December 26, 2025 • 40 mins
Colin Cowherd sees that the Denver Broncos are right on schedule under coach Sean Payton and quarterback Bo Nix after a Christmas Day win over the fading Kansas City Chiefs. Also, Colin examines how and why the Detroit Lions unraveled this season. Plus, Lakers head coach JJ Redick is fed up with the lack of effort from his team after a blowout home loss to the Houston Rockets. Finally, Colin sizes up former Utah Utes head football coach Kyle Whittingham, who is expected to be hired as Michigan's next coach.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh we got a good Friday show Blazing five and
on a bit of a run this year. One hour
from now, we're live. It's Chicago, it's warming up. I'll
make it on the board shorts today. It's The Herd.
Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks
(00:48):
for making us part of your day. J MC. I
hope you had a great Christmas with a fan. I
certainly did. Snoop dog was the most consistent top performer
yesterday in the NFL. Sorry to say, hey, wait to
go Snoop Dogg and crew. That was awesome. But I
think it's interesting and there's you know, at this point
(01:08):
in the year, we know what all these teams are.
And you can keep telling me Denver's not good, but
this is not figure skating, it's football. I don't need
style points. They were great on third down. They dominate
time of possession.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
RJ.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Harvey delivers, so is bone Knicks. Basically, Kansas City said,
we're not giving you anything over the top. We're gonna
make it long, slow, boring drives, and that's what they did.
Sean Payton knows what he's doing. A lot of guys,
a lot of gms, GMS didn't like bow Knicks. Sean
Payton loved him. He's now twenty three and ten is
a pro playoffs both years, first quarterback ever ever league
(01:46):
history ever, ten plus wins, thirty plus total touchdowns, first
two years in the league, and he leads the NFL
and pass attempts the last two years. So they're putting
everything on him. No baby sitting like early Big Ben.
And then there's r J Harvey. RJ Harvey. Last year
everybody said that's a reach. They shouldn't be a high
(02:07):
draft pick.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
RJ Harvey.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
The dude's got only four fewer touchdowns than Christian McCaffrey
and two hundred fewer touches. He's a tremendous receiver, tremendous
young player who gets into the end zone. I think
he's like eleven touchdowns. Again, don't worry about the style points.
This is at Arrowhead. It is a division rival, and
you won by a touchdown. You do understand a touchdown
(02:32):
is a big spread. Seattle's a touchdown favored over Carolina.
If they win by a touchdown, are you unimpressed? You
go on the road, division rival, you win, You take it.
Kansas City said we're not giving you anything over the top.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And for the record, in the first game between these two,
bo Nicks made a huge third and fifteen conversion game
winning drive. Last night third and ten, huge conversion game
winning drive. So you take the touchdown. And here's the
other thing is, I don't know if Denver is gonna
fly through. I mean, they just got whacked by Jacksonville.
(03:08):
Maybe Jacksonville is the best team in the AFC. Certainly possible,
But the last two years, in the fourth quarter, the
most important quarter in football, Josh Allen leads the NFL
in fourth quarter touchdowns. Bon Nick's's second Yeah, I'm gonna
say it was a good draft pick.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
I'm gonna say R. J. Harvey was also a good
draft pick. I mean Sean Payton.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
They had six Pro Bowlers this week four of them
were there when Sean got there. He's just squeezing more
juice out of the roster. As far as the Chiefs,
maybe it's maybe it's a you know, Travis Kelsey's last
home game. That's what it sounded like on the broadcast.
They've been a bit of a sad trombone all year.
(03:53):
As we've told you, dynasties do not fall off a cliff. Generally,
the old guys look old, the old guys get hurt.
Young guys can't bring the energy and juice. Kansas City's
one in eight and one score games. This is kind
of how dynasties end. They're not explosive anymore. But I
remember all I hear as well. I mean it was
that game was close. Yeah, that's the way it works.
(04:18):
I mean, would you rather be Detroit? Jared goffaced a
backup and they lost. If you win in this league,
Denver's now thirteen and three and will play the Chargers
next week, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Division on the line.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Sean Payton's gonna have his fifth season thirteen or more wins.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
I know he drives people nuts.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I know he puts his chin out there, but a
lot of people, most people did not think bo Nicks
was a first round quarterback or R. J. Harvey was
worth the pick. And here are the Denver Broncos thirteen
and three. You know, thirteen and I don't know works
(05:02):
for me. Here is bow Nicks on facing the Chargers
next week.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
At the end of the day, none of it really
matters because we have to play the final game and
we have to, you know, take care of it. And
you know, they're gonna be a good football team. Now,
some other team can help us along the way, but
at the end of the day, it's gonna come down
to us versus them, and we're excited to have them
at home. It's gonna be a you know, a really
(05:30):
good environment. It's gonna be a great atmosphere. And honestly,
it's it's playoff time. It's playoff atmosphere.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So before the season started, okay, we're gonna pat ourselves
in the back, Jamack and I said, every year there's
one really exceptional team in the NFL, and the following
year it goes away. It's like season two of True Detective. Right,
You're like, ah, I love this show and maybe not
(05:57):
so much.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So we both said it would be the Detroit Lions.
They lost two great coordinators. Offensive guy was brilliant, and
I'm listening to Lions fans yesterday. Well it's our offensive
line is all beat up. Yeah, well so is the
Chargers and the Texans. Their all lines are worse, and
they've been worse all season, and they're combined twenty one
(06:22):
to nine.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I think Sam Laporta the minute he left with the
O line injuries makes it much harder. But in any business,
and football's of business, to turn around a sinking ship,
you have to self audit. You have to look in
the mirror. This team, Detroit's been lousy on third down
all year. Even when the O line was healthy with
Ben Johnson, they were sharp, innovative and creative. They've tried
(06:48):
to create that movie. Maybe they picked the wrong director.
It doesn't feel sharp and creative. Yes, the offensive line injuries,
especially with Sam Laporta the tight end out too, it hurts. Yeah,
Sam laport is great, but Dan Campbell in week ten
took the play calling duties away from his offensive coordinator.
(07:11):
And just a heads up, guys, if your boss ever
comes to you and goes you know, Bob, You're doing
a great job, but I'm going to take over your
sales accounts. Start looking for work. It's not just the
offensive line. Detroit was a crisp operation, more creative and innovative.
Dan Campbell had to take over the OC duties. He
(07:34):
didn't want to do that. He is not a scheme guy.
He's a great culture builder, and he lost a brilliant
scheme guy, Ben Johnson. This is very reminiscent of Kyle
Shanahan getting the Niners as the OC to the Super
Bowl and Matt Ryan and MVP Kyle Shanahan left. You
want to know what the Atlanta Falcons record is since
(07:54):
Kyle Shanahan left sixty three and eighty four. It's not
the Falcons O line injuries.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Okay, you can. You can make all the excuse.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Find me an offensive line in this league, in the
entire league. Find me an offensive line that is healthy
for seventeen eighteen weeks. I mean it's man overboard with
the Chargers. Texans old line has been a mess for
two years. They're humming. One's doing it with defense, one's
doing it with coaching and quarterback play. You just gotta
find a way when your all lines beat up again.
(08:25):
I think Sam Laporta is a big loss.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
But if you look at.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Dan Campbell, put it on the screen with offensive coordinator
Ben Johnson, He's thirty six and fifteen, thirty six and fifteen.
If you look at Dan Campbell without Ben Johnson, eleven
twenty one and one a touchdown less. So I would
(08:54):
argue the Lions peaked in week two when they beat
very good Chicago. But Chicago is much better today than
they were in Week two. They beat on up on
bad teams. The Lions have beat up on bad teams.
They haven't really beaten good teams sometimes, like the Rams
that get close. But it's just they're just not as crisp.
(09:15):
They're just not as innovative. I mean, and again I'm
not blaming anybody. I'm saying when you lose Kyle Shanahan
is OC, Matt Ryan didn't look the same. When you
lose Ben Johnson, you don't look the same. Here's Dan Campbell.
They're out of the playoffs officially.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
After the loss, I'm gonna be looking at a lot
of things because I do not like being home for
the playoffs, and I know our guys don't either, So
you know, and there again. Whenever you lose, man, it
takes a village man. Everybody's involved, including myself, you know,
(09:51):
so I'm always gonna look at myself first. You know,
I'm always gonna wish I would have given golf more,
given those players more.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Good news, very good front office draft. Well you get
that great safety back, Laporta back means it's not all
doom and gloom. I mean, you've really got an infrastructure,
a culture creator. But when you have the culture creators,
they are very and much more reliant on offensive coordinators.
(10:25):
Vrabel is a great culture builder. First thing he did,
get Josh McDaniels, get the great OC the scheme guy,
and it works. So yeah, the O line stuff, it's
not perfect. Laporta is a huge loss. But there's bad
old lines all over this league. I mean, the Chargers
is the worst, thirty second for most of the year.
Texans is bad. They're going to make the playoffs again,
(10:48):
all right, j Mac. It was interesting because yesterday was
it used to be the NBA's day, and then the
NFL is like now, we're going to change that now.
And now the NBA may want to move to Christmas Eve.
That's been suggested whatever. It's a good day. It's a
day you sit around and eating with family and open
presence and watch sports. But I do think the Lakers
(11:11):
played the Rockets. Now, it wasn't competitive. But when the
Lakers the Bus family sold to the Dodgers group, I said,
now things are going to change. This is not an
organization that's going to be worried about ticket sales and
merch sales and keeping Lebron happy. There appears to be
(11:32):
some real honest conversations that need to be had that
the Lakers net rating.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Is worse when Lebron plays.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Defensively, they're already bad, they're worse when Lebron plays. And yesterday,
I know it's Christmas. Maybe the guys didn't want to
be there, but that game spoke volumes of the next
couple of months. We'll talk about that. Update on the
Cowboys as well.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and newone Eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
Paually Fools go ahead with Tony Fusco.
Speaker 8 (12:10):
Yeah, as everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award
winning Polly and Tony Fosco show. Yeah, but instead of
us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan
Patrick described us when he came on our show.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
Speaker 9 (12:24):
What are you doing?
Speaker 7 (12:24):
We were interrupting our promo.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, you wasn't talking about you. You took those clips
totally of context.
Speaker 8 (12:31):
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
Let me put this into context.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Shut up.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Paully and Tony Fusco
Show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yee GIRs got their doors blown off. Three straight losses,
three straight awful blowouts.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I mean, if you watch that game, the effort was subpar.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
A lot of people don't like that JJ Reddick is
so harsh. The NBA panders way too much to its stars.
I love that JJ Reddick won't but they were dominant,
gave up almost seventy points in the paint to Houston.
Just a complete blowout one nineteen ninety six. So here's
the thing about the NBA is changing. It's no longer
a center big man league. How do I know that?
(13:19):
Jokich Jannis and Embid two rings, thirty four total years. Okay,
you're not winning that way. It is a wing league.
You have to have three and D guys, switchable guys,
versatile guys, hyper athleticism everywhere. That's what the league is.
And the Laker GM Rob Polenka has built a roster
(13:40):
that doesn't.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Have any of it. It's lobsided.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
All the best players are offensive guys. Their three best
players are all initiators who, if they don't have the ball,
tend to stand around sometimes just act like they're in
a bad mood.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Their energy's low.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
You got ball center guys, and you know, it's just
not a versatile, switchable three and D lineup. And because
of that, they are atrocious defensively. They don't rebound well.
They are the worst team in the league defending the three.
I've been on this for two years. They're just not
athletic enough. The world's changed now, Rob Polinka, to his defense,
(14:23):
he did make the Luca deal, and the bus family
was a mom and pop operation. It was a friends
and family front office. Rob Polink has done some really
good things.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I like Ruey.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
You know, the ad comes in, they get rid of
ad at the right time the Luca deal. But there
are time for some hard conversations now because the other
thing that's really clear, Lebron has dropped significantly when Lebron
is on the floor. The Lakers are worse defensively when
Lebron is on the floor, they have a worse net rating.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Okay, so he is getting in the way.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I think they're slightly better offensively because Lebron can score
and he's always been a great passer. But the Lakers,
they gotta have these hard conversations now because this roster
is like by gone era basketball.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
It's not athletic at all.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Go watch Denver and OKC, go watch those deep like
I understand the Warriors still holding on to Draymond and Staff.
I kind of get it because Steph is still elite.
But Lebron right now is not a top ten twelve
player in the league, and defensively, and that's the first
thing to go last couple of years and not much
of an effort. So JJ Reddick and if you listen
(15:37):
to him here he is calling out the big dogs,
the stars on his roster after last night.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
We don't care enough right now. That's the part that
bothers you a lot. We don't care enough to do
the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to
be a professional. Saturday's practice, I told the guys it's
going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable.
I'm not doing another fifty three games like this. It's
(16:05):
a matter of making the choice, and too often we
have guys that don't want to make that choice.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
And it's pretty consistent who.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Those guys are.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So the thing about the NBA is nobody plays great
defense now, Like what did Yokich have like eighteen in overtime.
Nobody plays great defense now. And I don't expect the
Lakers to be an elite defensive team, even if they
gave you effort. Luca's well below average, Austin Reeves can
(16:34):
get worked although he tries, and Lebron doesn't care about
defense anymore. He could be a team defender, he's not
good on ball. So you just have to be totally
honest about what this team is. And Rob Polenk is
not going to get fired. The new guys gave him
more responsibility. You know, they like him, and he pulled
off the Luca deal, so they're not moving off him.
But let's judge him now going forward on the moves
(16:54):
they make to solve the multiple issues. Can't defend the rim,
poor rebounding team, not athletic. I mean to me, you
got to have that Lebron conversation. The only two people
that are not movable JJ Reddick and Luca. Everything else
to me is up for a phone call. J Mack
with the news.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
This is the headline news, all.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
Right, Colin, Let's start with some Christmas football.
Speaker 10 (17:22):
The only game that was decent the Cowboys in Dak
Prescott got a solid win over Washington thirty to twenty three.
Speaker 7 (17:29):
Uh, Dak was, you know, pretty good. I don't know.
Washington was terrible, So I can't really take much into it.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
The game was streaming and afterward a lot of people
were asking Dak about if he's gonna stop playing.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Here's what Dak had to say.
Speaker 11 (17:46):
Obviously, I understand being approached about it, but what I
was telling, you know, clans and the rest of the
group was the conversations we've already had about or for
me to play like I want to play in the season,
me being healthy. I've never had a in all of
my life career right a season under five hundred, so
(18:09):
that Tie is going to come in to play really well.
Uh So it's a huge difference. It's it's one of
those things that I mean, yeah, it's just pride.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
It's pride.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Honestly, I hope everybody noticed this. Turpin big play, floor Noise,
had a good second half. Ceedee Lamb excellent. Do not
be burdened by George Pickens. Their young receivers are really
good and they're getting better. So my takeaway in this
game was Dallas has three receivers that are absolutely should
(18:43):
be on the field. Is Pickens better than two of them?
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Yep? But if if you're gonna.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Pay Quentin Williams and Dak and Ceedee Lamb, that is
not a need. When I watched Dallas right tackle edge rusher,
they've got to get another corner or three. But the
Cowboys are at the Giants this week. I think that.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Offense is fine. And the whole.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Pickings thing is is, you know he did this in
Pittsburg where he sort of disappears.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
They got good young receivers.
Speaker 10 (19:14):
Yeah, regarding Dak Collin, so I had to look on
the depth chart to see who the backup quarterback was,
it's Joe Milton. So if I'm the Dallas Cowboys, I
know what I've got in Dack. Okay, I'm putting Joe
Milton in as the starter just to see what I've got.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
In Joe Milton.
Speaker 10 (19:29):
Should you know Joe Milton pop and shows, well, maybe I.
Speaker 7 (19:34):
Flip him from war.
Speaker 10 (19:35):
Picks or at least I have confidence in my backup quarterback.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
I just don't see this idea of oh oh, let's keep.
Speaker 10 (19:40):
Playing Dak, let's keep padding our stats like I mean again, sure,
go for it, but worst case scenario with.
Speaker 7 (19:46):
Joe Milton, he's terrible.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
You lose.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Guess what your draft pick is a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
But first of.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
All, Joe Milton is is a this is what he
was in college.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
This is what he is in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I've been very tongue in cheek my entire career with
Joe mil There will be halves he looks like Joe
Montana with movement, and there will be halves that he disappears.
That's what he was in college. So everybody knows what
Joe Milton. You're not gonna get it. You may get
a six or seventh round pick for Joe Milton in
the end. If you want to protect Dak, that's fine.
But I do think what we're seeing in the NFL,
(20:19):
and you're seeing it with more than a few teams
with Mendoza out there. I wouldn't use the word tank,
but liberal use of backup quarterbacks and backup players.
Speaker 10 (20:29):
Yeah, the third string starts, by the way, Lamar, I
don't know if we'll talk about it later.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
It looks like he's not going to play.
Speaker 10 (20:34):
It's his backup quarterbacks all over the league.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
A lot of teams packing it in Colin.
Speaker 10 (20:38):
Let's go to Chicago and Ben Johnson can't stop talking
about Ben Johnson.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Man. Wow, he has been transformative for the Bears and
he's helped Caleb Williams a lot.
Speaker 10 (20:49):
He said that everyone talks about Caleb's arm, but he's
been blown away by Caleb's competitive drive.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
He loves football, he wants to be great.
Speaker 10 (20:57):
It is a far cry, of course, from all the
off the field nonsense we heard about a usc with
the fingernails and blah blah blah. Caleb's been a model citizen.
You know, he's done a good job. Seems like face
of the franchise potential in Chicago. Yeah, positive stuff from
Ben Johnson.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, I mean there's two or three things. I've watched
every snap in college and pro. I think I missed
maybe one or two USC games. Doesn't throw a lot
of picks, good at the microphone, durable, huge arm, unbelievable movement.
I rad remember talking to an NFL GM halfway through
his last year at USC, and he says he's really erratic.
(21:35):
He can make great throws and missed the easy ones. Well,
that's kind of what he is. But I do think
we're getting to a time in the NFL where, especially
on your rookie contract, when you can stack rosters fifty
nine sixty percent, it's fine. You can win a lot
of games. You can have a lot of bad drives
in this league. Bo Nicks does, and he's going to
be a number one seed. So I don't think there's
anything about Caleb Williams other than wow, he's talented. Just
(21:58):
keep polishing, just keep refining. It's year two of these
guys will even be better.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
Yeah, and finally, the final story, Calm. The biggest story
in sports yesterday was the San Antonio Spurs dominating, dominating,
the unbelievable OKAC thunder all I've been here in colin Is, Okay,
sees the dynasty. They are going to run this league
for years. They've now been swept oh and three in
the three meetings this year against the Spurs, who are
(22:24):
a young, awesome, fun to watch team. Wembin Yama is
talking trash. By the way, this was not a wembin
Yama dominate game. He didn't drop forty and twenty. Wemban
Yama's like on a minute restriction. Still, that's how good
the Spurs are. Here's Wemby talking about going three and
oh against the Thunders so far this season.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
This is like a playoff series, playing them three times
in ten days.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Maybe, uh.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
So we learn a lot of the tactical side, but
I think they're I don't want to say too much better.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Keep some for first.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Well, Stefan Castle, who was a beast at Connecticut, is
an unbelievable NBA player. He's one of those guys that
the people that know basketball and watch basketball would put
it in an all Star team and the casuals don't
watch him. Stefan Castle physically intimidated people in college. He's
doing the exact same thing in the NBA. He is
(23:22):
one of those guys. Very rarely do you have a
guy in the NBA, I mean outside of superstars, but
Klay Thompson was this Clay in his prime, defended catch
and shoot, didn't need the ball. Clay would have worked
on every roster in the league. Stefan Castle works on
every single roster. Tough, physical, and anytime Stefan Castle's guarding you.
(23:44):
In fact, we looked it up. He held players to
three for thirteen shooting yesterday.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
He is a I mean, like I would.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Say glue guy, but he's a great player. He is
so fundamental to what they're trying to do. If you
just said the two best players the next five years
in San Antonio are Stefan Castle and Wemby, that's good
enough to win a title. Those those guys are high
end dudes.
Speaker 10 (24:05):
Castle is an utterly dominant force. I mean, you know,
I like NBA jerseys. I have made a no Castle
is gonna be my next jersey, And I don't like
the Spurs Colin.
Speaker 7 (24:13):
This kid is unbelievable at both ends. But I love
what I saw.
Speaker 10 (24:16):
Remember all the Darren Fox is he gonna be able
to play with Harper? They're on the floor together cooking
sga in Company and Colin. I know the Wemben Yama
chet stuff is fun, but we have audio here. They
miked up Wemben Yama on Christmas Day, chet Homegrin missed
the free throw.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
You listen to wemban.
Speaker 10 (24:31):
Yama at the foul line, Dan, you and I know
these two have a lot of history throwing back to
their day's battery is teenager. He's cheering on Oh my godness,
he's cheering on chet Homegrind miss free throws.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
That's how passionate Wemby is. Colin.
Speaker 10 (24:47):
I'm gonna be real with you. The Spurs are the
best team in the NBA right now. I don't think
you can even argue.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Right now, Absolutely, right now they are. No.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
No, I think listen, the West isn't ridiculous. Okay, see Spurs, Denver,
Dallas is playing better.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Rockets are really really good.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Minnesota, Minnesota Soota.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
No, I mean you, there's an argument the six best
teams in the league are all West.
Speaker 7 (25:11):
Well, the Knicks are, they're.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
In, They're in that they would be fifth or sixth
in I would say in the in the West.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
By the way, Yeah, I know.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
You watched Nick caves at the ending, I'm gonna be
start pitching Tyler Kohlik stories. He's the new Jeremy Lynn
in New York, the kid out of market. Tyler Kolek
is money. People love it.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
They're going crazy for Tyler.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Cole j Mack with the News.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
So we talked about this. I think we talked about
this the day before Christmas. Yeah, our Christmas Eve show
that there was a story that came out from a
respected Baltimore Ravens reporter that said, there's there's some fissures
between Lamar Jackson and the organization. Now the organization's gonna
defend Lamar. You know how this works. You know you've
(25:59):
been around long enough. I'm not going to try to
convince you, Lebron Lamar is a bad guy or a
perfect guy. But some of the stuff you would not
print that if you were a long time beat reporter
unless you heard it. And John Harbaugh yesterday defended him.
But I did say, at any one time in the NFL,
there's about six quarterbacks. If you're the GM you don't
(26:21):
even pick up the phone. There's another six that you
don't call people, but you would take a phone call.
Maybe your guy has an injury history, can be a
little temperamental, hasn't been good in big spots. And then
there's fifteen gms that are on the phone trying to
get better quarterbacks. And I think Lamar has gone from
group one to group two, which is still very very good.
(26:42):
And I said to Miami Dolphin, shoul look at him.
He's from Miami, wants to play there. Remember, people say, well,
we're already paying Tua. You could get the Ravens to
pay a lot of Lamar's contract if they wanted to
move off him. But the obvious team that should go
look at him is the New York Jets. They have
two first round picks. They can't develop quarterbacks. It's called
good Sam Darnold is now. They have no history of
(27:03):
doing that.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Well, we're gonna go get a quarterback. Oh it's a
bad quarterback class. Good luck. You think Aaron Glenn's gonna
develop your quarterback? Okay, good luck?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I mean my takeaway is the Jets are currently picking
four two teams higher than them. Raiders Cleveland may take quarterbacks.
So the day one that Lamar Jackson. If he signed
with the Jets day one, your playoff viable. I mean,
you saw it New England did in six months. You
don't think the Jets could do that with Lamar Jackson.
(27:35):
Jets have some players. So it's been a decade straight
of the Jets being atrocious offensively. They show no ability.
I mean, we don't know if Aaron Glen's a head coach,
but they've shown no ability with multiple head coaches to
develop quarterbacks. They don't have that kind of ecosystem. They're
the opposite of the Packers. They just can't do it.
(27:55):
So to me, they've had a head coach quarterback issue
for years. They have two first round picks, a good
quarterback draft. Aaron Glenn wants to win. Now, you're not
winning with this roster. I mean, you had Aaron Rodgers
past his prime. Look how much better he is now.
So I mean, to me, i'm the Jets GM, do
I explore this absolutely?
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Absolutely?
Speaker 6 (28:15):
I do.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I mean, if I'm Aaron Glenn, I'm not even quiet
about it. You're gonna go with ty Simpson at Alabama
on a reach Go ahead and reach for kid Klubnick
ty Simpson, who whoever's available.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
I think he's falling out. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Now, if Dante Moore comes out, maybe then you move
up for him. But if he doesn't. If Dante Moore
doesn't come out, I mean the Giants. I've argued the
Giant should consider Mendoza and move off Dark.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So you look at.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I mean Lamar Jackson versus the Jets quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
The staff did this.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Lamar Jackson NFL career seventy six and thirty Jets quarterbacks
thirty nine and ninety two.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Seems like he would solve some issues, does it not.
I mean, and that's worse in the league. The completion
percentage for Lamar Jackson, known more as a runner, although
he's good in the pocket, sixty five percent completion percentage.
Jets quarterbacks since twenty eighteen are last in the league
at fifty nine percent. So they've shown no ability. Now
they have a defensive coach, no ability to develop quarterbacks.
(29:21):
You got a couple of picks you wouldn't consider this.
I mean, you've been drafted high in the first round forever,
You've been bad forever.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
It's not working again.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
It's not like again, if Dante Moore comes out, that
could solve it. Somebody takes Mendoza, you move up a slot.
Cleveland may stay with Shador Sanders. I don't know, maybe
they should. Raiders are drafted a quarterback. So I'm just
saying sometimes it's just worthy of a discussion. I think
(29:54):
now now John Harbaugh, he's saying those those reports on Lamar, well,
I don't know where this stuff is coming from.
Speaker 12 (30:03):
I don't know where that's coming from. I've never seen
I've never seen that ever. You know, that's that's not
something that that I've ever witnessed. And I'm in every meeting.
Our relationship is a plus. So I love him, always have,
always will, and I always fighting like crazy to get back.
Believe me, if he can go out there and do it,
this guy's on the ultimate competitors that you're ever.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
Going to see.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I don't think there's any question about that. But I've
said this with the Giants, you don't have a right
to be arrogant.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
You have to.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Consider drafting Mendos. Doesn't mean you have to draft him.
You have to sit down and talk about it. The
Jets have to sit down and talk about Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
You can't just say we develop quarterbacks here. Now that's
Green Bay. Okay, that's not what you do.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter Non a Em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Here we Go.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
There are reports Dan Wetzel saying Kyle Whittingham gonna be
the new coach for the Michigan Wolverines.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
That's a good get.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
He's sixty six mind and body looks mid fifties. Both
the hardballs are in the sixties. Some guys are just
they play younger. They are younger. Whittingham workout guy, ski guy.
He is in shape, and I love the hire actually
become very very solid. Higher two reasons. He's an ethical guy.
There's no bs. Whatever Kyle tells you is the truth.
(31:30):
There's just no bs with him, straight shooter. The second
thing is he's a culture builder.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
I like that a lot. He's gonna make them tough.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Utah was always the one school in the Pac twelve
that played like a Big ten team, tight ends, o line,
tough linebackers, but you didn't always love.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Their quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
So he's been making three star guys, five star guys,
and four star guys for years. He's finally gonna get
some five star guys and he's just a really loyal guy.
He's one of those guys. He said last week, He's like,
you know, I'd rather leave before I get pushed out.
And I think he's a really good higher. I don't
think you can do better. I mean, Taylor de Boor
was my first choice, but if you're telling me Kyle
(32:14):
Winningham is the second choice, that's a good choice. Matt
Campbell went to Penn State. I'm like, if you'd have
fired Franklin hired him the next day, I would have said,
good hire. If you would have the Sharon more stuff.
If he would have left and Winningham was your first call,
I would have no problem with that. So that doesn't
(32:34):
mean he's going to succeed. But he builds cultures, he
knows how to develop players. His teams have never They've
always been good with special teams, good with line play,
really tough, very very big ten football. A lot of
people criticize USC because they're pretty and finesse, but it's
not big ten football, A fair criticism. Kyle Whittingham's Utah
(32:55):
teams they bullied you. They make tight ends block. I
mean they put a lot of NFL guys out there,
considering they get three star recruits. So they had the
number one ranked defense in the Pac twelve. The Kyle
Whittingham era, I got news for you. They didn't have
the number one recruiting classes. They had the number one
defense in the conference. So I've you know, you used
(33:17):
to spend a lot of time in Utah and watched
a lot of Utah football games. That's a well coached
team and they had a long time assistant Whittingham leaves,
so Utah'll be fine. They got the guys running the program.
They're an excellent program. I've said before, if you really
took the four best fits to go from the Pac
twelve to the Big ten, it would have been Oregon, Washington,
(33:38):
USC in Utah. Utah kind of got hose. But it's
a smaller Salt Lake city, a smaller market than UCLA.
But this is a real program. UCLA, it kind of
feels like they're hamming egging it. They don't really have
the budget they get. Utah is good program. They got
money behind it.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
They got big.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
That Salt Lake economy has been on fire for a decade,
so there's a lot of money in Utah, good economy.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Good coach. Way to go Michigan. That's a good get.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
So the most I mean, I'll be honest, the most
interesting team in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
And I've said this all year. I want to see
the Buffalo Bills make the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
And I love Harvon Herbert, but I'm just saying Macro
for the NFL, wouldn't it be great?
Speaker 4 (34:23):
I mean, they're not.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
The Chicago Cubs, because the Cubs were just poorly running
awful for years. The Bills have often been smartly owned,
smartly run, good coaches, good jims. They're not the Cubs,
but they've had you know, they've run into buzzsaws and Mahomes,
and they've run into dynasties and the Cowboys when they
had Jim Kelly. So what's interesting is am I unrealistic
(34:46):
to say going into the playoffs they have got to
get to the AFC Championship or you got to change coaches.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
I'm not saying you have to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
In fact, if you lost in overtime to Jacksonville and
Trevor Lawrence twenty seven, twenty six, I'd give you that,
but you got to get their minimum. No Mahomes, no Borough,
no Lamar Jackson. Herbert's got a broken hand and a
pitiful offensive line.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Stroud has no offense, and Drake May and Bo Nicks
are kids. If you look at the current AFC playoff
quarterbacks right now, there's a forty two year old guy,
a couple of twenty three and twenty five year old guys.
It is kids. And that doesn't mean McDermott is not
a good coach. I'll give you an example, Doug Collins.
Michael Jordan loved Doug Collins. Doug Collins three straight playoffs
(35:38):
with the Chicago Bulls, won fifty seven percent of his games.
They needed a change. Mark Jackson was winning games in
Golden State. Steve Kirk comes in. They needed a change.
They needed somebody that was better for Steph Curry. Dan
Reeves was not a bad coach. Dan Reeves was an
excellent coach. But John needed his king maker and it
(36:02):
was Mike Shanahan. Tony Dungeee excellent coach, but they felt
like they needed more fire John Druden.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
So I think Sean McDermott.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Is a very, very capable coach, very very capable coach.
But last year, when you're watching them situationally on those
fourth and ones and it feels like they kind of
make it up on the sidelines, I'm like, I don't know,
but this year you got young kids, the superstars are out. Patriots,
(36:37):
I'd argue, still in a rebuild. I mean, Denver's still
paying cap hits with Russell Wilson, so their roster could
be better and probably will be better next year. And
then drake Man vow Nicks. Now now we're in year three,
so those guys become like year three. Light goes on.
Liam Cohen, this is year one. Jacksonville could be better
(36:58):
next year, Denver, New England quarterback better next year. Pittsburg
if Aaron retires, falls back, maybe Chargers should be better
next year because they'll have both of their tackles back
and another hardball recruiting class. So I'm showing this to
the TV audience this and again. Justin Herbert, if he
didn't have a broken hand and had both of his
(37:18):
starting tackles, I'd let you lose to them too. But
here's Josh Allen on the Bills making the playoffs again.
Speaker 9 (37:25):
The way that I put it in terms is to
win the lottery. You got to buy a ticket to
win a super Bowl. You got to make the playoffs.
You know, getting into the playoffs is our ticket. Now
what we do with that is up to us and
going out there and executing Nation every week. And obviously
you want to go into the playoffs playing as well
as you can. And obviously there's still a chance for
(37:45):
us to win the division, and obviously we need help
doing that. We want to come out and take it
one game at a time and still have that backs
against the wall mentality and you know, try to play
our best football going into it.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, kind of feel like you gotta get to the
AFC Championship. I'll give you a loss. I'll give you
a loss on the road to Jacksonville. If it's a
wild shootout, I feel you play well. Your coach well
probably could give you a path on that. But man,
you can't stub your toe early. You can't be losing
to Bonnicks and Drake May. And this one sets up
(38:17):
for you because remember bone Russell Wilson, cap hits gone,
Denver's better next year, Bone Nick's another year, Drake May.
They're gonna get their O line four to five through
free agency or the draft.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
Patriots are better.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Herbert's gonna have his tackles back, So those three teams
are all better. And you could you know, Kansas City
and Baltimore probably our playoff teams the following year. You
get these little tiny windows. You gotta get it right.
That's what it feels like to me. By the way,
(38:51):
j Max, I have a blazing five. Top of the hour,
I went, all dogs. I haven't done this all year?
Wait what all four dogs and an and I've been
all year a very good way.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
When did you When did you submit these?
Speaker 10 (39:04):
Because three dogs covered yesterday depending on what number you got.
Speaker 7 (39:09):
Is this influenced by which you know?
Speaker 1 (39:11):
No, no, no, but the weather's crappy. You have teams
that could clinch a playoff or winn into There's some
teams out there that I like a lot. And I
also think it is hard for favorites this time of
the year. You are looking to the postseason. You don't
think you don't think some of these teams are like Philadelphia.
(39:31):
I don't feel like they're kind I mean, now, now,
I like Philadelphia because I think they'll run the ball
to the Bills. But it's a weird time of the
year where some teams are tanking soft tanking. Other teams
are rest starters, underdogs. All this stuff's on film. Some
of these viable underdogs are looking to clinch stuff. I
have not done this. Now I may go zero for five.
(39:52):
I went four oho to one last week. I was
I was almost perfect last week. Uh this, I have
not done four dogs all year long. I judge all
the numbers to me. You're you like dogs as well?
Speaker 7 (40:05):
Uh well, I like one. Uh I think we both
agree on We'll see. We'll see after the break.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Yeah, very excited. J Max.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Stick around me. I'll get you some lettuce. Pay for
those Christmas presents.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh we got a good Friday show Blazing five and
on a bit of a run this year. One hour
from now, we're live. It's Chicago, it's warming up. I'll
make it on the board shorts today. It's The Herd.
Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks
(00:48):
for making us part of your day. J MC. I
hope you had a great Christmas with a fan. I
certainly did. Snoop dog was the most consistent top performer
yesterday in the NFL. Sorry to say, hey, wait to
go Snoop Dogg and crew. That was awesome. But I
think it's interesting and there's you know, at this point
(01:08):
in the year, we know what all these teams are.
And you can keep telling me Denver's not good, but
this is not figure skating, it's football. I don't need
style points. They were great on third down. They dominate
time of possession.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
RJ.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Harvey delivers, so is bone Knicks. Basically, Kansas City said,
we're not giving you anything over the top. We're gonna
make it long, slow, boring drives, and that's what they did.
Sean Payton knows what he's doing. A lot of guys,
a lot of gms, GMS didn't like bow Knicks. Sean
Payton loved him. He's now twenty three and ten is
a pro playoffs both years, first quarterback ever ever league
(01:46):
history ever, ten plus wins, thirty plus total touchdowns, first
two years in the league, and he leads the NFL
and pass attempts the last two years. So they're putting
everything on him. No baby sitting like early Big Ben.
And then there's r J Harvey. RJ Harvey. Last year
everybody said that's a reach. They shouldn't be a high
(02:07):
draft pick.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
RJ Harvey.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
The dude's got only four fewer touchdowns than Christian McCaffrey
and two hundred fewer touches. He's a tremendous receiver, tremendous
young player who gets into the end zone. I think
he's like eleven touchdowns. Again, don't worry about the style points.
This is at Arrowhead. It is a division rival, and
you won by a touchdown. You do understand a touchdown
(02:32):
is a big spread. Seattle's a touchdown favored over Carolina.
If they win by a touchdown, are you unimpressed? You
go on the road, division rival, you win, You take it.
Kansas City said we're not giving you anything over the top.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And for the record, in the first game between these two,
bo Nicks made a huge third and fifteen conversion game
winning drive. Last night third and ten, huge conversion game
winning drive. So you take the touchdown. And here's the
other thing is, I don't know if Denver is gonna
fly through. I mean, they just got whacked by Jacksonville.
(03:08):
Maybe Jacksonville is the best team in the AFC. Certainly possible,
But the last two years, in the fourth quarter, the
most important quarter in football, Josh Allen leads the NFL
in fourth quarter touchdowns. Bon Nick's's second Yeah, I'm gonna
say it was a good draft pick.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
I'm gonna say R. J. Harvey was also a good
draft pick. I mean Sean Payton.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
They had six Pro Bowlers this week four of them
were there when Sean got there. He's just squeezing more
juice out of the roster. As far as the Chiefs,
maybe it's maybe it's a you know, Travis Kelsey's last
home game. That's what it sounded like on the broadcast.
They've been a bit of a sad trombone all year.
(03:53):
As we've told you, dynasties do not fall off a cliff. Generally,
the old guys look old, the old guys get hurt.
Young guys can't bring the energy and juice. Kansas City's
one in eight and one score games. This is kind
of how dynasties end. They're not explosive anymore. But I
remember all I hear as well. I mean it was
that game was close. Yeah, that's the way it works.
(04:18):
I mean, would you rather be Detroit? Jared goffaced a
backup and they lost. If you win in this league,
Denver's now thirteen and three and will play the Chargers
next week, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Division on the line.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Sean Payton's gonna have his fifth season thirteen or more wins.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
I know he drives people nuts.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I know he puts his chin out there, but a
lot of people, most people did not think bo Nicks
was a first round quarterback or R. J. Harvey was
worth the pick. And here are the Denver Broncos thirteen
and three. You know, thirteen and I don't know works
(05:02):
for me. Here is bow Nicks on facing the Chargers
next week.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
At the end of the day, none of it really
matters because we have to play the final game and
we have to, you know, take care of it. And
you know, they're gonna be a good football team. Now,
some other team can help us along the way, but
at the end of the day, it's gonna come down
to us versus them, and we're excited to have them
at home. It's gonna be a you know, a really
(05:30):
good environment. It's gonna be a great atmosphere. And honestly,
it's it's playoff time. It's playoff atmosphere.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So before the season started, okay, we're gonna pat ourselves
in the back, Jamack and I said, every year there's
one really exceptional team in the NFL, and the following
year it goes away. It's like season two of True Detective. Right,
You're like, ah, I love this show and maybe not
(05:57):
so much.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So we both said it would be the Detroit Lions.
They lost two great coordinators. Offensive guy was brilliant, and
I'm listening to Lions fans yesterday. Well it's our offensive
line is all beat up. Yeah, well so is the
Chargers and the Texans. Their all lines are worse, and
they've been worse all season, and they're combined twenty one
(06:22):
to nine.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I think Sam Laporta the minute he left with the
O line injuries makes it much harder. But in any business,
and football's of business, to turn around a sinking ship,
you have to self audit. You have to look in
the mirror. This team, Detroit's been lousy on third down
all year. Even when the O line was healthy with
Ben Johnson, they were sharp, innovative and creative. They've tried
(06:48):
to create that movie. Maybe they picked the wrong director.
It doesn't feel sharp and creative. Yes, the offensive line injuries,
especially with Sam Laporta the tight end out too, it hurts. Yeah,
Sam laport is great, but Dan Campbell in week ten
took the play calling duties away from his offensive coordinator.
(07:11):
And just a heads up, guys, if your boss ever
comes to you and goes you know, Bob, You're doing
a great job, but I'm going to take over your
sales accounts. Start looking for work. It's not just the
offensive line. Detroit was a crisp operation, more creative and innovative.
Dan Campbell had to take over the OC duties. He
(07:34):
didn't want to do that. He is not a scheme guy.
He's a great culture builder, and he lost a brilliant
scheme guy, Ben Johnson. This is very reminiscent of Kyle
Shanahan getting the Niners as the OC to the Super
Bowl and Matt Ryan and MVP Kyle Shanahan left. You
want to know what the Atlanta Falcons record is since
(07:54):
Kyle Shanahan left sixty three and eighty four. It's not
the Falcons O line injuries.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Okay, you can. You can make all the excuse.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Find me an offensive line in this league, in the
entire league. Find me an offensive line that is healthy
for seventeen eighteen weeks. I mean it's man overboard with
the Chargers. Texans old line has been a mess for
two years. They're humming. One's doing it with defense, one's
doing it with coaching and quarterback play. You just gotta
find a way when your all lines beat up again.
(08:25):
I think Sam Laporta is a big loss.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
But if you look at.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Dan Campbell, put it on the screen with offensive coordinator
Ben Johnson, He's thirty six and fifteen, thirty six and fifteen.
If you look at Dan Campbell without Ben Johnson, eleven
twenty one and one a touchdown less. So I would
(08:54):
argue the Lions peaked in week two when they beat
very good Chicago. But Chicago is much better today than
they were in Week two. They beat on up on
bad teams. The Lions have beat up on bad teams.
They haven't really beaten good teams sometimes, like the Rams
that get close. But it's just they're just not as crisp.
(09:15):
They're just not as innovative. I mean, and again I'm
not blaming anybody. I'm saying when you lose Kyle Shanahan
is OC, Matt Ryan didn't look the same. When you
lose Ben Johnson, you don't look the same. Here's Dan Campbell.
They're out of the playoffs officially.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
After the loss, I'm gonna be looking at a lot
of things because I do not like being home for
the playoffs, and I know our guys don't either, So
you know, and there again. Whenever you lose, man, it
takes a village man. Everybody's involved, including myself, you know,
(09:51):
so I'm always gonna look at myself first. You know,
I'm always gonna wish I would have given golf more,
given those players more.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Good news, very good front office draft. Well you get
that great safety back, Laporta back means it's not all
doom and gloom. I mean, you've really got an infrastructure,
a culture creator. But when you have the culture creators,
they are very and much more reliant on offensive coordinators.
(10:25):
Vrabel is a great culture builder. First thing he did,
get Josh McDaniels, get the great OC the scheme guy,
and it works. So yeah, the O line stuff, it's
not perfect. Laporta is a huge loss. But there's bad
old lines all over this league. I mean, the Chargers
is the worst, thirty second for most of the year.
Texans is bad. They're going to make the playoffs again,
(10:48):
all right, j Mac. It was interesting because yesterday was
it used to be the NBA's day, and then the
NFL is like now, we're going to change that now.
And now the NBA may want to move to Christmas Eve.
That's been suggested whatever. It's a good day. It's a
day you sit around and eating with family and open
presence and watch sports. But I do think the Lakers
(11:11):
played the Rockets. Now, it wasn't competitive. But when the
Lakers the Bus family sold to the Dodgers group, I said,
now things are going to change. This is not an
organization that's going to be worried about ticket sales and
merch sales and keeping Lebron happy. There appears to be
(11:32):
some real honest conversations that need to be had that
the Lakers net rating.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Is worse when Lebron plays.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Defensively, they're already bad, they're worse when Lebron plays. And yesterday,
I know it's Christmas. Maybe the guys didn't want to
be there, but that game spoke volumes of the next
couple of months. We'll talk about that. Update on the
Cowboys as well.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and newone Eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
Paually Fools go ahead with Tony Fusco.
Speaker 8 (12:10):
Yeah, as everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award
winning Polly and Tony Fosco show. Yeah, but instead of
us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan
Patrick described us when he came on our show.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
Speaker 9 (12:24):
What are you doing?
Speaker 7 (12:24):
We were interrupting our promo.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, you wasn't talking about you. You took those clips
totally of context.
Speaker 8 (12:31):
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
Let me put this into context.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Shut up.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Paully and Tony Fusco
Show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yee GIRs got their doors blown off. Three straight losses,
three straight awful blowouts.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I mean, if you watch that game, the effort was subpar.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
A lot of people don't like that JJ Reddick is
so harsh. The NBA panders way too much to its stars.
I love that JJ Reddick won't but they were dominant,
gave up almost seventy points in the paint to Houston.
Just a complete blowout one nineteen ninety six. So here's
the thing about the NBA is changing. It's no longer
a center big man league. How do I know that?
(13:19):
Jokich Jannis and Embid two rings, thirty four total years. Okay,
you're not winning that way. It is a wing league.
You have to have three and D guys, switchable guys,
versatile guys, hyper athleticism everywhere. That's what the league is.
And the Laker GM Rob Polenka has built a roster
(13:40):
that doesn't.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Have any of it. It's lobsided.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
All the best players are offensive guys. Their three best
players are all initiators who, if they don't have the ball,
tend to stand around sometimes just act like they're in
a bad mood.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Their energy's low.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
You got ball center guys, and you know, it's just
not a versatile, switchable three and D lineup. And because
of that, they are atrocious defensively. They don't rebound well.
They are the worst team in the league defending the three.
I've been on this for two years. They're just not
athletic enough. The world's changed now, Rob Polinka, to his defense,
(14:23):
he did make the Luca deal, and the bus family
was a mom and pop operation. It was a friends
and family front office. Rob Polink has done some really
good things.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I like Ruey.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
You know, the ad comes in, they get rid of
ad at the right time the Luca deal. But there
are time for some hard conversations now because the other
thing that's really clear, Lebron has dropped significantly when Lebron
is on the floor. The Lakers are worse defensively when
Lebron is on the floor, they have a worse net rating.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Okay, so he is getting in the way.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I think they're slightly better offensively because Lebron can score
and he's always been a great passer. But the Lakers,
they gotta have these hard conversations now because this roster
is like by gone era basketball.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
It's not athletic at all.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Go watch Denver and OKC, go watch those deep like
I understand the Warriors still holding on to Draymond and Staff.
I kind of get it because Steph is still elite.
But Lebron right now is not a top ten twelve
player in the league, and defensively, and that's the first
thing to go last couple of years and not much
of an effort. So JJ Reddick and if you listen
(15:37):
to him here he is calling out the big dogs,
the stars on his roster after last night.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
We don't care enough right now. That's the part that
bothers you a lot. We don't care enough to do
the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to
be a professional. Saturday's practice, I told the guys it's
going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable.
I'm not doing another fifty three games like this. It's
(16:05):
a matter of making the choice, and too often we
have guys that don't want to make that choice.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
And it's pretty consistent who.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Those guys are.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So the thing about the NBA is nobody plays great
defense now, Like what did Yokich have like eighteen in overtime.
Nobody plays great defense now. And I don't expect the
Lakers to be an elite defensive team, even if they
gave you effort. Luca's well below average, Austin Reeves can
(16:34):
get worked although he tries, and Lebron doesn't care about
defense anymore. He could be a team defender, he's not
good on ball. So you just have to be totally
honest about what this team is. And Rob Polenk is
not going to get fired. The new guys gave him
more responsibility. You know, they like him, and he pulled
off the Luca deal, so they're not moving off him.
But let's judge him now going forward on the moves
(16:54):
they make to solve the multiple issues. Can't defend the rim,
poor rebounding team, not athletic. I mean to me, you
got to have that Lebron conversation. The only two people
that are not movable JJ Reddick and Luca. Everything else
to me is up for a phone call. J Mack
with the news.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
This is the headline news, all.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
Right, Colin, Let's start with some Christmas football.
Speaker 10 (17:22):
The only game that was decent the Cowboys in Dak
Prescott got a solid win over Washington thirty to twenty three.
Speaker 7 (17:29):
Uh, Dak was, you know, pretty good. I don't know.
Washington was terrible, So I can't really take much into it.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
The game was streaming and afterward a lot of people
were asking Dak about if he's gonna stop playing.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Here's what Dak had to say.
Speaker 11 (17:46):
Obviously, I understand being approached about it, but what I
was telling, you know, clans and the rest of the
group was the conversations we've already had about or for
me to play like I want to play in the season,
me being healthy. I've never had a in all of
my life career right a season under five hundred, so
(18:09):
that Tie is going to come in to play really well.
Uh So it's a huge difference. It's it's one of
those things that I mean, yeah, it's just pride.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
It's pride.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Honestly, I hope everybody noticed this. Turpin big play, floor Noise,
had a good second half. Ceedee Lamb excellent. Do not
be burdened by George Pickens. Their young receivers are really
good and they're getting better. So my takeaway in this
game was Dallas has three receivers that are absolutely should
(18:43):
be on the field. Is Pickens better than two of them?
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Yep? But if if you're gonna.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Pay Quentin Williams and Dak and Ceedee Lamb, that is
not a need. When I watched Dallas right tackle edge rusher,
they've got to get another corner or three. But the
Cowboys are at the Giants this week. I think that.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Offense is fine. And the whole.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Pickings thing is is, you know he did this in
Pittsburg where he sort of disappears.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
They got good young receivers.
Speaker 10 (19:14):
Yeah, regarding Dak Collin, so I had to look on
the depth chart to see who the backup quarterback was,
it's Joe Milton. So if I'm the Dallas Cowboys, I
know what I've got in Dack. Okay, I'm putting Joe
Milton in as the starter just to see what I've got.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
In Joe Milton.
Speaker 10 (19:29):
Should you know Joe Milton pop and shows, well, maybe I.
Speaker 7 (19:34):
Flip him from war.
Speaker 10 (19:35):
Picks or at least I have confidence in my backup quarterback.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
I just don't see this idea of oh oh, let's keep.
Speaker 10 (19:40):
Playing Dak, let's keep padding our stats like I mean again, sure,
go for it, but worst case scenario with.
Speaker 7 (19:46):
Joe Milton, he's terrible.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
You lose.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Guess what your draft pick is a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
But first of.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
All, Joe Milton is is a this is what he
was in college.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
This is what he is in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I've been very tongue in cheek my entire career with
Joe mil There will be halves he looks like Joe
Montana with movement, and there will be halves that he disappears.
That's what he was in college. So everybody knows what
Joe Milton. You're not gonna get it. You may get
a six or seventh round pick for Joe Milton in
the end. If you want to protect Dak, that's fine.
But I do think what we're seeing in the NFL,
(20:19):
and you're seeing it with more than a few teams
with Mendoza out there. I wouldn't use the word tank,
but liberal use of backup quarterbacks and backup players.
Speaker 10 (20:29):
Yeah, the third string starts, by the way, Lamar, I
don't know if we'll talk about it later.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
It looks like he's not going to play.
Speaker 10 (20:34):
It's his backup quarterbacks all over the league.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
A lot of teams packing it in Colin.
Speaker 10 (20:38):
Let's go to Chicago and Ben Johnson can't stop talking
about Ben Johnson.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Man. Wow, he has been transformative for the Bears and
he's helped Caleb Williams a lot.
Speaker 10 (20:49):
He said that everyone talks about Caleb's arm, but he's
been blown away by Caleb's competitive drive.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
He loves football, he wants to be great.
Speaker 10 (20:57):
It is a far cry, of course, from all the
off the field nonsense we heard about a usc with
the fingernails and blah blah blah. Caleb's been a model citizen.
You know, he's done a good job. Seems like face
of the franchise potential in Chicago. Yeah, positive stuff from
Ben Johnson.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, I mean there's two or three things. I've watched
every snap in college and pro. I think I missed
maybe one or two USC games. Doesn't throw a lot
of picks, good at the microphone, durable, huge arm, unbelievable movement.
I rad remember talking to an NFL GM halfway through
his last year at USC, and he says he's really erratic.
(21:35):
He can make great throws and missed the easy ones. Well,
that's kind of what he is. But I do think
we're getting to a time in the NFL where, especially
on your rookie contract, when you can stack rosters fifty
nine sixty percent, it's fine. You can win a lot
of games. You can have a lot of bad drives
in this league. Bo Nicks does, and he's going to
be a number one seed. So I don't think there's
anything about Caleb Williams other than wow, he's talented. Just
(21:58):
keep polishing, just keep refining. It's year two of these
guys will even be better.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
Yeah, and finally, the final story, Calm. The biggest story
in sports yesterday was the San Antonio Spurs dominating, dominating,
the unbelievable OKAC thunder all I've been here in colin Is, Okay,
sees the dynasty. They are going to run this league
for years. They've now been swept oh and three in
the three meetings this year against the Spurs, who are
(22:24):
a young, awesome, fun to watch team. Wembin Yama is
talking trash. By the way, this was not a wembin
Yama dominate game. He didn't drop forty and twenty. Wemban
Yama's like on a minute restriction. Still, that's how good
the Spurs are. Here's Wemby talking about going three and
oh against the Thunders so far this season.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
This is like a playoff series, playing them three times
in ten days.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Maybe, uh.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
So we learn a lot of the tactical side, but
I think they're I don't want to say too much better.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Keep some for first.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Well, Stefan Castle, who was a beast at Connecticut, is
an unbelievable NBA player. He's one of those guys that
the people that know basketball and watch basketball would put
it in an all Star team and the casuals don't
watch him. Stefan Castle physically intimidated people in college. He's
doing the exact same thing in the NBA. He is
(23:22):
one of those guys. Very rarely do you have a
guy in the NBA, I mean outside of superstars, but
Klay Thompson was this Clay in his prime, defended catch
and shoot, didn't need the ball. Clay would have worked
on every roster in the league. Stefan Castle works on
every single roster. Tough, physical, and anytime Stefan Castle's guarding you.
(23:44):
In fact, we looked it up. He held players to
three for thirteen shooting yesterday.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
He is a I mean, like I would.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Say glue guy, but he's a great player. He is
so fundamental to what they're trying to do. If you
just said the two best players the next five years
in San Antonio are Stefan Castle and Wemby, that's good
enough to win a title. Those those guys are high
end dudes.
Speaker 10 (24:05):
Castle is an utterly dominant force. I mean, you know,
I like NBA jerseys. I have made a no Castle
is gonna be my next jersey, And I don't like
the Spurs Colin.
Speaker 7 (24:13):
This kid is unbelievable at both ends. But I love
what I saw.
Speaker 10 (24:16):
Remember all the Darren Fox is he gonna be able
to play with Harper? They're on the floor together cooking
sga in Company and Colin. I know the Wemben Yama
chet stuff is fun, but we have audio here. They
miked up Wemben Yama on Christmas Day, chet Homegrin missed
the free throw.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
You listen to wemban.
Speaker 10 (24:31):
Yama at the foul line, Dan, you and I know
these two have a lot of history throwing back to
their day's battery is teenager. He's cheering on Oh my godness,
he's cheering on chet Homegrind miss free throws.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
That's how passionate Wemby is. Colin.
Speaker 10 (24:47):
I'm gonna be real with you. The Spurs are the
best team in the NBA right now. I don't think
you can even argue.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Right now, Absolutely, right now they are. No.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
No, I think listen, the West isn't ridiculous. Okay, see Spurs, Denver,
Dallas is playing better.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Rockets are really really good.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Minnesota, Minnesota Soota.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
No, I mean you, there's an argument the six best
teams in the league are all West.
Speaker 7 (25:11):
Well, the Knicks are, they're.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
In, They're in that they would be fifth or sixth
in I would say in the in the West.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
By the way, Yeah, I know.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
You watched Nick caves at the ending, I'm gonna be
start pitching Tyler Kohlik stories. He's the new Jeremy Lynn
in New York, the kid out of market. Tyler Kolek
is money. People love it.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
They're going crazy for Tyler.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Cole j Mack with the News.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
So we talked about this. I think we talked about
this the day before Christmas. Yeah, our Christmas Eve show
that there was a story that came out from a
respected Baltimore Ravens reporter that said, there's there's some fissures
between Lamar Jackson and the organization. Now the organization's gonna
defend Lamar. You know how this works. You know you've
(25:59):
been around long enough. I'm not going to try to
convince you, Lebron Lamar is a bad guy or a
perfect guy. But some of the stuff you would not
print that if you were a long time beat reporter
unless you heard it. And John Harbaugh yesterday defended him.
But I did say, at any one time in the NFL,
there's about six quarterbacks. If you're the GM you don't
(26:21):
even pick up the phone. There's another six that you
don't call people, but you would take a phone call.
Maybe your guy has an injury history, can be a
little temperamental, hasn't been good in big spots. And then
there's fifteen gms that are on the phone trying to
get better quarterbacks. And I think Lamar has gone from
group one to group two, which is still very very good.
(26:42):
And I said to Miami Dolphin, shoul look at him.
He's from Miami, wants to play there. Remember, people say, well,
we're already paying Tua. You could get the Ravens to
pay a lot of Lamar's contract if they wanted to
move off him. But the obvious team that should go
look at him is the New York Jets. They have
two first round picks. They can't develop quarterbacks. It's called
good Sam Darnold is now. They have no history of
(27:03):
doing that.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Well, we're gonna go get a quarterback. Oh it's a
bad quarterback class. Good luck. You think Aaron Glenn's gonna
develop your quarterback? Okay, good luck?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I mean my takeaway is the Jets are currently picking
four two teams higher than them. Raiders Cleveland may take quarterbacks.
So the day one that Lamar Jackson. If he signed
with the Jets day one, your playoff viable. I mean,
you saw it New England did in six months. You
don't think the Jets could do that with Lamar Jackson.
(27:35):
Jets have some players. So it's been a decade straight
of the Jets being atrocious offensively. They show no ability.
I mean, we don't know if Aaron Glen's a head coach,
but they've shown no ability with multiple head coaches to
develop quarterbacks. They don't have that kind of ecosystem. They're
the opposite of the Packers. They just can't do it.
(27:55):
So to me, they've had a head coach quarterback issue
for years. They have two first round picks, a good
quarterback draft. Aaron Glenn wants to win. Now, you're not
winning with this roster. I mean, you had Aaron Rodgers
past his prime. Look how much better he is now.
So I mean, to me, i'm the Jets GM, do
I explore this absolutely?
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Absolutely?
Speaker 6 (28:15):
I do.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I mean, if I'm Aaron Glenn, I'm not even quiet
about it. You're gonna go with ty Simpson at Alabama
on a reach Go ahead and reach for kid Klubnick
ty Simpson, who whoever's available.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
I think he's falling out. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Now, if Dante Moore comes out, maybe then you move
up for him. But if he doesn't. If Dante Moore
doesn't come out, I mean the Giants. I've argued the
Giant should consider Mendoza and move off Dark.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So you look at.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I mean Lamar Jackson versus the Jets quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
The staff did this.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Lamar Jackson NFL career seventy six and thirty Jets quarterbacks
thirty nine and ninety two.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Seems like he would solve some issues, does it not.
I mean, and that's worse in the league. The completion
percentage for Lamar Jackson, known more as a runner, although
he's good in the pocket, sixty five percent completion percentage.
Jets quarterbacks since twenty eighteen are last in the league
at fifty nine percent. So they've shown no ability. Now
they have a defensive coach, no ability to develop quarterbacks.
(29:21):
You got a couple of picks you wouldn't consider this.
I mean, you've been drafted high in the first round forever,
You've been bad forever.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
It's not working again.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
It's not like again, if Dante Moore comes out, that
could solve it. Somebody takes Mendoza, you move up a slot.
Cleveland may stay with Shador Sanders. I don't know, maybe
they should. Raiders are drafted a quarterback. So I'm just
saying sometimes it's just worthy of a discussion. I think
(29:54):
now now John Harbaugh, he's saying those those reports on Lamar, well,
I don't know where this stuff is coming from.
Speaker 12 (30:03):
I don't know where that's coming from. I've never seen
I've never seen that ever. You know, that's that's not
something that that I've ever witnessed. And I'm in every meeting.
Our relationship is a plus. So I love him, always have,
always will, and I always fighting like crazy to get back.
Believe me, if he can go out there and do it,
this guy's on the ultimate competitors that you're ever.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
Going to see.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I don't think there's any question about that. But I've
said this with the Giants, you don't have a right
to be arrogant.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
You have to.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Consider drafting Mendos. Doesn't mean you have to draft him.
You have to sit down and talk about it. The
Jets have to sit down and talk about Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
You can't just say we develop quarterbacks here. Now that's
Green Bay. Okay, that's not what you do.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter Non a Em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Here we Go.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
There are reports Dan Wetzel saying Kyle Whittingham gonna be
the new coach for the Michigan Wolverines.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
That's a good get.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
He's sixty six mind and body looks mid fifties. Both
the hardballs are in the sixties. Some guys are just
they play younger. They are younger. Whittingham workout guy, ski guy.
He is in shape, and I love the hire actually
become very very solid. Higher two reasons. He's an ethical guy.
There's no bs. Whatever Kyle tells you is the truth.
(31:30):
There's just no bs with him, straight shooter. The second
thing is he's a culture builder.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
I like that a lot. He's gonna make them tough.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Utah was always the one school in the Pac twelve
that played like a Big ten team, tight ends, o line,
tough linebackers, but you didn't always love.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Their quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
So he's been making three star guys, five star guys,
and four star guys for years. He's finally gonna get
some five star guys and he's just a really loyal guy.
He's one of those guys. He said last week, He's like,
you know, I'd rather leave before I get pushed out.
And I think he's a really good higher. I don't
think you can do better. I mean, Taylor de Boor
was my first choice, but if you're telling me Kyle
(32:14):
Winningham is the second choice, that's a good choice. Matt
Campbell went to Penn State. I'm like, if you'd have
fired Franklin hired him the next day, I would have said,
good hire. If you would have the Sharon more stuff.
If he would have left and Winningham was your first call,
I would have no problem with that. So that doesn't
(32:34):
mean he's going to succeed. But he builds cultures, he
knows how to develop players. His teams have never They've
always been good with special teams, good with line play,
really tough, very very big ten football. A lot of
people criticize USC because they're pretty and finesse, but it's
not big ten football, A fair criticism. Kyle Whittingham's Utah
(32:55):
teams they bullied you. They make tight ends block. I
mean they put a lot of NFL guys out there,
considering they get three star recruits. So they had the
number one ranked defense in the Pac twelve. The Kyle
Whittingham era, I got news for you. They didn't have
the number one recruiting classes. They had the number one
defense in the conference. So I've you know, you used
(33:17):
to spend a lot of time in Utah and watched
a lot of Utah football games. That's a well coached
team and they had a long time assistant Whittingham leaves,
so Utah'll be fine. They got the guys running the program.
They're an excellent program. I've said before, if you really
took the four best fits to go from the Pac
twelve to the Big ten, it would have been Oregon, Washington,
(33:38):
USC in Utah. Utah kind of got hose. But it's
a smaller Salt Lake city, a smaller market than UCLA.
But this is a real program. UCLA, it kind of
feels like they're hamming egging it. They don't really have
the budget they get. Utah is good program. They got
money behind it.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
They got big.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
That Salt Lake economy has been on fire for a decade,
so there's a lot of money in Utah, good economy.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Good coach. Way to go Michigan. That's a good get.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
So the most I mean, I'll be honest, the most
interesting team in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
And I've said this all year. I want to see
the Buffalo Bills make the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
And I love Harvon Herbert, but I'm just saying Macro
for the NFL, wouldn't it be great?
Speaker 4 (34:23):
I mean, they're not.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
The Chicago Cubs, because the Cubs were just poorly running
awful for years. The Bills have often been smartly owned,
smartly run, good coaches, good jims. They're not the Cubs,
but they've had you know, they've run into buzzsaws and Mahomes,
and they've run into dynasties and the Cowboys when they
had Jim Kelly. So what's interesting is am I unrealistic
(34:46):
to say going into the playoffs they have got to
get to the AFC Championship or you got to change coaches.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
I'm not saying you have to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
In fact, if you lost in overtime to Jacksonville and
Trevor Lawrence twenty seven, twenty six, I'd give you that,
but you got to get their minimum. No Mahomes, no Borough,
no Lamar Jackson. Herbert's got a broken hand and a
pitiful offensive line.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Stroud has no offense, and Drake May and Bo Nicks
are kids. If you look at the current AFC playoff
quarterbacks right now, there's a forty two year old guy,
a couple of twenty three and twenty five year old guys.
It is kids. And that doesn't mean McDermott is not
a good coach. I'll give you an example, Doug Collins.
Michael Jordan loved Doug Collins. Doug Collins three straight playoffs
(35:38):
with the Chicago Bulls, won fifty seven percent of his games.
They needed a change. Mark Jackson was winning games in
Golden State. Steve Kirk comes in. They needed a change.
They needed somebody that was better for Steph Curry. Dan
Reeves was not a bad coach. Dan Reeves was an
excellent coach. But John needed his king maker and it
(36:02):
was Mike Shanahan. Tony Dungeee excellent coach, but they felt
like they needed more fire John Druden.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
So I think Sean McDermott.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Is a very, very capable coach, very very capable coach.
But last year, when you're watching them situationally on those
fourth and ones and it feels like they kind of
make it up on the sidelines, I'm like, I don't know,
but this year you got young kids, the superstars are out. Patriots,
(36:37):
I'd argue, still in a rebuild. I mean, Denver's still
paying cap hits with Russell Wilson, so their roster could
be better and probably will be better next year. And
then drake Man vow Nicks. Now now we're in year three,
so those guys become like year three. Light goes on.
Liam Cohen, this is year one. Jacksonville could be better
(36:58):
next year, Denver, New England quarterback better next year. Pittsburg
if Aaron retires, falls back, maybe Chargers should be better
next year because they'll have both of their tackles back
and another hardball recruiting class. So I'm showing this to
the TV audience this and again. Justin Herbert, if he
didn't have a broken hand and had both of his
(37:18):
starting tackles, I'd let you lose to them too. But
here's Josh Allen on the Bills making the playoffs again.
Speaker 9 (37:25):
The way that I put it in terms is to
win the lottery. You got to buy a ticket to
win a super Bowl. You got to make the playoffs.
You know, getting into the playoffs is our ticket. Now
what we do with that is up to us and
going out there and executing Nation every week. And obviously
you want to go into the playoffs playing as well
as you can. And obviously there's still a chance for
(37:45):
us to win the division, and obviously we need help
doing that. We want to come out and take it
one game at a time and still have that backs
against the wall mentality and you know, try to play
our best football going into it.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, kind of feel like you gotta get to the
AFC Championship. I'll give you a loss. I'll give you
a loss on the road to Jacksonville. If it's a
wild shootout, I feel you play well. Your coach well
probably could give you a path on that. But man,
you can't stub your toe early. You can't be losing
to Bonnicks and Drake May. And this one sets up
(38:17):
for you because remember bone Russell Wilson, cap hits gone,
Denver's better next year, Bone Nick's another year, Drake May.
They're gonna get their O line four to five through
free agency or the draft.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
Patriots are better.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Herbert's gonna have his tackles back, So those three teams
are all better. And you could you know, Kansas City
and Baltimore probably our playoff teams the following year. You
get these little tiny windows. You gotta get it right.
That's what it feels like to me. By the way,
(38:51):
j Max, I have a blazing five. Top of the hour,
I went, all dogs. I haven't done this all year?
Wait what all four dogs and an and I've been
all year a very good way.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
When did you When did you submit these?
Speaker 10 (39:04):
Because three dogs covered yesterday depending on what number you got.
Speaker 7 (39:09):
Is this influenced by which you know?
Speaker 1 (39:11):
No, no, no, but the weather's crappy. You have teams
that could clinch a playoff or winn into There's some
teams out there that I like a lot. And I
also think it is hard for favorites this time of
the year. You are looking to the postseason. You don't
think you don't think some of these teams are like Philadelphia.
(39:31):
I don't feel like they're kind I mean, now, now,
I like Philadelphia because I think they'll run the ball
to the Bills. But it's a weird time of the
year where some teams are tanking soft tanking. Other teams
are rest starters, underdogs. All this stuff's on film. Some
of these viable underdogs are looking to clinch stuff. I
have not done this. Now I may go zero for five.
(39:52):
I went four oho to one last week. I was
I was almost perfect last week. Uh this, I have
not done four dogs all year long. I judge all
the numbers to me. You're you like dogs as well?
Speaker 7 (40:05):
Uh well, I like one. Uh I think we both
agree on We'll see. We'll see after the break.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Yeah, very excited. J Max.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Stick around me. I'll get you some lettuce. Pay for
those Christmas presents.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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