water, just barely just got their chin above it,
and that's what they are. Aaron has turned their red
zone woes into red zone wins at forty two. Not
(03:35):
a great on line, not a dependable run game OC,
so Aaron deserves all sorts of praise and short term
it feels really good. But I look at last night.
I'm sitting there in the third quarter and I think
they had like a twenty one to three lead, and
I'm like, what does it mean? It feels like Aaron
(03:56):
is one of those consultants that used to come by
local TV stations or radio stations. I would work for
and it was a fresh set of eyes, and you'd
bring them in and they could solve some little problems
in the building. But consultants always left pretty soon, and
all the big stuff, like bad ownership or a bad
(04:16):
GM or you know, not very good content. They couldn't
solve the big stuff. Aaron can't solve the fact they
spend way too much money on defense. And Aaron can't
solve the fact they still just love bragging about winning
on Monday Night football. So Aaron's gonna leave here pretty quick,
(04:38):
maybe comes back for one more year. So congratulations. Aaron
deserves a lot of praise. I've been critical. He's done
a good job. They were a mess in the red zone.
They're now good in the red zone, top three in
the league. They were bottom four last year. And Aaron's
always played well in these cold, harsh environments. He was
a California kid, but Green Bay, Pittsburgh, he's good in
(04:59):
these spots. Here's here's Mike Tomlin after another Monday night, win.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
We love Monday night football.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Mission accomplished certainly.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
We wanted to engineer victory, but we wanted to do
it in a certain way.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We believe in the strength of the pack and and
a lot of guys stepped up certainly and made that
a truism about the imports and playing well in December.
Do you feel like your team for getting there? You know,
see you next week.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Keep watching.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Been a while since been a part of stuff like this.
Nothing changes, It's just you know, I feel real comfortable
in this environment. Obviously, the crowd was really good to night,
but I feel comfortable in the cold weather and voice
been will throw a pretty good in the cold over
the years in Green Bay, and it can be an
advantage if you, you know, if you embrace it.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, I mean between Philip Rivers Kirk Cousins on Thursday
and Aaron Rodgers, old guys are crushing in December in
the NFL. So Kansas City has been a really well
run organization for a long time. I mean, the Hunt
family does it right. They're going to miss the playoffs
(06:10):
for the first time in eleven years. Not Jess Mahomes,
Pre Mahomes, Alex Smith they make the playoffs, and my
interpretation of this is missing the playoffs is perfect. It's
a cold glass of water to the face because sometimes
you make the playoffs. Pittsburgh's a great example, and you're like,
you know what, we're inches away. This is a rebuild,
(06:33):
not a reboot. I'll give you an example. The last
three years Kansas City with Andy Reid and Mahomes and
Travis Kelcey Hall of Famer are sixteenth in points per game,
eighteenth in yards per play, and twenty fourth in big plays.
Does that sound like a tweak in an offensive league.
(06:55):
Here's Albert Breer on what the Patriots Belichick decided to do.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
Interestingly enough, was almost at the same juncture of Brady's
careers has happened with Mahomes now look back right. So
two thousand and eight, Brady goes down Matt Castle wins
eleven games. That causes the Patriots to say, Okay, we're
going to lean in and try to win with this
aging roster one more time. It doesn't work in two
thousand and nine. Then the beginning of twenty ten, Belichick
(07:23):
goes in and literally tears all sorts of evidence of
any championship football off the walls and says we're starting
over again, and then they really got on a heater.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
From a draft perspective, I honestly think that's what Kansas
City needs. I've been asking every guest rebuild or retool,
who's their fourth best player, Trent McDuffie, Mahomes who may
not be available next year, Creed Humphrey, who's their fourth
best player in their prime? Does the Rams have about twelve?
Eagles have twelve, Lions have nine. Started looking around, Baltimore's
(07:58):
got eight. So the Chargers, by the way, in division,
are getting both their offensive tackles back, and Harbaugh's going
to ace his third straight draft like they've done really
well drafting because Harbaugh Ortiz, they know that college game,
by the way, bow Knicks is getting really good and
that Russell Wilson dead cap hit. It's off the books
(08:21):
that they're going to get better when you've got a Harbaugh,
Sean Payton, bow Nicks, Herbert in division. Tweaking is not
their issue twenty fourth on big plays. They have offensive issues,
and that's with Andy Reid, the best offensive play designer
arguably we've had since like Bill Walsh right.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Like.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It's not a tweak. You got to take this boat
back to port and rebuild it. Think about this, The
NFL allows forty percent of the teams in this league
into the playoffs. Jacksonville's getting in, Houston's getting in. Not
historically well run franchises getting in. If Miami would have
(09:04):
one last night, they've still have a life. The tone
deaf to offense Steelers are probably going to get in
Baltimore offense is broken, completely broken. Still may it in
Kansas City, won't With reading Mahomes, I don't buy that.
It's just a it's a retool again. Boat back to port,
(09:28):
rebuild it. Good stuff today. Nick right drew bledsoe stops
by the Miami situation with Tua. It's you know, I
don't mean to beat a dead horse. But small quarterbacks.
Remember when Russell Wilson regressed badly, like in a year
and a half, we were like, what what is it?
(09:48):
If you watch TWOA today and two years ago, he
is a backup and not a great backup. Small quarterbacks
age really quickly. Kyler Murray do only even want to
plan them anymore. He'll have a market, by the way,
because there's eight desperate teams and only one Star coming out.
We think Dante Morse stays at Oregon, but that's where
(10:09):
we are today.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 2 (10:32):
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Speaker 1 (10:51):
This may make some of you uncomfortable, but it needs
to be said. Caleb Williams now holds the NFL record
it's official fewest interceptions in a quarterback's first one thousand
career pass attempts. He's the greatest effort by the way.
(11:11):
He is second behind Aaron Rodgers all time in highest
passing touchdown to interception ratio since the merger. All that
torque and horsepower, not a lot of mistakes, and I
wish he completed more than fifty eight and a half
percent of his throws. I do think that's a little low.
(11:33):
But there are three quarterbacks in this league, Josh Allen,
Patrick Mahomes, and Caleb Williams. I can't lose that much
sleep on it. I'll give you an example. Let's say
you had a child seven eight years old that had
been tested and you had what they call a gifted child.
Top one of one percent was playing Beethoven at eight
(11:53):
years old. You're really going to lose sleep that three
four times a week. He puts his pajama Amazon backwards.
You got Beethoven down the hall. Get over it. Not
every kid ages grows the same way. Not every quarterback's
the same Okay, I'm not losing a ton of sleep.
I think sixty one percent probably where you're going to go.
(12:17):
But everybody's talking about how accurate Josh Allen is this year.
That's because he throws the tight ends. He never throws
the ball down the field. Aaron Judge one season led
baseball in strikeouts. I'm okay with it. Brett Farr most
interceptions ever, Kobe second most missed field goals in league history.
Shack Shack a fifty two percent career free throw shooter,
(12:42):
Michael Dell, the late Paul Allen, Bill Gates all dropped
out of college. Not everybody in society is played by
the same rules. Aaron Rodgers had pretty good old lines
in Green Bay consistently. He's the most sacked quarterback in
league history. Held the ball a little longer because he
wanted to try something spectacular. So Caleb Williams, the horsepower
(13:05):
the torque. He's making about two throws, three throws every Sunday.
They look like optical illusions, like like next Gen stats
is like, oh, that had sixteen percent chance of being
completed and it was so again, if your kid is
doing Beethove of to eight, all right, he wets the
(13:26):
bed more than you're happy with, Okay, whatever, He's different
that like, not everybody's planned by the same rules. Caleb
Josh Allen Mahomes. It looks different. It's it's not ideal.
I want I want a higher percentage. But I watched
him against the Browns. I'm like, he made two throws
in that game. This one's one of them.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
How did he see that?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Like in the stock market, I've been in it since
nineteen eighty eight, the gains outweigh the losses. You can't
lose your you know what because of a bad earnings
report with the upside is so great. I wish he
completed sixty one word fifty eight and a half. And
I don't want to hear by Josh Allen. He's really
gotten accurate. He never throws the ball down the field.
(14:12):
They don't have a wide receiver in Buffalo that could
crack Chicago's starting lineup. Luther Burden would be their best receiver.
He's the Bear's third. DJ Moore would be their best receiver.
Roma Dunze would be their best receiver. Even the Bears
tight ends are great, so are Buffalo. But Josh. I
would rather Josh complete sixty four percent of his throws
(14:33):
and throw the ball down the field more. Here's Ben
Johnson on where Caleb is with his accuracy.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
He was comfortable.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
He did a great job, you know, And that's it's
a hard thing to do, is be comfortable one of
pass rushes like that.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, I thought it was a good week.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
Forms step in the right direction, and you know, I
told him this afternoon. I said, whatever he ate for
breakfast yesterday, we just need to keep doing that on
game day from here on out.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Take a deep breath. He is spectacular. And there's only
two other guys in the league to me that feel
the same way when they take the snap, Josh and Patrick.
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Turn on the news. This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
All right, let's get started with that Broncos win over
the Packers on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
It was a big one.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
A lot of people crowning Denver as a potential Super
Bowl team now.
Speaker 10 (15:25):
I mean they're in.
Speaker 7 (15:26):
The discussion for sure if bo Knicks plays like that again.
One of the big plays in that game was Patrick
Sirtan's diving interception of Jordan Love.
Speaker 10 (15:33):
I mean it literally flipped the game.
Speaker 7 (15:35):
Packers could do nothing after Watson left, and Sirtana is
now saying that this team showed what they're capable of
in the.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Postseason means a lot.
Speaker 11 (15:45):
I mean, we just kept talking about it the whole week,
you know how big of a game it was. But
we always say, man, we're gonna playing bigger, bigger games
down the road, down the stretch, and you know, I mean,
we we not have finished product at all, you know,
I mean, We've still got a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
More work to do.
Speaker 11 (16:00):
That's the scary part about it, you know what I
mean going into this run, you know, I mean going
on to these last three game, going into the playoffs. Man,
I just feel like we still got a lot more
work to do, and you know, we just correct some things.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But man, you know this team's going on in places and
the Russell Wilson dead cap money off. The Bucks roster's
going to have space. J Mack right now looks like peepe.
It is such an interesting year. Sometimes you get breaks
in life. No Mahomes, no Borough, maybe no Lamar Jackson.
(16:32):
You say, well, what about bo Nicks, Well he'll be
facing potentially at home Trevor Lawrence, old Aaron Rodgers, young
Drake May Herbert with a horrible old line. I mean, again,
Houston's offense, you don't know what you're getting. The defense
is great if you're because Mahomes in Kansas City are
going to be back eventually. Burrow's actually eventually going to
(16:53):
make the playoffs again. Baltimore is never down for long.
So if there's a year to win it with a
young quarterback Drake Mayor Bo Nicks. This is the year
to win the AFC.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
Yeah, interesting game against the Jags this weekend. I started
to dig into.
Speaker 10 (17:06):
This a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (17:08):
This this Denver defense, I don't want to say overrated.
Some of the analytics like them, but a lot of it.
They got fat and happy off bad teams. Colin, we
watch the Packers. I think they scored on five straight
possessions in the game this past week, the Giants, the Colts,
lots of teams have moved the ball on them.
Speaker 10 (17:24):
I'm very curious where you land on this game, because.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yet Jacksonville, if I got the hook, I would take them.
It's three right now. If it went to three and
a half, I would take Jacksonville. I would.
Speaker 7 (17:34):
Yeah, it is a tough one. Who's a better quarterback
in this game? This season?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Bow Knicks? Bo Knicks doesn't make the mistakes. Bo Knicks
doesn't take the sacks. I mean, I'm watching Tua last night.
You had to see this, and you're like Tua, you're
taking like rookie quarterback sacks, like throw the ball out
of bounds, like you can't figure out the little stuff
like Tua. First of all, he's a small guy. He
doesn't have the arm, the size, but he's taking like
(17:59):
these bad rookie quarterback sacks. So it's a Bonnicks durable
never get sacked. Trevor Lawrence gets sacked, ugly picks, negative plays,
and I like Trevor. I think Bo's better than people think.
Speaker 7 (18:13):
Interesting thing that emerged. So he's starting to run a
little bit more, Trevor Lawrence. You remember at a Clemson
that I'll never forget that Ohio State game.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Right, I got on the sideline.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Yeah, it was like sixty yard touchdown round, Like, who
is this guy? And he's starting to run a little
more this year. Liam Cohen remember had Baker Mayfield doing
a lot of scrambling, keeping.
Speaker 10 (18:33):
Drives alive with his legs. This is a new album.
Speaker 7 (18:35):
I think Jacksonville is a little dangerous colin their wide
receiving group after getting Jacoby Myers.
Speaker 10 (18:40):
You know, the earth of thing well is a fun
team to watch.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
The other thing is Travis They've done this. When Travis
Hunter left there was a little bit of a and
it's not against Travis, good kid, but he was a
bit of a distraction. Who he's a star? What to
do offense defense. He's left. They caught fire, like they
had this kind of weird thing in the building. Well,
he's our best athlete. What are we gonna do with it? Now?
Everybody's got there to find roles. That's not a topic.
(19:06):
I'm not blaming Travis Hunter, but they're a very It's
always felt like a distracted franchise. They've had about a
six week run, totally focused. Run the ball, stop the run.
Quarterback plays better, no noise. Jacksonville's a real team.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
A lot of points in this one. Jacksonville and Denver
both can move the ball here all right. Next up
is the Thursday night match up here out West. It
is the Rams at the Seahawks. It's essentially for the
number one seed certainly for the division. If the Rams
win it, they will lock it up. Kyron Williams talked
about the big win over the Lions and how good
(19:41):
the offense is right now.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Can't stop us, You can't stop us. You know where
the ball is going, you still can't stop us. It's
like for me, that's just is so cool seeing being
out there on the field, and you know, with great
guys like Poka and Devonte and all the tight ends
and offensive linemen and it's fourth down anything that they
got us and then we you know, we get to
first down.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So to me, that.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Feeling is like, ha haha, you can't stop us. We
gonna keep doing what we're doing well.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I will say Blake Korum has now emerged as a
legitimate number two back Terrence ferguson the Oregon rookie tight end.
He's getting snaps and they're gonna need both because DeVonta
Adams has the hammy issue. He may not play in
the regular season again, so they don't. I would say
this their flaw is Stafford's lack of mobility. If the
(20:25):
pocket gets devoured, he he's not picking up stuff with
his feet. But it is about as deep their Their
hole is the back end of their secondary. You can
you can throw the ball on this team, and you
can go over the top on him offensively, not a
lot of flaws.
Speaker 10 (20:41):
Yeah, uh huh.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
You see that Seahawks favored in this What come on, really,
we get some numbers on Seattle. We'll save him for
later in the show. They're not good, right, Colin. They
have not been a good football team for about a months.
Speaker 10 (20:58):
Loss where Darnold.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
Through four picks kind of mess with them. They have
not been the same team since I don't want to
hear about beaten old man rivers on a fifty six
yard field goal.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
With I'm gonna give you. I can give you Sam
Donald's stats. I'll do it last hour of the show
today that you will not believe. And I'll go all
the way back to Carolina, not Minnesota. I'll go all
the way back to Carolina.
Speaker 10 (21:19):
You can go back to.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Like November on Sam Donald and there's some bad stats.
Speaker 10 (21:24):
Listen.
Speaker 7 (21:24):
I'm not selling the Seahawks. I'm just saying I don't
see how you pick against the Rams here. I mean,
whether it's the three tight ends, the dual running backs.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Hookah.
Speaker 7 (21:33):
They've scored over thirty four points six of their last
eight games. This is the best offense in the league.
You're not taking the Seahawks?
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Are you?
Speaker 10 (21:40):
You going back to your Seattle roots.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
I don't give all my spice out. I saved some
of the spices for Thursday.
Speaker 10 (21:46):
Hey, okay, all right.
Speaker 7 (21:47):
The final story is the Rams. They are coming off
that loss. I'm sorry the Lions. They're coming off the
loss to the Rams. The Lions had a good, good
start to that game twenty four to fourteen lead late
first half and then collapsed. The Lions have not won
consecutive games Week's four and five. Somehow, Jared Goff is
confident and a bounce back against the Steelers this week.
Speaker 12 (22:07):
We're resilient, you know. I hope I can give you
a really good answer in a few weeks. But we're resilient,
we really are. And I expect us to bounce back
from this. And we still have plenty of stuff in
front of us. We do, and we've got a great
group that can win a championship here and we know that,
and we just have to stick together and not allow
some of the narratives to pull anything apart. And our
(22:29):
captains need to step up. Our leaders need to step
up and be vocal and have energy and not anything
that I don't expect us to do. But yeah, we
got to show that resilience a few more times.
Speaker 11 (22:40):
Here.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
One of the good stats here this last couple of
years under Dan Campbell, after a loss, the Lions have
been the best team in the league.
Speaker 10 (22:48):
Yep, colent, They've won twelve.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
Straight after a loss, not just straight up against the
spread too. They're a machine that's why this line has
ballooned out to seven.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, this is my This is my second favorite beat
of the week. The Lions home covering by the way.
Steelers generally struggle against the run, especially on the road,
and here comes Jamiir Gibbs Montgomery and that old line.
Love Detroit this week. Number. I think the number will
get to like seven and a half and then it's
not as betable. But at six and a half, seven,
I love the Lions this week.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
The Steelers cannot get stopped. Their defense is not very good.
I don't know if Watt's back, But offensively, I'll say this,
Aaron Rodgers showed me some things last night throwing the ball.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
It was twenty three at twenty seven, listen in the
red zone. The Steelers were a true they were like
bottom four. Now they're top three or four. Aaron's been great. Basically,
he's been the exclamation point to the offense, which last
several years has been great. Between the thirties and can't
finish drives. Aaron's IQ, his accuracy, his quick release. Suddenly
(23:48):
they're very good finishing drives. That isn't Tomlin, That isn't
the OC, That isn't the run game. None of those
we know any we don't trust. That's Aaron, great quarterbacks,
great and congested areas. Aaron is the difference for this
offense in Pittsburgh in the red zone specifically.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
And now we know that Detroit defense is hemorrhaging stuff
back end cannot stop anybody. So I think there's points.
I bet the over this one over fifty one. I
think the Steelers could probably get to twenty four and
like you said, Detroit, they're gonna probably hit forty.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
J Mack with the news, Well that's the news, and
thanks for stopping by the herd Line News. So I
always say, new information, new opinion. I mean, you're a
pilot and you get handed the latest storm which has
moved into your area, should you just fly through it?
(24:42):
New information, new opinion? George Pickens earlier this year, I believed, Yeah,
I think they found their number two receiver. I don't
feel like that. First eleven games with Dak Prescott and
George Pickens were absolutely remark arkable. Dak completed seventy two
percent of his throat and had a passer rating of
(25:04):
one hundred and thirty four. But in the last three games,
George Pickens is pouting thirty seven passer rating for Dak
to Pickens, and it's not on Dak. Dak's been spectacular.
It's why they always say business deals get done on
a golf course, because it's hard to play golf. You're
(25:24):
playing for four hours, three and a half in a
private after a couple of bad five woods. How's the
guy act, how's a woman act? Throwing their clubs, swearing,
blaming somebody else beyond themselves. Golf unveils the truth. And
the NFL season is long, and it's cold and players
are banged up. This goes back to something I've always
(25:47):
said about pro football. Two rules in a contract, pay
big money very infrequently in the NFL, certain positions and
certain guys, and it's got to be the mature guys
and the team guys, the we guys over the me guys.
At Georgia Pittsburgh in now Dallas, George Pickens is really immature.
(26:08):
It's a little bit of the des Bryant thing. Remember
des Bryant. You saw a video of him hard knocks
in that room and you're like, he never got a
big contract. After that, it's like, wow, this stuff is
bad with Pickens in the last three games, and that's
what we see. I've always used the argument if you
go to a if you go to a party and
you see a couple arguing, that's what's I like in
the drive home. So Pickens, this isn't it. And so
(26:33):
much of GMing is the landmine you don't step on.
The contract, the big one you don't sign. So I
think he's a unique talent, but he's into a pouting stage.
And Mike Tomlin, who is about as player friendly with
talented people as you know, he kept ab around for
(26:53):
a long time and finally said okay, and ab unraveled.
So now Jerry, Jerry, you know, Jerry the deal maker.
Jerry hasn't sold the stock yet.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
They did a good job of mitigating him and it
was effected. As far as his effort, I would have
liked to see him like a few of those outstanding
catches that he makes. But I'd like to have seen
Dak with more time to get him the ball.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
Has anything changed in the last two weeks regarding your
desire to bring him back next year in the future.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
No, a reminder, Dallas is projected and these things can change, certainly,
But Dallas has projected to be forty eight million over
the cap. Be very careful about a player that you
thought was a diamond in the rough pivoting the diva,
especially since we've seen it before. It's not about your stars.
(27:48):
It's about what kind of guy your stars are. Are
they build around you guys? Are they we guys or
me guys? I've said many times on this show, and
nbagm told me twenty years ago, it's not about a star.
It's about getting the right star, obsessed about winning, willing
(28:09):
to be team first, Tim Duncan, It's not just about
the stars. Which star do you get? Because there's a
lot of stars in sports, especially at wide receiver. Is
there an argument heard hierarchy top of the Hour plus
Nick Right? Is there an argument? I thought about this
this morning to keep Mike McDaniel in Miami. I want
(28:31):
to throw this out to you because there's an example
of how it could work.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
Weekdays and Noon Easter not a Empacific NFL doubleheader.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
First, it's the Eagles versus the Commanders, Then the Packers.
Speaker 10 (28:47):
Take on the Bears for control.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
The NFC North pregame coverage begins at four pm Eastern
on BOT.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Listen. I don't have to love everybody I hire. In fact,
you can be pretty mid and because it's a headache
to replace you, there's no viable candidates, I can keep
you around for a couple of years. So Miami's not good.
They've already fired the GM and they should cut at
the end of the year to him. Here's my argument.
(29:14):
I'm not saying it's a strong one, but to keep
Mike McDaniel for another year. And again, he's not my
kind of alpha guy. He's quirky even when doing halftime interviews.
What did the Broncos do? They were five and twelve
and the offense was broken. They got a offensive coach,
Sean Payton, who found a young quarterback that nobody else loved.
(29:36):
Bo Nicks a lot of people at him as a
second round talent. Sean Payton loved him, and look what happened. Yes,
they had to deal with a dead cap issue, but
when you get that quarterback first few years, you mitigate
it because you're not paying him anything. So Mike McDaniel, again,
not my ideal candidate, but hear me out. Miami today
(29:57):
has the number eleven pick three games are the Bengals
the Bucks in New England. They'll lose the last two
because they just don't have the personnel. The Bengals have
announced that Joe Burrow is gonna play, well, well, well,
you know, we're just gonna sit a couple of our
safeties and corners for that game. You lose all three,
(30:19):
six and eleven, and suddenly that eleventh pick becomes the
seventh or eighth. Well, now we can make a move.
Now we're gonna get, if not the first, the second
best quarterback. And I can make an argument the GM
extended to a that's not on Mike McDaniel. Tua, like
(30:42):
a lot of small quarterbacks. Russell Wilson has regressed badly
in the last year and a half, and there's an
argument to be made that Mike McDaniel did his job
and actually overachieved. Do you realize he got twa to
lead the league in completion percentage, one year, passing yards,
one year passer rating one year with Tua. You watched
(31:03):
it last night, So Sean Payton, you got a broken offense.
Sean Payton comes in and says, you know what, there's
this quarterback. Nobody else likes I'm gonna get him at
like the eleventh or twelfth pick. Mike McDaniel does offense,
Mike McDaniel may look at one of these college quarterbacks
(31:23):
not named Fernando Mendoza and say, okay, I don't want
to go get that. We've got the seventh or eighth pick.
But I see my bow Nicks. And because you're watching
Tua last night, Tua is a mediocre backup, and that's
not a shot at Tua. Small quarterbacks age very fast.
It's like hyper athletic athletes age fast. So do small guys. Kyler, Tua,
(31:45):
Russell Wilson. I mean, I think there's an argument if
you get the GM job, you're gonna be looking for
an offensive coach. Tell me the candidates right now. There
is no vaybel on the market. Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton,
they're not on the market. There's no Ben Johnson on
the market. I can make the argument that last night
was obviously a mass Is that on Mike McDaniel. I mean,
(32:09):
Tua was awful. Here is Tua on his struggles last night.
Speaker 13 (32:14):
I got to be better for our guys offensively. And two,
you know, I'm pretty disappointed in myself with how how
ready I got our receiver corps in terms of operation,
in terms of guys knowing where to line, in terms
of the communication when it comes to personnel, you know,
(32:35):
And that's something I harped to those guys when we're
in our own player led meetings, and you know, I
kind of felt like I let our guys down on
that aspect.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, I mean, he took a couple of sacks last
night that are rookie mistakes. Like he just taken bad
I mean, why throw that ball? He's afraid to get hit,
So if you look at his numbers, have just I mean,
that's a terrible sack to take. It just doesn't work anymore.
I mean that throw, come on, what do you do?
He just don't want to get hit. He wants to
get rid of the ball, especially in a cold night,
(33:05):
hard hard turf. So there is an argument that the
GM was over his skis or at least not very
good to is regressed. There's plenty of good gms on
the market. There are good gms on the market. There's
a lot of sharp guys out there that know how
to run the draft. There's not a lot of great candidates.
(33:26):
It's not a great candidate year. Last year with Rabel,
it was year before with Hardball, it was all right.
Here's the current playoff picture. It's really really interesting this
year because you're not having many of the star quarterbacks.
You know, Mahomes, Burrow, Lamar Jackson may not be in.
Here are the current AFC playoff matchups for the radio audience.
(33:48):
We'll go slow here, so ded forget to buy. How
about this one? Houston a seven seed at New England
and two seed. I gotta tell you, I think I
take Houston and I like New England, but I still
contend the second half of that Bills game with the Patriots,
you saw the truth. They missed the left side of
(34:10):
their offensive line. They still don't have a ton of depth.
They need another draft class empower embolden the offensive line
and defensive line. I think I would take Houston there.
Buffalo at Jacksonville, I'm telling you Jacksonville is a They'll
be Jacksonville maybe an underdog in that game. I think
(34:33):
i'd take Jacksonville at home. I think I would much
better defense, very good, consistent run game, good good team
to knock off, come in with a little chip on
your shoulder, Liam Cohen against Sean McDermott, the offensive, clever coach.
I think i'd take Jacksonville Chargers. Battle line at Pittsburgh
(34:58):
is a coin flip. Just one of those games. The
Chargers would come in favored by a point and a
half in Pittsburgh would win. But I think trying to
predict the AFC outcomes is tough. I don't know who
I like in Chargers Steelers. Let's go to the NFC,
where I think it's it's clearer in the NFC, so
(35:20):
rams get to buy. I would absolutely take the Seahawks
to beat Tampa in Tampa. I don't think that's a
good matchup for Tampa and Baker at all. San Francisco
at Philly, I would take Philly. If it was in
the Bay, I would take San Francisco, I would take Philly.
I mean, you're talking about a patchwork defense and an
(35:40):
elite defense, and the elite defense is at home. Green
Bay at Chicago bears all day. This is not a
knock on Green Bay. I think about this this morning.
With Green Bay, They've not only lost Tucker Craft a
month ago, great tight end Christian Watson, their primary deep
threat They're not the same offense without Christian Watson and
(36:02):
Micah Parsons, their best pass rusher. They are also missing
Kenny Clark in the Cowboy trade. So if you take
those four players Watson, Micah, Kenny Clark, and Tucker Kraft,
those are for their top six players. Green Bay is not.
And when I do hurt hierarchy, I'm based on your
current personnel. Green Bay has lost four of their top
(36:25):
six to seven players, maybe four of their top five.
Kenny Clark's a good player, So any big disagreements, J Mack,
if you go AFC to NFC, I think the AFC
is really tough. I think Seattle at Tampa and Chicago
hosting green Bay. I mean, what's interesting is green Bay
and Chicago are playing this week in Chicago. I think
(36:46):
green Bay is a favorite.
Speaker 10 (36:48):
Not for long.
Speaker 9 (36:50):
I'm with you.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
I think the Eagles are suddenly becoming more dangerous in
the NFC. I just think if the forty nine ers
have to go to the Bears or Bucks, the forty
nine ers win. But if the forty nine have to
go to the Eagles, I don't think they win that game.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Would you agree?
Speaker 10 (37:03):
How do you handle San Fran at Chicago.
Speaker 7 (37:05):
You've got an amazing coach and quarterback in San fran
they've gone to cold weather before and one okay, and
you got a first time playoff quarterback in Gama Williams
against Robert Solla.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
So Peyton Manning has said this for years. There's preseason speed,
there's regular season speed, and then there's playoff speed. So
the teams that make the playoffs, even the worst team
in the playoffs, they usually are very good. They have
a good coaching staff. Very few bad coaching staffs make
the playoffs. So when you get to the playoffs, you're
(37:39):
facing the best coaching staffs, the top forty percent of
coaching staffs, and they're very good at exploiting your weaknesses.
A lot of these teams, like Tennessee, you know on
interim coach can't exploit what the Niners can do. McVeigh could,
right like Ben Johnson could. The Niners defense is just
(37:59):
not very very good in terms of personnel. I think
in the regular season, Jason, you're on a treadmill. A
team comes into town, they're banged up, you're banged up.
A lot of it's survival. If you score in the
first drive, you have a sixty sixty percent chance to win.
You're doing things in the regular season. It's it's a
treadmill like it's it's okay, we're gonna script twelve plays.
Let's take a lead, not turn the ball over. It's
(38:21):
like postseason baseball. Everything gets more circumstantial, more situational. You'll
use starters in the bullpen. You're gonna do stuff in
the postseason. The best forty percent of coaching staffs to
exploit holes, and those holes don't get exploited as regularly
in the regular season. The Niners defense will be a liability.
(38:41):
It won't be brought for it. He'll be fine. That
defense will be a liability. That's why I say there
are boxes to check. A lot of people look at
Seattle and go Sam Darnold's recklessness. It's not gonna cost
against most of the league. It did against the Rams, right,
So you do get to a point where I think
San Francisco been a great story. I don't think they're
(39:02):
a great roster or a great team.
Speaker 10 (39:04):
Okay, can we go to the AFC real quick?
Speaker 7 (39:06):
Because that Jacksonville matchup that you mentioned is interesting. I'm
not betting against Josh Allen in December till it's bit
me in the butt before against.
Speaker 10 (39:16):
The Chiefs in the playoffs.
Speaker 7 (39:17):
But I just I don't think you could go against
Josh Allen, none of those teams in the in the
AA who scares you the most in the AFC.
Speaker 10 (39:24):
The end because of the Houston defense.
Speaker 7 (39:26):
They're the best unit of any unit cor profentral defense.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Right, Yeah, the best unit in the NFL is the
Houston Texans defense. I mean speed, length, rush ends. I
don't know what the number is.
Speaker 7 (39:39):
If you go look at Rams offense versus Houston defense
is pretty much a touch and go, right, they're both
at full strength.
Speaker 10 (39:46):
Rams offense is a truck right now.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Yeah, So I think Rams beat the Texans earlier this year.
And if that was the score fourteen to.
Speaker 10 (39:53):
Nine, that's right early in the season.
Speaker 7 (39:55):
The Texans were driving and then Landman with the peanut punch,
remember that one.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah, in the and Blake Krum and DeVante Adams weren't
quite rolling.
Speaker 7 (40:04):
But you could argue the Houston defense it showed well
against that juggernaut Rams offense.
Speaker 10 (40:09):
But you's like it was it was September.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, so yeah, that's I think the AFC is wide
open again. Even Denver is the number one seed, has
won a lot of close games at home, a lot
of them, Nick writes around the corner, heard hierarchy. If
you're watching FS one right now, Seasons greetings, even if
(40:31):
those are just graphics. Seasons greetings from our fake fireplace.