January 8, 2026 • 41 mins
Colin Cowherd reacts to BREAKING NFL NEWS: the Dolphins fire head coach Mike McDaniel. Colin explains what this means for John Harbaugh and the other 7 opening across the league
Even though Patriots QB Drake Maye has had a great season, Colin feels strength of schedule should give the award to Rams QB Matt Stafford
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Episode Transcript
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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 (00:25):
Oh suddenly, breaking news. Suddenly, Kevin Stefanski, John Harbaugh have
real leverage and the teams do not. We are live.
We're in Los Angeles. It is the Herd. Wherever you
may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making
(00:48):
us part of the day. Tom Brady one hour from
now go, one hour from now stop spot So this
broke thirty minutes ago. The Dolphins, little bit of a surprise,
have fired Mike McDaniel, their head coach. I don't blame
him for all the Miami losses. I don't think he's
(01:09):
the ultimate culture changer. I think he's a smart guy.
I think he's a scheme guy. I don't think he's
a culture guy. I don't think he's really an NFL
head coach. I think he's a brilliant coordinator. Dolphins owner
Stephen Ross met with him this week and just didn't
feel right rolling it back. Also a story this morning
(01:29):
the Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has a connection to the
Harball family. Oh, the coveted New York Giants job, which
we said yesterday was the second best job to Baltimore,
is it now third? Baltimore is the best job open
currently open. It's the best job, Lamar Jackson, great roster,
amazing culture.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That's the best job.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I said yesterday, Giants second best job. I'm bullish on
the Giants for a lot of reasons, Jackson, Dart neighbors,
and Thomas Skataboo Abdul Carter, a lot of reasons. But
Miami probably now what I'm hearing, gives control to John
Harbaugh to choose the GM and the Giants. They retained
(02:19):
Joe Shane in the league not considered elite. So suddenly
the coveted New York Giant job yesterday is at best
third to a guy like John Harbaugh. And we said
this yesterday. The Giants don't need another coordinator and roll
the dice on it. They don't even need necessarily a
(02:40):
scheme guy. They need a culture changer. They haven't had
a good culture since Tom Coughlin. So Baltimore could use
a scheme guy because they have a great culture. Stefanski'd
be great in Baltimore. So and remember John Harbaugh knowing
Miami connection. The Giants are interested, though they haven't talked.
(03:02):
I would guess if I was John Harbaugh or his agent,
I'd wait and see what happens Buffalo against Jacksonville this weekend,
because if Buffalo loses, I have to believe maybe how
they lose, But if they lose, Josh Allen's looking for
a coach with a great left tackle, with a great
running back, with a superstar quarterback, that's pretty good. That's
(03:26):
pretty good. So then if Buffalo loses the New York
Giants job, in my opinions, second most coveted job yesterday
is now four, you'd have Buffalo would be number one,
Baltimore would be number two. If Harbaugh can choose his
GM suddenly. Now Miami is three and the Giants are
(03:47):
at best four. Well, folks, there are never four great
coaching candidates. Then you get into coordinators. Right now, you
have two great candidates. John Harbaugh the best culture changer
on the market, just like his brother was a couple of.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Years ago, like vrabel was.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And Stefanski I think can do the culture thing, but
he's really no Schematically, he is a very very smart guy.
You could attach him to Lamar Jackson the culture and
the talent. The roster's already there. Ravens would be favored
to win their division. And the minute you hire Kevin Stefanski.
So there's an old saying, strike when the iron is hot.
(04:26):
If Jim horror Maaw can coach in SoCal, then John
Harbaugh can coach in South Miami Beach like they work
just fine. I know you think Harbaugh's cold weather. Nah,
Jim's doing just find in La. John would do just
fine in South Beach. So my guess is the Miami
News today McDaniel out connection Ross family and Harbaugh's. If
(04:51):
I'm the New York Giants, I probably jump on Kevin
Stefanski and offer him the job today. I would probably
offer if I ran the New York Giants today, I
would offer Stefanski the job.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I'm not waiting.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I don't want to play musical chairs and get left
without a chair with Harball because let's be honest, Buffalo
is a better job with Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I'm not even mentioning Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I don't think Harball and his personality works in green Bay,
Jim or John, but that could be an attractive job
for Kevin Stefanski. So forget, just for a second, the
John Harbaugh piece. Stefanski, you have Jackson Dart, a lot
of your talents on offense, neighbors Andrew Thomas Skataboo. Jackson
(05:37):
Dart probably draft a tight end. Wouldn't he be nice
to have an offensive coach, even temperament not as intense
as stay Ball. Wouldn't that be nice? But what if
Green Bay, Buffalo, Baltimore, Miami? I mean, so Stefanski, Now,
I would love to be Kevin Stefanski's agent today.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
He's got all the.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Leverage in the world. And if I'm the New York Giants,
I probably go out and I hire Stefanski and let
him build his staff, because remember, John Harbaugh is going
to build a staff. Steven Ross is the second or
third richest owner, so Harbaugh is going to get his
pick of the letter in Miami on the staff. You
don't want to hire the fourth coach who's getting the
(06:20):
fourth best receiver coach, the fourth best offensive line coach.
If you hire Stefanski today, you get a jump on
hardball who's probably waiting for the weekend results. Don't let Stefanski,
you know. So it's the old Sean McVay interviewed with
the Rams. They wouldn't let him leave the building. They're like,
we're not the stan Kronkey unless Needer like, we can't
(06:40):
let this kid leave the building. So I think it's
very interesting that this Miami job could have screwed up
the New York Giants and the air thing. If you're Harbaugh,
I mean New York and Miami. There's got to be
a lot of guys. The richer owner is Miami, no
state tax. Very attractive to free agents. Miami is. Miami's
(07:03):
always one of those you can look at the Jets
and Giants and say, what a train wreck. The truth
is Miami doesn't bought them out much. Even though they
miss on coaches and quarterbacks. It always feels like they're
hovering around five hundred. Hell Brady for years struggled going
down to Miami and beating them. Tom Brady struggled for
years against inferior teams. He and Belichick would go down there.
So Miami never feels like they bought him out. I
(07:26):
think it's an attractive job. So this is really really
interesting that Miami just throw a wrench into the Giants.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
You can listen.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It feels like everybody is scrambling for a homecoming date, right,
everybody's looking for a date here. And if I'm the
New York Giants very quickly after this weekend, if Buffalo
and Green Bay loss, how do you know? You don't
wake up on a Monday morning and you're the fifth
best job. But if you go and get us to
fans key and you beat everybody to the punch and
(08:00):
he starts building a staff, well then you're going to
get the best O line coach on the market, and
the best DC on the market, and the best receiver
coach on the market.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
That's an advantage. Crazy all right.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I'm not a big awards guy in terms of like
pro sports highs, but I used to have a Heisman vote.
I'm not really into that stuff. Like we all know
who's good and who isn't. But the Matt Stafford Drake
May MVP and it's down to those two folks. I
don't think. I don't think it's terribly close. You have
to consider schedules. Thirteen of fourteen New England wins, we're
(08:30):
against teams with losing records. The best team New England
played was Buffalo, and they don't have a good defense.
So Stafford beat the number one defense Houston, the number
two defense Seattle against the top ten defense Jacksonville. Stafford
had five touchdowns and no picks. He also played Philadelphia
and which is the top five defense, and San Francisco twice.
(08:52):
And I think we all admit remarkably, Solam made that
a really decent defense despite having no big name players.
So you have to consider strength of schedule. Why because
the NFL literally uses it as one of its tie breakers.
So you you know, it's like the college football resume thing.
You have to consider strength of schedule. And it's not
(09:14):
that the Rams had a harder schedule. Here's the problem.
The Rams have the number one most difficult schedule of
all fourteen playoff teams, and the Patriots have the weakest
NFL schedule in twenty six years. You're talking the difference
between you know, the SEC, the big ten in the
Mountain West. It's not the New England schedules kind of weak.
(09:38):
It's the weakest in twenty six years. And it's not
that the Rams have a tough schedule. It's the number
one toughest schedule of the fourteen remaining playoff teams. Stafford
had better numbers against much better competition. I'm not saying
they both didn't get a four point oh GPA, but
Stafford was taken ap courses to get his four point
(09:59):
Houston Seattle twice, Solid twice, Jacksonville, Philadelphia. If you look
at matt against playoff teams this year, over two thousand
passing yards, twenty two touchdowns, three interceptions, and a one
zero seven passer rating. That's against playoff teams. You have
to consider schedule. The NFL literally does for its tie breakers.
(10:23):
Here's Sean mcvayh on Stafford.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I think Matthew's the MVP of the league. He played
that way. Wouldn't want anybody else leading the way.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Got a lot of respect for a bunch of people
in this league, but there's nobody I'd rather have being
the quarterback of the LA Rams than Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
His play speaks for itself.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Listen, Drake May, A little bit of it is the
shiny new object syndrome He's the new toy everybody, you know,
the new popular kid in school. I get it, Drake
May's fantastic, But you're talking about the easiest schedule in
twenty six years, and the best team they played really
isn't a great defensive team.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
In Buffalo. That was the tough one. Sorry. I got
to go with Matt Stafford.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
PFF, by the way, on all their metrics has Stafford
number one, and they lay list several he was, you know,
best on play action, best against playoff teams, best on this,
best on that. PFF knocks it down to data and
it's it's Stafford. Doesn't mean I don't think Drake May
is not going to win four of them.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
J Mack.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
This Miami Dolphin News is really really throwing a wrench
into what was perceived yesterday. The Giants was a very
coveted job. If the stories about Ross and the Harbaugh
connection are true, the Giants now are the third best
job in the market.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
So that's a tough one. I don't know Harball well enough.
What does he want? Does he want to build something because.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
All Harbaugh's want one thing. Control?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Well, he could he could, Jake, he could easily push
Joe Shane out in New York. Hey, I'll take the job,
but I ain't having him as my GM. Right, can't
pick your own GM. You could do that in Miami
because they don't have a GM. So then you're looking at, well,
where's a quicker path to victory you're gonna win in
facing Drake may Well?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You Josh will never know that. Did anybody know in
New England was going to be this good? Or Denver
this good? Or Seattle this good? Or last year Washington
this good or Denver?
Speaker 5 (12:16):
That?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
You don't really know in the NFL unless you have
Josh Allen or you know, even Patrick Mahomes missed the
playoffs this year.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
See, you don't really know.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I just but the one thing you do know is
you have Jackson Dart on his rookie deal. I love,
he showed promise and Tua is expensive.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I do not.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
I don't know what the path is to a great quarterback.
But you have to remember how those guys like the
Harbaughs think. Is that in my lifetime when you meet
very I would say alpha, confident, aggressive men. Here's what
they don't say, boy, that one's the easier path. They
don't think Sean Payton literally with Russell Wilson at quarterback,
(12:56):
who he knew he didn't fit, was said, I'll take
the Denver job. And you're like, Andy Reid and Mahomes
are in the division. Did Sean Payton go, WHOA, I
want to go? I want to go coach.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
He left the easiest division, the NFC South, Sean Payton did.
He left the easiest place to win that he had dominated,
to go to a division with Andy Reid's Spags and Mahomes.
And that's what winners do. They don't care. They think
about their job, not their opponents.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
So you think it's your leaning. He goes Miami.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
It's early what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I think he would choose Buffalo if they had an opening.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Josh Allen in his prime for at.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Least four more years, that's an obvious that's an obvious
one new stadium, unbelievable fans, and then I think he
would probably.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
He doesn't fit in Green Bay. Hardballs don't fit in
Green Bag.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Is there an opening?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
No, I'm just saying that there's reports that I think
it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I don't totally ridiculous. Think Lafleur is more than capable.
But I think right now the best job opening is Baltimore.
But John just lost that job. But if Miami's in
play then and John, let's say Buffalo wins. It does
feel like Miami would be the choice over New York
if you get control. I'll tell you who's sweating it is.
(14:18):
Joe Shane this news well, I mean he's hit on
you know, Scataboo is a great get. Jackson Dart, I
mean he's got some hits. Andrew Thomas left tackle. The
Giants have players. I am bullish on the Doctor's solid.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
He just I mean that I can't get over the
Daniel Jones sak One Barkley.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, but drafted him, and the Barkley thing's on Shane.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
That's on him. That's a complete whiff.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, major, all right, we.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Got we got oh tonight baby college football playoff? Why
Niner fans should be a little worried this morning with
their coach?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's the hurt.
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None of the bull.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So tonight college football Miami favored. I think they beat
Old Miss very very exciting. So there is a reason
that true crime podcasts, mob documentaries, breaking bad sopranos so popular.
(16:06):
It's not a life you'd want to live, but it
is fascinating and dangerous and crazy and wild, and that's
why we just keep seeing more true crime shows. That's
college football in twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. It's wild.
Is it sustainable, Absolutely, it's sustainable. What wasn't sustainable is Bama,
(16:28):
Georgia and Clemson in Ohio State by week four looking
like once again they were the four best teams ratings
and attendants were down. Nick Saban complained at the end
of his run in Alabama he could not sell out
home out of conference games. The sport got dull, even
for the dynasty. This is incredibly sustainable because the revenue
(16:51):
is growing like crazy. Mark Cuban never cared about college football.
He just wrote a twelve million dollar check to Indiana.
Larry L and you have all these billionaires now writing
massive checks Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Washington, USSE.
The revenue and the Big ten's exploding with Texas, Texas,
(17:12):
A and M joining Georgia, Alabama. The revenue is exploding.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
In the SEC.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It's far what's not sustainable was the old model, where
the ratings and the revenue were going down. That's why
the Pac ten disbanded. They gave schools like USC and
UCLA thirty five million a year. USC is now going
to make ninety million a year at the Big Ten
and that's growing. There'll be at one hundred and twenty
in five or six years. It's totally sustainable. I mean,
(17:45):
it's crazy. It's like old miss I mean it is
a little bit like a little breaking bad Bravo wishes
they had the drama of Old Miss their coach gets
poached by arrival LSU. You got coaches for Old Miss
Sea sawing back and forth to LSU right now. I mean,
it's it's real Coaches of the SEC. It's like a
(18:07):
housewife show. It's crazy, but it's absolutely sustainable when revenue
is great. Even debt in this country is sustainable. Debt
in Europe's a problem. Their economy is not growing like ours.
Our economy. You keep hearing economists say the economy we
were predicting of a recession, but it's very resilient economy
(18:30):
because our economy just keeps growing.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
It's separated from Europe.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
So I don't love debt either, but it remained sustainable
because our economy is growing. The economy of college football
is exploding. Well, we just can't keep paying. Mark Cuban
just wrote a twelve million dollar check. You got all
sorts of billionaires, two hundred millionaires writing huge checks right now.
The conferences are growing in revenue, that's fine. I mean,
(18:57):
I get Oregon and Miami and miss and Indiana.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
The ratings are going to be huge for these games.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So I keep hearing all these fear mongering these death
sentences of college football. College football popularity and criticism are
both at an all time high.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Folks, that's good television.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
When you're driving revenue, you're popular, and it's love hate
and it's polarizing. When Bama was running the sport, I
wasn't that polarizing. It was predictable. Now it's polarizing the
better p word. So the NFL has always been to
me the sport of hope, where you can go from
awful New England nine months later you're great. You can't
(19:41):
do that in baseball you need like six drafts. Half
the teams can't afford. The good player. Can't do that
in the NBA, it takes years to become as good
as like a San Antonio. You need breaks to get wimby.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Hire the right coach, have a good young quarterback, stack
your roster. Awful the good boom that's Indiana unwatchable to
best team ever? Are they gonna go sixteen to zero?
And you're telling me this isn't sustainable. Here's Pete Golding,
the old Miss coach, on the fallout of the Lane
(20:14):
Kiffa drama and him leaving the program.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
The timing of when it happened, In my opinion, couldn't
happen at a better time for the players because everything
was already in place. The only thing that was different
who's running out of tunnel? And to be honest with you,
I don't think the players give a damn who runs
about the tunnel? Does? It makes sense that they care
about their plan, they care about getting held accountable right
and how they're going to prepare, and they care about people.
(20:37):
They care about them all right, And I think that's
been the message our players have created. But I don't
have to say to anybody else.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So think about this.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
The biggest s show the last three four or five
weeks in the SEC is the only team standing. The
biggest mess in the SEC has been Old Miss Oh Maya.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
What in God's neck?
Speaker 1 (21:01):
If they win tonight, that are in the National Championship.
Young people can handle drama. The Ole Miss players, I
don't care who runs them out of the tunnel. They
just lost their great coach. They're like, all right, whatever,
let's go beat Georgia.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Everything is gonna be okay.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
When revenue is great, even debt, you can live with it.
When revenue is great, you can live with this college
football drama. Take a deep breath. How are these teams
going to afford it?
Speaker 7 (21:32):
All?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
These schools.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Have billionaire graduates, and I'm seeing some of these people
write checks they I didn't even know they liked college football.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I didn't know the Mark Cuban was a college football
like he was a basketball guy. J Mack with a.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
News no, no, turn on the news. This is the
Herdline news.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
All right, let's go to the NFL playoffs. Colin. Your
bears struggled down this stretch, final two games, the offense
not totally clicking. Ben Johnson was not thrilled, but he's
trying to stay positive heading into the big game against
the Packers this weekend, saying Caleb Williams was built for
these moments, and Caleb, he agrees, I am bifie moments.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Mentality wise, how I've worked.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
And so you know, that's that's I've been in a
bunch of big games before and a bunch of big rival.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Games, and so you know, in those moments and in
these moments that.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
You know, I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I think I can provide a spark for the team.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
I think I can, you know, do whatever my team
needs me to do.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I like him. I think it's a weather advantage. Thirty
mile an hour wins favors the run game and the
old line, and that is clearly a Bears advantage. And
right now Caleb's playing better than Jordan Love because he's
playing more than Jordan Love.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Well, So, Colin, I dug into this game a little bit.
So do you know how long the Bears have led for?
How many minutes? How many plays in the Bears Packers
games this season?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
You mean at the very end of the game or no,
no total plays.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
In minutes in the game. The answer zero. They have
not led for one second against the Packers this season
in two meetings. I'm a little nervous about the Bears now,
So I did go, and I'm on the Packers officially.
I hope we're not head to head. I know that's
your squadroom for the Bears and Caleb and Ben. It's
just if their defense is not generating turnovers, and they
(23:31):
led the league in turnover margin by a mind.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
What happens though, when it's thirty miles an hour and
it's cold, and maybe the weather generates a turno.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
The under cashes. I mean, I don't see this a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Because we know Caleb Williams does not turn the ball over.
He's durable and doesn't turn it over. You can criticize
them all you want. He doesn't turn the ball over
and he doesn't get hurt.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
He's done a good job of it.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Jordan Love, Yeah, gets banged up and can occasionally turn
it over.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
So the weird thing about the Packers, They're gonna have
their full arsenal of receiver Jayden Reed, who missed a
lot of time with the collarbone. Watson's healthy now. And
I brought this up, so the Packers and Bears had
one of the earliest buys. Yes, the Packers had to
buy last week, all their guys sat. The Bears weren't
a battle till the final minutes against the Lions. I
just wonder if the Bears are a little worn down.
(24:17):
I'm not trying to influence your pig.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
No, listen, what a great season. I think it's a
very close game.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, I'm not saying it's I like, yeah, I mean,
I I like some of the I think it's going
to be a run game dominated team. I think Ben
Johnson's going to create a lot of run. Caleb move,
Caleb run backs, run short tight end stuff. It's going
to be a very They're not throwing the ball down
the field. I think they're like Christian Watson is great.
(24:44):
Is he gonna matter in thirty mile an hour wins.
It's a good part of Land that plan in thirty
mile an hour wins. Yeah, he's their deep threat.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
It gonna be a good game.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Oh, I think it's gonna be. It's gonna be the
biggest game in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
In a long time.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
To get field passes for this. Go down on the
field and check things out in.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
The end house pass seventy two degrees.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
I'll have a bowl of turkey chili sitting front.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
No more enchiladas. A right, Let's go to the next game.
And that's uh oh, we're going to Josh Allen and
the Buffalo Bills are a big one. I mean the
ramifications here are massive. I didn't realize this. Josh Allen
is looking to avoid going zero to five on the
road in playoff games. Wow, and he's facing that tough
Jags defense. They are sneaky good.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Yeah, as some teams have found out. Here's Liam Cohen
talking about how they plan on defending Josh Allen.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
Your rush plan has to be extremely dialed in. Your
spy game has to be dialed in if you're going
to do any of that stuff. Your zone coverage has
got to make sure that you're giving eyes obviously on
the quarterback at all times. And look, when you have
to account for the quarterback every play. You know, we
have it a luxury of that as well, in ways
(25:54):
where quarterback can take off on you. It's it's hard
to defend every blade of grass.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Boy, this is going to be good.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
We have some you know what, man, you talk about
matchups Bears, Packers, perfect Niners, the brilliant coach and the
roster were concerned of against the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Great roster and the coach. We're concerned of.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
The two quarterbacks who aren't first rounders, Hurts and Purdy.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That Niners.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
That Niner Eagle game is going to be maysed ont
a Fox playoff record. That that is going to get
a monster number.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I don't know if I trust the Bills to win
this one, though, I don't. Is gonna be a good game?
Oh my, I want listen. You know I'm a Trevor
Lawrence guy. I've been a believer a lot of people
bailed on Trevor Lawrence. What has he done? Even was
he won?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Even the Drake May Justin Herbert meeting when Drake, Oh
my god, you have two culture guys, two big strong quarterbacks.
Drake May coming out of college. They said, oh, he'll
be His comp is Justin Herbert. Both teams don't have
you know, new England Chargers. Old lines are really average
these matchups.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Who needs Patrick Mahomes? Who needs bro We don't need
those guys.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I don't care.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
We got we got good new quarterbacks. Yeah enough Mahomes.
He had a good enough run. We don't need him back.
All right. Final story, Colin, let's go Justin Herbert, best
quarterback in the AFC West this season.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Member.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
He's dealing with that fractured left hand suffered in Week thirteen,
but he did get the week eighteen rest and so
hopefully he's able to start taking more snaps under center.
He was doing that yesterday's practice, and here's Herbert talking
about the injury.
Speaker 8 (27:38):
Not taking hits on it last week was probably pretty
helpful for it limited kind of the swelling and just
getting back to, you know, making sure that you've got
full strength, being able to.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Hold on to a football.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
I would say that I was able to do most
everything out there.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
You know.
Speaker 8 (27:52):
It took some snaps today, and you know, I think
it's the point where I'm able to take snaps during
the week, So I think that's helpful. But just making
sure I can go up on the ball. You know,
I have two hands on in the pocket, and you
know how important that is the quarterback. So I think
that's been good.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
He's played through the injury. Well, we got some numbers
on him since the fracture, you know, sixty six percent completions,
seven touchdowns, four picks. He's been fine.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, he's been remarkable considering his lack of pass protection.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, did you know that he'll probably be the second
best quarterback that the Patriots have seen this season after
Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Oh, he will be Colin.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
I looked this up. The unbelievable the schedule of the Patriots played.
They played seven quarterbacks who were either benched or they
were backups to begin with Shua who ended up getting
benched for Yours, Spencer Rattler, Dylan Gabriel, Justin Fields, Joe
Flacco who was a backup, the Brady Cook, the Jets,
when they were tanking and then quinn Ewers, who.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
You know was a rookie vill it.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Listen, you have been on this game the minute the
line came out, and I you know what, generally I
stay away from your recommendation like burns of last week
at the Bengals.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I know.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Yeah, feels a rough one. But what are we doing?
Are you sticking Patriots here? A We're gonna wait for
the Blazer and what we have. If the number, I'm
waiting for the number tonight. If the number is three
and a half, you have to take the Chargers. It's
kind of a half for four.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a cold weekend. Average O line,
great coaches. You know what this game looks like. It's
twenty three to twenty. That's what this game is sounds about.
So that the hook is everything in this bat everything.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
By the way, the Chargers have one of the best
kickers in the league. Oh Cameron Dicker. Oh has a
huge weapon and I want to go back to for
Jacksonville Bills. That's also the Bills are working with the
practice squad kicker right now.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
The Jags guy's sixty little.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
He's automatic from like fifty eight sixty yards he had
from sixty seven last week, the kickers, special teams. It's important.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
I've never been this excited for a wild card. Really, Oh,
I can't wait. We don't have a Patriots dynasty or
Kansas any dynasty, meaning you don't.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Know what's gonna happen. Yeah, I have no idea what's
gonna happen. I'm still waiting to pin you down on
your two Super your Super Bowl teams, like are you
gonna go Seehawks, Bridcos and make you know? Because that's
the most fun. That's fun.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Fund's overrated. Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd line.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Right now, I've got a blazing three, So I'm gonna
put a college game in to get it to a
blazing four. And I'm just gonna keep waiting and waiting
because so tomorrow I've got three games I do like
to bet, and then and then there's a there's a
Friday college game that I feel very strongly about. Money's money,
So I'm gonna take that game. And I've got to
find a fourth NFL playoff game I like. But this
(30:43):
is gonna be remarkable.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a Empacific.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Wild Card Weekend has two huge games on Fox Saturday,
MVP front runner Matthew Stafford leads the Rams against Bryce
Young and the Panthers. Then on Sunday, Jalen Hurts and
the defending champion Eagles take on Christian McCaffrey in the
forty nine Ers. It's wild Card Weekend powered by Verizon
(31:12):
Saturday and Sunday on Fox.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
At some point there will be data in all of
our lives that explain our personality. You know, if you'd
been fired six times or married five, I can probably
make certain assumptions about you psychologically or your personality. I
think Kyle Shanahan's an unbelievable coach. I think McVeigh is
(31:37):
the best coach in the league in his prime. Andy Reid,
we know he's great. You could make an argument Shanahan's two.
But there are two numbers with Shanahan that I think
speak to his personality, and the numbers are insane since
he's been with the forty nine ers. When the Niners
trail by seven plus points just at halftime, they're one
(31:58):
and twenty nine. That makes no damn sense, right when
they trailed by seven plus points in the fourth quarter
and they've had very good quarterback play, they're own thirty eight.
Those are like last in the leak? How would you
explain that? Like that's just not random for a coach
that good. What it speaks to is my only criticism
(32:22):
ever of Shanahan, which he's too tied to his playsheet.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
He's not flexible.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Now his playsheet is second in my opinion, or maybe
first in the league. I think Andy Reid and shanahan
playsheet is as good as it gets, even better than
mcveig or Sean Payton, and so Shanahan becomes like the
anchor who never moves off the prompter or the actor
who doesn't move off the script. And you can be
(32:51):
great at both. But I do think those numbers are
so outrageous and so bizarre that it does speak to
a little bit of the Niner issue. They need to
take leads. They do not play well from behind. Buffalo
with Josh Allen plays great from behind because so much
of it is off script. McVeigh Stafford had been pretty good,
(33:14):
but Shanahan's been brutal, and so I just think it's
one of those things where there are certain personality quirks
people have, and I don't think Shanahan, Dad or son
are terribly flexible. And I mean, but you get the
upside to his play sheet, which, by the way, this
(33:35):
year he beat LA with no Jennings, no Kittle, mac
Jones and they head over four hundred yards against the
Rams defense. So the guy's an insane coach. But there
are certain numbers that don't make any sense. And when
you see that about a person, you're like, how many
times have they been?
Speaker 4 (33:53):
By?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
How many times have they been?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
He's never won a game train it probably speaks to
inflexibility in hen City and in Shanahan's case. And for
the record, the Niners use the most motion of any
team in the league by a large gap, So they're
complete innovators. So you get all of his innovation, you
get all of his brain power, you get all of
(34:15):
his experience, you get the unbelievable play design and play sheet.
But if they trail by ten points at half to
Philadelphia and the Eagles have a great opening drive to
take a lead, you can rest assured they're in big trouble,
and that's not necessarily the case. I mean, go look
at Sean Payton and bow Nicks. They're great in the
fourth quarter. Ben Johnson and Caleb better in the fourth
(34:38):
quarter than any quarter. So here's Vic Fangio facing Shanahan
this week, the Eagles defensive coordinator on the Niners offense.
Speaker 9 (34:49):
It's all package together very nicely. They give you a
lot of good motions. Everything they do is with a purpose,
and they do a really good job of it. Obviously,
he operates it very well. McCaffrey's an elite back, got
a good group of receivers, you know, Kittle it tight end.
(35:10):
I mean, they had a run where they were just
offense in the league for like six seven weeks in
a row here of late.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, but those numbers, you can put them on the
screen again.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
They're crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
You're like what I mean, Andy Reid McVeigh, Sean Payton,
other offensive innovators. They're great in the fourth quarter. Ben
Johnson's been unbelievable with Detroit and in Chicago. The Niners aren't.
Now you could also say this is it because Jimmy Garoppolo,
Mac Jones and Brock Purdy are not guys that can
(35:43):
just put an offense on their shoulders and carry him. Maybe,
but I do think there's a little bit of an
inflexibility to how Kyle coaches. It's the only knock. I
think there's an argument he's the second best coach in
the league. I think he's just an unbelievable coach. So
there's four. It's so interesting. There were fourteen quarterbacks in
(36:03):
the playoffs obviously this weekend. Twelve or first round guys
Jalen Hurts, mid second Brock Purtty as a complete outlier
again with a great quarterback whisper Kyle Shanahan. And there's
just this there's a lot of different paths to becoming
an NFL star quarterback, but mostly got to be drafted
in the first round.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
But it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
I was looking this morning at all the quarterbacks and
it's not necessarily who's better. There are kind of two
styles of quarterbacks in the playoffs this weekend, and I
would say there are game changers. These are the guys
that may have a size advantage, an athletic ability, horsepower advantage,
and then there are guys I would call game planners.
(36:43):
They're more reliant on the game plan. If the play
breaks down, there's limitations. So I think it's split right
down the middle. I think seven guys have the ability
o line breakdown, miss block receiver falls. Got to add lib.
I say it's Josh Allen, On Herbert, Caleb, Darnold, love May,
and Lawrence all can take off and run very difficult
(37:07):
to play man to man coverage on those seven that
you turn your back to these guys, you're in trouble,
then I think they're the guys that are mostly I
would call game planners. And by the way, Stafford and
c J. Stroud, huge fans of both are game planners.
Whereas if the play breaks down you're using a backup
(37:27):
left tackle, your pass pro isn't as good. The running
game is off, they're a little bit more tied to
the game plan. And as much as I like c J. Stroud,
go look in the red zone, Houston's a really bad
red zone offense.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Why is that? Why would that be? CJ.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Stroud's one of the best pocket guys in the league
because he doesn't take off and run for touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
That's not what he does.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
He's really his comp coming out was a more athletic
Jared goff. Somebody asked me the other day about Fernando
Mendoza's comp ice. That's a little bit of sea J.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Stroud.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
He can move a little, but he's great in the pocket,
super accurate, tough guy, good arm strength, super accurate. I'm like, yeah,
I mean, if you had to give me a guy
in the league that, I think Mendoza looks a little
bit like it. C. J.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Stroud.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So game changers, game planners, and it's not a criticism,
but I do think Stafford, when Stafford gets in trouble,
the pass protection dips and he has to hurry throws,
and he can get a big, reckless and he's not
going to move out of the pocket. He can move
within the pocket, he's not moving out of the pocket.
Tom Brady, top of Next Hour.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
So and I know, Jay.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Mack, you're looking at Perty's saying what's going on? But
I do think his history says he has been mostly
reliant on Kittle playing and Trent Williams playing mostly in
his career.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Wait, are we talking about the running or the comebacks?
Speaker 1 (38:47):
No, I just think it's not about you're taking the outcome.
What I'm saying is seven guys really are ability to
change the play in a half second, go get a
first out.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
That's not Stafford's game. That's not C. J.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
Stafford. Jalen Hurts is a really good scrambling quarterback, has
good I mean, strong running yards, rushing yards, rock perty,
also in the pocket, improvising Rice Young. You could argue
could just could belong in that category.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
But Bryce isn't dominated enough physically, and Jalen Hurts of
the six worst halves of the year in the NFL. Offensively,
he's got like four of them. Yeah, and two of
them he didn't complete a pass. Yeah, so yeah, and
I it's I mean, obviously Stafford is one of the
top seven quarterbacks in the league. But I do think
there is an advantage to having Drake May and having
(39:38):
Justin Herbert with average o' lines.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
They can just move.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
And remember that you and I were watching It was
about seven eight weeks ago. It was actually before he
banged his hand, and you and I had watched the
Chargers and I forget the teams they had beaten, like
Kansas City and it was ugly, and we watched at
the end of games that Herbert was just like, I'm
just gonna pick up.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
First out and they win the Eagles game, and he.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Was just like, I just got to pick up first
down back like seven. That's not a game that Matt
Safford would have had success if his offensive line was
that bad. And I've said this before, it is remarkable historically,
and I forget who wrote this earlier in the week,
no quarterback has ever won a playoff game with an
(40:21):
offensive line ranked as poorly as the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
A playoff game. Oh jeezuz, that's not good.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Never want a playoff game.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
So to me, the remarkable thing about Herbert is the
fact they're eleven and six, how they lost Slater and
Alt months ago, and.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Minter's been excellent as a defensive coordinator. Let me go
back to that other stat you had on Shanahan and
the lack of comebacks. I'm wondering, does that change his
outlook on this game? Do you instill a lot of
coaches want to defer, we want the ball second half, right,
chance to double up? You get points late first half
and then get the ball second Do the Niners say,
we want the ball and we need to get an
early lead here. We need to go down the field,
(40:58):
get a lead and make Jalen Hurts at the ball
in the air.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
When you have a great game play designer and play caller,
take the ball.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, take the ball.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Get to I think I don't know what the number is,
but I think taking a lead in the NFL is
like a sixty three percent winner, or it's like it's
fifty eight. I mean it's it's absolutely an advantage. And
the Niners have shown you they're not a great come
from behind team.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
By the way, Trent Williams is going to be the
most watched game on the injury report throughout the league
this week.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
It's so good.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
If they don't have in their in trouble.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Tom Brady's coming up blazing five tomorrow. I'm blazing four
maybe
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 (00:25):
Oh suddenly, breaking news. Suddenly, Kevin Stefanski, John Harbaugh have
real leverage and the teams do not. We are live.
We're in Los Angeles. It is the Herd. Wherever you
may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making
(00:48):
us part of the day. Tom Brady one hour from
now go, one hour from now stop spot So this
broke thirty minutes ago. The Dolphins, little bit of a surprise,
have fired Mike McDaniel, their head coach. I don't blame
him for all the Miami losses. I don't think he's
(01:09):
the ultimate culture changer. I think he's a smart guy.
I think he's a scheme guy. I don't think he's
a culture guy. I don't think he's really an NFL
head coach. I think he's a brilliant coordinator. Dolphins owner
Stephen Ross met with him this week and just didn't
feel right rolling it back. Also a story this morning
(01:29):
the Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has a connection to the
Harball family. Oh, the coveted New York Giants job, which
we said yesterday was the second best job to Baltimore,
is it now third? Baltimore is the best job open
currently open. It's the best job, Lamar Jackson, great roster,
amazing culture.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That's the best job.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I said yesterday, Giants second best job. I'm bullish on
the Giants for a lot of reasons, Jackson, Dart neighbors,
and Thomas Skataboo Abdul Carter, a lot of reasons. But
Miami probably now what I'm hearing, gives control to John
Harbaugh to choose the GM and the Giants. They retained
(02:19):
Joe Shane in the league not considered elite. So suddenly
the coveted New York Giant job yesterday is at best
third to a guy like John Harbaugh. And we said
this yesterday. The Giants don't need another coordinator and roll
the dice on it. They don't even need necessarily a
(02:40):
scheme guy. They need a culture changer. They haven't had
a good culture since Tom Coughlin. So Baltimore could use
a scheme guy because they have a great culture. Stefanski'd
be great in Baltimore. So and remember John Harbaugh knowing
Miami connection. The Giants are interested, though they haven't talked.
(03:02):
I would guess if I was John Harbaugh or his agent,
I'd wait and see what happens Buffalo against Jacksonville this weekend,
because if Buffalo loses, I have to believe maybe how
they lose, But if they lose, Josh Allen's looking for
a coach with a great left tackle, with a great
running back, with a superstar quarterback, that's pretty good. That's
(03:26):
pretty good. So then if Buffalo loses the New York
Giants job, in my opinions, second most coveted job yesterday
is now four, you'd have Buffalo would be number one,
Baltimore would be number two. If Harbaugh can choose his
GM suddenly. Now Miami is three and the Giants are
(03:47):
at best four. Well, folks, there are never four great
coaching candidates. Then you get into coordinators. Right now, you
have two great candidates. John Harbaugh the best culture changer
on the market, just like his brother was a couple of.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Years ago, like vrabel was.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And Stefanski I think can do the culture thing, but
he's really no Schematically, he is a very very smart guy.
You could attach him to Lamar Jackson the culture and
the talent. The roster's already there. Ravens would be favored
to win their division. And the minute you hire Kevin Stefanski.
So there's an old saying, strike when the iron is hot.
(04:26):
If Jim horror Maaw can coach in SoCal, then John
Harbaugh can coach in South Miami Beach like they work
just fine. I know you think Harbaugh's cold weather. Nah,
Jim's doing just find in La. John would do just
fine in South Beach. So my guess is the Miami
News today McDaniel out connection Ross family and Harbaugh's. If
(04:51):
I'm the New York Giants, I probably jump on Kevin
Stefanski and offer him the job today. I would probably
offer if I ran the New York Giants today, I
would offer Stefanski the job.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I'm not waiting.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I don't want to play musical chairs and get left
without a chair with Harball because let's be honest, Buffalo
is a better job with Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I'm not even mentioning Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I don't think Harball and his personality works in green Bay,
Jim or John, but that could be an attractive job
for Kevin Stefanski. So forget, just for a second, the
John Harbaugh piece. Stefanski, you have Jackson Dart, a lot
of your talents on offense, neighbors Andrew Thomas Skataboo. Jackson
(05:37):
Dart probably draft a tight end. Wouldn't he be nice
to have an offensive coach, even temperament not as intense
as stay Ball. Wouldn't that be nice? But what if
Green Bay, Buffalo, Baltimore, Miami? I mean, so Stefanski, Now,
I would love to be Kevin Stefanski's agent today.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
He's got all the.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Leverage in the world. And if I'm the New York Giants,
I probably go out and I hire Stefanski and let
him build his staff, because remember, John Harbaugh is going
to build a staff. Steven Ross is the second or
third richest owner, so Harbaugh is going to get his
pick of the letter in Miami on the staff. You
don't want to hire the fourth coach who's getting the
(06:20):
fourth best receiver coach, the fourth best offensive line coach.
If you hire Stefanski today, you get a jump on
hardball who's probably waiting for the weekend results. Don't let Stefanski,
you know. So it's the old Sean McVay interviewed with
the Rams. They wouldn't let him leave the building. They're like,
we're not the stan Kronkey unless Needer like, we can't
(06:40):
let this kid leave the building. So I think it's
very interesting that this Miami job could have screwed up
the New York Giants and the air thing. If you're Harbaugh,
I mean New York and Miami. There's got to be
a lot of guys. The richer owner is Miami, no
state tax. Very attractive to free agents. Miami is. Miami's
(07:03):
always one of those you can look at the Jets
and Giants and say, what a train wreck. The truth
is Miami doesn't bought them out much. Even though they
miss on coaches and quarterbacks. It always feels like they're
hovering around five hundred. Hell Brady for years struggled going
down to Miami and beating them. Tom Brady struggled for
years against inferior teams. He and Belichick would go down there.
So Miami never feels like they bought him out. I
(07:26):
think it's an attractive job. So this is really really
interesting that Miami just throw a wrench into the Giants.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
You can listen.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It feels like everybody is scrambling for a homecoming date, right,
everybody's looking for a date here. And if I'm the
New York Giants very quickly after this weekend, if Buffalo
and Green Bay loss, how do you know? You don't
wake up on a Monday morning and you're the fifth
best job. But if you go and get us to
fans key and you beat everybody to the punch and
(08:00):
he starts building a staff, well then you're going to
get the best O line coach on the market, and
the best DC on the market, and the best receiver
coach on the market.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
That's an advantage. Crazy all right.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I'm not a big awards guy in terms of like
pro sports highs, but I used to have a Heisman vote.
I'm not really into that stuff. Like we all know
who's good and who isn't. But the Matt Stafford Drake
May MVP and it's down to those two folks. I
don't think. I don't think it's terribly close. You have
to consider schedules. Thirteen of fourteen New England wins, we're
(08:30):
against teams with losing records. The best team New England
played was Buffalo, and they don't have a good defense.
So Stafford beat the number one defense Houston, the number
two defense Seattle against the top ten defense Jacksonville. Stafford
had five touchdowns and no picks. He also played Philadelphia
and which is the top five defense, and San Francisco twice.
(08:52):
And I think we all admit remarkably, Solam made that
a really decent defense despite having no big name players.
So you have to consider strength of schedule. Why because
the NFL literally uses it as one of its tie breakers.
So you you know, it's like the college football resume thing.
You have to consider strength of schedule. And it's not
(09:14):
that the Rams had a harder schedule. Here's the problem.
The Rams have the number one most difficult schedule of
all fourteen playoff teams, and the Patriots have the weakest
NFL schedule in twenty six years. You're talking the difference
between you know, the SEC, the big ten in the
Mountain West. It's not the New England schedules kind of weak.
(09:38):
It's the weakest in twenty six years. And it's not
that the Rams have a tough schedule. It's the number
one toughest schedule of the fourteen remaining playoff teams. Stafford
had better numbers against much better competition. I'm not saying
they both didn't get a four point oh GPA, but
Stafford was taken ap courses to get his four point
(09:59):
Houston Seattle twice, Solid twice, Jacksonville, Philadelphia. If you look
at matt against playoff teams this year, over two thousand
passing yards, twenty two touchdowns, three interceptions, and a one
zero seven passer rating. That's against playoff teams. You have
to consider schedule. The NFL literally does for its tie breakers.
(10:23):
Here's Sean mcvayh on Stafford.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I think Matthew's the MVP of the league. He played
that way. Wouldn't want anybody else leading the way.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Got a lot of respect for a bunch of people
in this league, but there's nobody I'd rather have being
the quarterback of the LA Rams than Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
His play speaks for itself.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Listen, Drake May, A little bit of it is the
shiny new object syndrome He's the new toy everybody, you know,
the new popular kid in school. I get it, Drake
May's fantastic, But you're talking about the easiest schedule in
twenty six years, and the best team they played really
isn't a great defensive team.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
In Buffalo. That was the tough one. Sorry. I got
to go with Matt Stafford.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
PFF, by the way, on all their metrics has Stafford
number one, and they lay list several he was, you know,
best on play action, best against playoff teams, best on this,
best on that. PFF knocks it down to data and
it's it's Stafford. Doesn't mean I don't think Drake May
is not going to win four of them.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
J Mack.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
This Miami Dolphin News is really really throwing a wrench
into what was perceived yesterday. The Giants was a very
coveted job. If the stories about Ross and the Harbaugh
connection are true, the Giants now are the third best
job in the market.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
So that's a tough one. I don't know Harball well enough.
What does he want? Does he want to build something because.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
All Harbaugh's want one thing. Control?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Well, he could he could, Jake, he could easily push
Joe Shane out in New York. Hey, I'll take the job,
but I ain't having him as my GM. Right, can't
pick your own GM. You could do that in Miami
because they don't have a GM. So then you're looking at, well,
where's a quicker path to victory you're gonna win in
facing Drake may Well?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You Josh will never know that. Did anybody know in
New England was going to be this good? Or Denver
this good? Or Seattle this good? Or last year Washington
this good or Denver?
Speaker 5 (12:16):
That?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
You don't really know in the NFL unless you have
Josh Allen or you know, even Patrick Mahomes missed the
playoffs this year.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
See, you don't really know.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I just but the one thing you do know is
you have Jackson Dart on his rookie deal. I love,
he showed promise and Tua is expensive.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I do not.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
I don't know what the path is to a great quarterback.
But you have to remember how those guys like the
Harbaughs think. Is that in my lifetime when you meet
very I would say alpha, confident, aggressive men. Here's what
they don't say, boy, that one's the easier path. They
don't think Sean Payton literally with Russell Wilson at quarterback,
(12:56):
who he knew he didn't fit, was said, I'll take
the Denver job. And you're like, Andy Reid and Mahomes
are in the division. Did Sean Payton go, WHOA, I
want to go? I want to go coach.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
He left the easiest division, the NFC South, Sean Payton did.
He left the easiest place to win that he had dominated,
to go to a division with Andy Reid's Spags and Mahomes.
And that's what winners do. They don't care. They think
about their job, not their opponents.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
So you think it's your leaning. He goes Miami.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
It's early what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I think he would choose Buffalo if they had an opening.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Josh Allen in his prime for at.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Least four more years, that's an obvious that's an obvious
one new stadium, unbelievable fans, and then I think he
would probably.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
He doesn't fit in Green Bay. Hardballs don't fit in
Green Bag.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Is there an opening?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
No, I'm just saying that there's reports that I think
it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I don't totally ridiculous. Think Lafleur is more than capable.
But I think right now the best job opening is Baltimore.
But John just lost that job. But if Miami's in
play then and John, let's say Buffalo wins. It does
feel like Miami would be the choice over New York
if you get control. I'll tell you who's sweating it is.
(14:18):
Joe Shane this news well, I mean he's hit on
you know, Scataboo is a great get. Jackson Dart, I
mean he's got some hits. Andrew Thomas left tackle. The
Giants have players. I am bullish on the Doctor's solid.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
He just I mean that I can't get over the
Daniel Jones sak One Barkley.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, but drafted him, and the Barkley thing's on Shane.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
That's on him. That's a complete whiff.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, major, all right, we.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Got we got oh tonight baby college football playoff? Why
Niner fans should be a little worried this morning with
their coach?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's the hurt.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Be sure to can't live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neonone eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one, and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we are
excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
You can now watch The Odd Couple live on YouTube
every day.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You're now entering the no Bull Zone sponsored by Credible
Great Rates.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
None of the bull.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So tonight college football Miami favored. I think they beat
Old Miss very very exciting. So there is a reason
that true crime podcasts, mob documentaries, breaking bad sopranos so popular.
(16:06):
It's not a life you'd want to live, but it
is fascinating and dangerous and crazy and wild, and that's
why we just keep seeing more true crime shows. That's
college football in twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. It's wild.
Is it sustainable, Absolutely, it's sustainable. What wasn't sustainable is Bama,
(16:28):
Georgia and Clemson in Ohio State by week four looking
like once again they were the four best teams ratings
and attendants were down. Nick Saban complained at the end
of his run in Alabama he could not sell out
home out of conference games. The sport got dull, even
for the dynasty. This is incredibly sustainable because the revenue
(16:51):
is growing like crazy. Mark Cuban never cared about college football.
He just wrote a twelve million dollar check to Indiana.
Larry L and you have all these billionaires now writing
massive checks Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Washington, USSE.
The revenue and the Big ten's exploding with Texas, Texas,
(17:12):
A and M joining Georgia, Alabama. The revenue is exploding.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
In the SEC.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It's far what's not sustainable was the old model, where
the ratings and the revenue were going down. That's why
the Pac ten disbanded. They gave schools like USC and
UCLA thirty five million a year. USC is now going
to make ninety million a year at the Big Ten
and that's growing. There'll be at one hundred and twenty
in five or six years. It's totally sustainable. I mean,
(17:45):
it's crazy. It's like old miss I mean it is
a little bit like a little breaking bad Bravo wishes
they had the drama of Old Miss their coach gets
poached by arrival LSU. You got coaches for Old Miss
Sea sawing back and forth to LSU right now. I mean,
it's it's real Coaches of the SEC. It's like a
(18:07):
housewife show. It's crazy, but it's absolutely sustainable when revenue
is great. Even debt in this country is sustainable. Debt
in Europe's a problem. Their economy is not growing like ours.
Our economy. You keep hearing economists say the economy we
were predicting of a recession, but it's very resilient economy
(18:30):
because our economy just keeps growing.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
It's separated from Europe.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
So I don't love debt either, but it remained sustainable
because our economy is growing. The economy of college football
is exploding. Well, we just can't keep paying. Mark Cuban
just wrote a twelve million dollar check. You got all
sorts of billionaires, two hundred millionaires writing huge checks right now.
The conferences are growing in revenue, that's fine. I mean,
(18:57):
I get Oregon and Miami and miss and Indiana.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
The ratings are going to be huge for these games.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So I keep hearing all these fear mongering these death
sentences of college football. College football popularity and criticism are
both at an all time high.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Folks, that's good television.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
When you're driving revenue, you're popular, and it's love hate
and it's polarizing. When Bama was running the sport, I
wasn't that polarizing. It was predictable. Now it's polarizing the
better p word. So the NFL has always been to
me the sport of hope, where you can go from
awful New England nine months later you're great. You can't
(19:41):
do that in baseball you need like six drafts. Half
the teams can't afford. The good player. Can't do that
in the NBA, it takes years to become as good
as like a San Antonio. You need breaks to get wimby.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Hire the right coach, have a good young quarterback, stack
your roster. Awful the good boom that's Indiana unwatchable to
best team ever? Are they gonna go sixteen to zero?
And you're telling me this isn't sustainable. Here's Pete Golding,
the old Miss coach, on the fallout of the Lane
(20:14):
Kiffa drama and him leaving the program.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
The timing of when it happened, In my opinion, couldn't
happen at a better time for the players because everything
was already in place. The only thing that was different
who's running out of tunnel? And to be honest with you,
I don't think the players give a damn who runs
about the tunnel? Does? It makes sense that they care
about their plan, they care about getting held accountable right
and how they're going to prepare, and they care about people.
(20:37):
They care about them all right, And I think that's
been the message our players have created. But I don't
have to say to anybody else.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So think about this.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
The biggest s show the last three four or five
weeks in the SEC is the only team standing. The
biggest mess in the SEC has been Old Miss Oh Maya.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
What in God's neck?
Speaker 1 (21:01):
If they win tonight, that are in the National Championship.
Young people can handle drama. The Ole Miss players, I
don't care who runs them out of the tunnel. They
just lost their great coach. They're like, all right, whatever,
let's go beat Georgia.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Everything is gonna be okay.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
When revenue is great, even debt, you can live with it.
When revenue is great, you can live with this college
football drama. Take a deep breath. How are these teams
going to afford it?
Speaker 7 (21:32):
All?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
These schools.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Have billionaire graduates, and I'm seeing some of these people
write checks they I didn't even know they liked college football.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I didn't know the Mark Cuban was a college football
like he was a basketball guy. J Mack with a.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
News no, no, turn on the news. This is the
Herdline news.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
All right, let's go to the NFL playoffs. Colin. Your
bears struggled down this stretch, final two games, the offense
not totally clicking. Ben Johnson was not thrilled, but he's
trying to stay positive heading into the big game against
the Packers this weekend, saying Caleb Williams was built for
these moments, and Caleb, he agrees, I am bifie moments.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Mentality wise, how I've worked.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
And so you know, that's that's I've been in a
bunch of big games before and a bunch of big rival.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Games, and so you know, in those moments and in
these moments that.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
You know, I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I think I can provide a spark for the team.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
I think I can, you know, do whatever my team
needs me to do.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I like him. I think it's a weather advantage. Thirty
mile an hour wins favors the run game and the
old line, and that is clearly a Bears advantage. And
right now Caleb's playing better than Jordan Love because he's
playing more than Jordan Love.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Well, So, Colin, I dug into this game a little bit.
So do you know how long the Bears have led for?
How many minutes? How many plays in the Bears Packers
games this season?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
You mean at the very end of the game or no,
no total plays.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
In minutes in the game. The answer zero. They have
not led for one second against the Packers this season
in two meetings. I'm a little nervous about the Bears now,
So I did go, and I'm on the Packers officially.
I hope we're not head to head. I know that's
your squadroom for the Bears and Caleb and Ben. It's
just if their defense is not generating turnovers, and they
(23:31):
led the league in turnover margin by a mind.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
What happens though, when it's thirty miles an hour and
it's cold, and maybe the weather generates a turno.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
The under cashes. I mean, I don't see this a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Because we know Caleb Williams does not turn the ball over.
He's durable and doesn't turn it over. You can criticize
them all you want. He doesn't turn the ball over
and he doesn't get hurt.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
He's done a good job of it.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Jordan Love, Yeah, gets banged up and can occasionally turn
it over.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
So the weird thing about the Packers, They're gonna have
their full arsenal of receiver Jayden Reed, who missed a
lot of time with the collarbone. Watson's healthy now. And
I brought this up, so the Packers and Bears had
one of the earliest buys. Yes, the Packers had to
buy last week, all their guys sat. The Bears weren't
a battle till the final minutes against the Lions. I
just wonder if the Bears are a little worn down.
(24:17):
I'm not trying to influence your pig.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
No, listen, what a great season. I think it's a
very close game.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, I'm not saying it's I like, yeah, I mean,
I I like some of the I think it's going
to be a run game dominated team. I think Ben
Johnson's going to create a lot of run. Caleb move,
Caleb run backs, run short tight end stuff. It's going
to be a very They're not throwing the ball down
the field. I think they're like Christian Watson is great.
(24:44):
Is he gonna matter in thirty mile an hour wins.
It's a good part of Land that plan in thirty
mile an hour wins. Yeah, he's their deep threat.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
It gonna be a good game.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Oh, I think it's gonna be. It's gonna be the
biggest game in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
In a long time.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
To get field passes for this. Go down on the
field and check things out in.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
The end house pass seventy two degrees.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
I'll have a bowl of turkey chili sitting front.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
No more enchiladas. A right, Let's go to the next game.
And that's uh oh, we're going to Josh Allen and
the Buffalo Bills are a big one. I mean the
ramifications here are massive. I didn't realize this. Josh Allen
is looking to avoid going zero to five on the
road in playoff games. Wow, and he's facing that tough
Jags defense. They are sneaky good.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Yeah, as some teams have found out. Here's Liam Cohen
talking about how they plan on defending Josh Allen.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
Your rush plan has to be extremely dialed in. Your
spy game has to be dialed in if you're going
to do any of that stuff. Your zone coverage has
got to make sure that you're giving eyes obviously on
the quarterback at all times. And look, when you have
to account for the quarterback every play. You know, we
have it a luxury of that as well, in ways
(25:54):
where quarterback can take off on you. It's it's hard
to defend every blade of grass.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Boy, this is going to be good.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
We have some you know what, man, you talk about
matchups Bears, Packers, perfect Niners, the brilliant coach and the
roster were concerned of against the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Great roster and the coach. We're concerned of.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
The two quarterbacks who aren't first rounders, Hurts and Purdy.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That Niners.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
That Niner Eagle game is going to be maysed ont
a Fox playoff record. That that is going to get
a monster number.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I don't know if I trust the Bills to win
this one, though, I don't. Is gonna be a good game?
Oh my, I want listen. You know I'm a Trevor
Lawrence guy. I've been a believer a lot of people
bailed on Trevor Lawrence. What has he done? Even was
he won?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Even the Drake May Justin Herbert meeting when Drake, Oh
my god, you have two culture guys, two big strong quarterbacks.
Drake May coming out of college. They said, oh, he'll
be His comp is Justin Herbert. Both teams don't have
you know, new England Chargers. Old lines are really average
these matchups.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Who needs Patrick Mahomes? Who needs bro We don't need
those guys.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I don't care.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
We got we got good new quarterbacks. Yeah enough Mahomes.
He had a good enough run. We don't need him back.
All right. Final story, Colin, let's go Justin Herbert, best
quarterback in the AFC West this season.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Member.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
He's dealing with that fractured left hand suffered in Week thirteen,
but he did get the week eighteen rest and so
hopefully he's able to start taking more snaps under center.
He was doing that yesterday's practice, and here's Herbert talking
about the injury.
Speaker 8 (27:38):
Not taking hits on it last week was probably pretty
helpful for it limited kind of the swelling and just
getting back to, you know, making sure that you've got
full strength, being able to.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Hold on to a football.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
I would say that I was able to do most
everything out there.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
You know.
Speaker 8 (27:52):
It took some snaps today, and you know, I think
it's the point where I'm able to take snaps during
the week, So I think that's helpful. But just making
sure I can go up on the ball. You know,
I have two hands on in the pocket, and you
know how important that is the quarterback. So I think
that's been good.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
He's played through the injury. Well, we got some numbers
on him since the fracture, you know, sixty six percent completions,
seven touchdowns, four picks. He's been fine.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, he's been remarkable considering his lack of pass protection.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, did you know that he'll probably be the second
best quarterback that the Patriots have seen this season after
Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Oh, he will be Colin.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
I looked this up. The unbelievable the schedule of the Patriots played.
They played seven quarterbacks who were either benched or they
were backups to begin with Shua who ended up getting
benched for Yours, Spencer Rattler, Dylan Gabriel, Justin Fields, Joe
Flacco who was a backup, the Brady Cook, the Jets,
when they were tanking and then quinn Ewers, who.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
You know was a rookie vill it.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Listen, you have been on this game the minute the
line came out, and I you know what, generally I
stay away from your recommendation like burns of last week
at the Bengals.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I know.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Yeah, feels a rough one. But what are we doing?
Are you sticking Patriots here? A We're gonna wait for
the Blazer and what we have. If the number, I'm
waiting for the number tonight. If the number is three
and a half, you have to take the Chargers. It's
kind of a half for four.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a cold weekend. Average O line,
great coaches. You know what this game looks like. It's
twenty three to twenty. That's what this game is sounds about.
So that the hook is everything in this bat everything.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
By the way, the Chargers have one of the best
kickers in the league. Oh Cameron Dicker. Oh has a
huge weapon and I want to go back to for
Jacksonville Bills. That's also the Bills are working with the
practice squad kicker right now.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
The Jags guy's sixty little.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
He's automatic from like fifty eight sixty yards he had
from sixty seven last week, the kickers, special teams. It's important.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
I've never been this excited for a wild card. Really, Oh,
I can't wait. We don't have a Patriots dynasty or
Kansas any dynasty, meaning you don't.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Know what's gonna happen. Yeah, I have no idea what's
gonna happen. I'm still waiting to pin you down on
your two Super your Super Bowl teams, like are you
gonna go Seehawks, Bridcos and make you know? Because that's
the most fun. That's fun.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Fund's overrated. Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd line.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Right now, I've got a blazing three, So I'm gonna
put a college game in to get it to a
blazing four. And I'm just gonna keep waiting and waiting
because so tomorrow I've got three games I do like
to bet, and then and then there's a there's a
Friday college game that I feel very strongly about. Money's money,
So I'm gonna take that game. And I've got to
find a fourth NFL playoff game I like. But this
(30:43):
is gonna be remarkable.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a Empacific.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Wild Card Weekend has two huge games on Fox Saturday,
MVP front runner Matthew Stafford leads the Rams against Bryce
Young and the Panthers. Then on Sunday, Jalen Hurts and
the defending champion Eagles take on Christian McCaffrey in the
forty nine Ers. It's wild Card Weekend powered by Verizon
(31:12):
Saturday and Sunday on Fox.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
At some point there will be data in all of
our lives that explain our personality. You know, if you'd
been fired six times or married five, I can probably
make certain assumptions about you psychologically or your personality. I
think Kyle Shanahan's an unbelievable coach. I think McVeigh is
(31:37):
the best coach in the league in his prime. Andy Reid,
we know he's great. You could make an argument Shanahan's two.
But there are two numbers with Shanahan that I think
speak to his personality, and the numbers are insane since
he's been with the forty nine ers. When the Niners
trail by seven plus points just at halftime, they're one
(31:58):
and twenty nine. That makes no damn sense, right when
they trailed by seven plus points in the fourth quarter
and they've had very good quarterback play, they're own thirty eight.
Those are like last in the leak? How would you
explain that? Like that's just not random for a coach
that good. What it speaks to is my only criticism
(32:22):
ever of Shanahan, which he's too tied to his playsheet.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
He's not flexible.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Now his playsheet is second in my opinion, or maybe
first in the league. I think Andy Reid and shanahan
playsheet is as good as it gets, even better than
mcveig or Sean Payton, and so Shanahan becomes like the
anchor who never moves off the prompter or the actor
who doesn't move off the script. And you can be
(32:51):
great at both. But I do think those numbers are
so outrageous and so bizarre that it does speak to
a little bit of the Niner issue. They need to
take leads. They do not play well from behind. Buffalo
with Josh Allen plays great from behind because so much
of it is off script. McVeigh Stafford had been pretty good,
(33:14):
but Shanahan's been brutal, and so I just think it's
one of those things where there are certain personality quirks
people have, and I don't think Shanahan, Dad or son
are terribly flexible. And I mean, but you get the
upside to his play sheet, which, by the way, this
(33:35):
year he beat LA with no Jennings, no Kittle, mac
Jones and they head over four hundred yards against the
Rams defense. So the guy's an insane coach. But there
are certain numbers that don't make any sense. And when
you see that about a person, you're like, how many
times have they been?
Speaker 4 (33:53):
By?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
How many times have they been?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
He's never won a game train it probably speaks to
inflexibility in hen City and in Shanahan's case. And for
the record, the Niners use the most motion of any
team in the league by a large gap, So they're
complete innovators. So you get all of his innovation, you
get all of his brain power, you get all of
(34:15):
his experience, you get the unbelievable play design and play sheet.
But if they trail by ten points at half to
Philadelphia and the Eagles have a great opening drive to
take a lead, you can rest assured they're in big trouble,
and that's not necessarily the case. I mean, go look
at Sean Payton and bow Nicks. They're great in the
fourth quarter. Ben Johnson and Caleb better in the fourth
(34:38):
quarter than any quarter. So here's Vic Fangio facing Shanahan
this week, the Eagles defensive coordinator on the Niners offense.
Speaker 9 (34:49):
It's all package together very nicely. They give you a
lot of good motions. Everything they do is with a purpose,
and they do a really good job of it. Obviously,
he operates it very well. McCaffrey's an elite back, got
a good group of receivers, you know, Kittle it tight end.
(35:10):
I mean, they had a run where they were just
offense in the league for like six seven weeks in
a row here of late.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, but those numbers, you can put them on the
screen again.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
They're crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
You're like what I mean, Andy Reid McVeigh, Sean Payton,
other offensive innovators. They're great in the fourth quarter. Ben
Johnson's been unbelievable with Detroit and in Chicago. The Niners aren't.
Now you could also say this is it because Jimmy Garoppolo,
Mac Jones and Brock Purdy are not guys that can
(35:43):
just put an offense on their shoulders and carry him. Maybe,
but I do think there's a little bit of an
inflexibility to how Kyle coaches. It's the only knock. I
think there's an argument he's the second best coach in
the league. I think he's just an unbelievable coach. So
there's four. It's so interesting. There were fourteen quarterbacks in
(36:03):
the playoffs obviously this weekend. Twelve or first round guys
Jalen Hurts, mid second Brock Purtty as a complete outlier
again with a great quarterback whisper Kyle Shanahan. And there's
just this there's a lot of different paths to becoming
an NFL star quarterback, but mostly got to be drafted
in the first round.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
But it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
I was looking this morning at all the quarterbacks and
it's not necessarily who's better. There are kind of two
styles of quarterbacks in the playoffs this weekend, and I
would say there are game changers. These are the guys
that may have a size advantage, an athletic ability, horsepower advantage,
and then there are guys I would call game planners.
(36:43):
They're more reliant on the game plan. If the play
breaks down, there's limitations. So I think it's split right
down the middle. I think seven guys have the ability
o line breakdown, miss block receiver falls. Got to add lib.
I say it's Josh Allen, On Herbert, Caleb, Darnold, love May,
and Lawrence all can take off and run very difficult
(37:07):
to play man to man coverage on those seven that
you turn your back to these guys, you're in trouble,
then I think they're the guys that are mostly I
would call game planners. And by the way, Stafford and
c J. Stroud, huge fans of both are game planners.
Whereas if the play breaks down you're using a backup
(37:27):
left tackle, your pass pro isn't as good. The running
game is off, they're a little bit more tied to
the game plan. And as much as I like c J. Stroud,
go look in the red zone, Houston's a really bad
red zone offense.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Why is that? Why would that be? CJ.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Stroud's one of the best pocket guys in the league
because he doesn't take off and run for touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
That's not what he does.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
He's really his comp coming out was a more athletic
Jared goff. Somebody asked me the other day about Fernando
Mendoza's comp ice. That's a little bit of sea J.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Stroud.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
He can move a little, but he's great in the pocket,
super accurate, tough guy, good arm strength, super accurate. I'm like, yeah,
I mean, if you had to give me a guy
in the league that, I think Mendoza looks a little
bit like it. C. J.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Stroud.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So game changers, game planners, and it's not a criticism,
but I do think Stafford, when Stafford gets in trouble,
the pass protection dips and he has to hurry throws,
and he can get a big, reckless and he's not
going to move out of the pocket. He can move
within the pocket, he's not moving out of the pocket.
Tom Brady, top of Next Hour.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
So and I know, Jay.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Mack, you're looking at Perty's saying what's going on? But
I do think his history says he has been mostly
reliant on Kittle playing and Trent Williams playing mostly in
his career.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Wait, are we talking about the running or the comebacks?
Speaker 1 (38:47):
No, I just think it's not about you're taking the outcome.
What I'm saying is seven guys really are ability to
change the play in a half second, go get a
first out.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
That's not Stafford's game. That's not C. J.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
Stafford. Jalen Hurts is a really good scrambling quarterback, has
good I mean, strong running yards, rushing yards, rock perty,
also in the pocket, improvising Rice Young. You could argue
could just could belong in that category.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
But Bryce isn't dominated enough physically, and Jalen Hurts of
the six worst halves of the year in the NFL. Offensively,
he's got like four of them. Yeah, and two of
them he didn't complete a pass. Yeah, so yeah, and
I it's I mean, obviously Stafford is one of the
top seven quarterbacks in the league. But I do think
there is an advantage to having Drake May and having
(39:38):
Justin Herbert with average o' lines.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
They can just move.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
And remember that you and I were watching It was
about seven eight weeks ago. It was actually before he
banged his hand, and you and I had watched the
Chargers and I forget the teams they had beaten, like
Kansas City and it was ugly, and we watched at
the end of games that Herbert was just like, I'm
just gonna pick up.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
First out and they win the Eagles game, and he.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Was just like, I just got to pick up first
down back like seven. That's not a game that Matt
Safford would have had success if his offensive line was
that bad. And I've said this before, it is remarkable historically,
and I forget who wrote this earlier in the week,
no quarterback has ever won a playoff game with an
(40:21):
offensive line ranked as poorly as the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
A playoff game. Oh jeezuz, that's not good.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Never want a playoff game.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
So to me, the remarkable thing about Herbert is the
fact they're eleven and six, how they lost Slater and
Alt months ago, and.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Minter's been excellent as a defensive coordinator. Let me go
back to that other stat you had on Shanahan and
the lack of comebacks. I'm wondering, does that change his
outlook on this game? Do you instill a lot of
coaches want to defer, we want the ball second half, right,
chance to double up? You get points late first half
and then get the ball second Do the Niners say,
we want the ball and we need to get an
early lead here. We need to go down the field,
(40:58):
get a lead and make Jalen Hurts at the ball
in the air.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
When you have a great game play designer and play caller,
take the ball.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, take the ball.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Get to I think I don't know what the number is,
but I think taking a lead in the NFL is
like a sixty three percent winner, or it's like it's
fifty eight. I mean it's it's absolutely an advantage. And
the Niners have shown you they're not a great come
from behind team.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
By the way, Trent Williams is going to be the
most watched game on the injury report throughout the league
this week.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
It's so good.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
If they don't have in their in trouble.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Tom Brady's coming up blazing five tomorrow. I'm blazing four
maybe
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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