The New York Giants are reportedly hiring Super Bowl champion John Harbaugh to be their next head coach. Colin Cowherd explains why this was clearly the correct choice and why he was the best fit to turn around the franchise who has the second worst record since 2016
Tom Brady joins the show ahead of the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. He breaks everything down:
- Seahawks QB Sam Darnold facing off against the 49ers defense
- How will Matthew Stafford and the Rams handle the Bears in freezing cold temperatures?
- What to expect from his Patriots and Drake Maye as they look to get their first playoff win in 6 years
Colin also discusses Josh Allen’s path to potentially winning his first Super Bowl and why this would be a historic achievement
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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. Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It is a Thursday. Tom Brady stops my live in
twenty minutes. This in Chicago is the Herd. Wherever you
may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day. John Harbaugh five year deal,
is going to be the head coach of the New
(00:51):
York Giants, and that's where we begin today. If you
want to go from a bad team in the NFL
to a good team in the NFL, there's only one
thing you can absolutely control. Hire the best coach on
the market, whatever it costs, whatever it takes. You can
(01:14):
draft a quarterback top five. He could stink. Players get hurt.
Coaches don't. John harbbo is the best resume and is
the best culture builder on the market, and the Giants
smartly hired him first, meaning they'll get the best pick
of the assistant coaches and coordinators on the market. There's
(01:35):
very little you can control in the NFL. You can
control hiring the first coach, getting the best assistance, and
hiring the best resume. Yes, I know New York is
a tough market. The media is scary, but that's not
why the Jets and the Giants have been hasmatt spills
for a decade plus. They have been because they went
(01:59):
cheap and exparah Manlett head coach. The last time the
Giants were good, it was Tom Cofflin, who coached at
Boston College at the time, beat Notre Dame who was
number one, and went to Jacksonville. There was no experimenting.
He was a leader, a culture builder, successful. I look
at Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets. You're not
(02:19):
asking him to coach, You're asking him to fix a
completely broken culture. And I don't think Aaron Glenn's good enough.
And clearly all the guys after Conflin weren't good enough.
These nine coaching openings in the NFL now eight, they're
not looking for scheme guy. They're not looking for guy
that's good in the whiteboard. They're looking for CEOs Okay, Harball,
(02:42):
this is a job for a hardball, Like Jim to
the Chargers, John to the Giants, this is a job
for a hardball. The Giants didn't need an offensive coordinator,
they needed a crisis coordinator. And similar to Mike Vrabel
and New England, the day you high John Harbaugh, he
(03:03):
is immediately the best coach in the division. Say it
out loud, Nick Seriani, Brian Schottenheimer, Dan Quinn, John Harball.
In a couple of those instances, it's not even close.
And the Giants have a lot of pieces. So for
four years in a row, I have picked a team
(03:26):
successfully four for four pat in the back that would
double their win total. The New York Giants this morning,
four and thirteen this year are minimum double the win
total next year. My guess they get the ten to
eleven because like when Brady went to Tampa and Tom
(03:47):
Brady could have chosen any team, but he chose that
Tampa team that was about five hundred, that had a
star receiver, that had really good pass rushers, Like the
Giants had a pretty good old line. Left tackle was good,
but they needed a right tackle and the Bucks drafted
Tristan wurs Well what do you know. The Giants need
(04:09):
a right tackle, and it is an unbelievably good edge
rusher and offensive tackle draft. Sometimes you get lucky. The
Giants need what this draft provides. In fact, they could
move down a couple of spots, accumulate more picks, and
perhaps still get one of the two best tackles on
(04:32):
the market. Weapons they've got them winning coach. For the
last several years, the Giants have been hiring Belichick, tree guys,
finger crossers, coordinators. None of it works. Harbaugh's proven confidence,
proven culture builder. And I know you don't want to
(04:54):
hear this. I know you're looking this morning down at
the New York Jets. But the Giant are the Jets.
Since Coughlin, with a trophy room with better archive footage,
you have been the Jets. Now the Jets are still
trying to dig their way, and the Jets seemingly keep
grabbing a shovel and digging deeper. But the Giants officially
(05:21):
didn't get a scheme guy. They got a culture guy,
Vrabel Jim Harbaugh. This is a job that needs not superman,
harball man, and they got him. Here's Albert Brewery yesterday
on Harball and the Giants.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
The Giants job, how attractive it is is largely dependent
on what you think of Jackson Dart. That said, they
have a lot of other things with the Giants, Like
you said, franchise left tackle and Andrew Thomas, franchise receiver
in In Malik Neighbors. On the defensive front, I mean,
my goodness, Brian Burns, Abdulla Carter, Dexter, Lawrence, you have
a chance to be dominant up front right shoot. And
(06:00):
this is why, like the last couple of years, I
felt like they were the team right on the edge.
But if you love Dart, I think it's got everything
that you'd want. State of ownership, all of that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
All right, Now, let's talk about a team that is
still looking for a coach. And whereas the Giants bottomed out,
they didn't want to for all these years, the Steelers
keep saying we're not bottoming out. The Steelers have this
under five hundred phobia, which is remarkable because there's four
(06:33):
times evidence right in front of them. Think about this.
Four division winners. I'm not talking just playoff teams. Four
division winners, Bears, Patriots, Jaggs, Carolina lost twelve games last season.
This isn't the NBA where you're drafting eighteen and nineteen
(06:55):
year olds. They're not even mature enough, old enough at
the hotel bar to have a cocktail. This isn't baseball
where there's nobody you can draft on a college that
comes into your Major League baseball team and changes outcomes.
This is the NFL, where it happens all the time.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, always talks about this that
(07:17):
people overestimate the downside to risk and failure. It's never
as bad as you think. Kyle Shanahan four times in
San Francisco has been under five hundred. Think about that?
Is he a failure four times? Would you rather be
(07:38):
San Francisco or the Steelers since twenty seventeen, I don't
think it's close. For the record, the Texans bottomed out
the next year. They had double digit wins. That's the
team that just beat you on Monday Night. And also,
nine of the fourteen playoff quarterbacks are top ten picks. Right,
(07:59):
you can get to Lamar Jackson, maybe you're lucky and
Aaron Rodgers falls out of cow, but seventy percent of
the playoff quarterbacks were top ten picks, meaning it's okay
to have a bad year.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The NBA in baseball doesn't take years. NBA makes trading impossible.
The NFL encourages it. So the Steelers have convinced themselves
their house is charming. Yeah, maybe we'll fix just you know,
one of the guest rooms. It's like, no, you've got
turquoise tile in three bathrooms, in the kitchen. You see
(08:36):
your house as charming a lot of other people see
it as outdated and weird. It's time to take a
swing Pittsburgh. They've fallen in love with the house. And
the house isn't just a couple of screws there, a
cabinet shelf there, You've got turkoise tiles all over the place.
(08:58):
Art Rooney on the Rebuild.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Standards.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Try to compete to win a championship every year.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm not going to say, well, you know, we're going
to take a couple of years to figure this out
and then well then we'll try to compete.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
So I think you try every year.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I mean, you know, and as I said, some years
you have the horses to really get there, some years
you don't.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
But you try every year.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, you got four examples this year. Division winning teams
that have twelve losses last year. This isn't basketball football,
it's it's not any other sport. It's the NFL. Go
look at the Houston Texans recent history. Go look at
the New England Patriots. It takes about one year to
be bad. That's about it. One year at six and eleven,
(09:38):
you compete your butt off, you lose some close games.
Six and eleven, you get the eighth pick. But if
you start looking, we put it up for the TV
audience where they draft, you may look into Lamar Jackson,
but it's much easier to get that quarterback, or at
least the starting point top ten, eleven, twelve pick. Then
(09:59):
you don't have have to give up the entire farm
to get to four. So the Texans were three and thirteen,
had the number two pick. C J. Stroud, Demiko Ryans.
What do you know? Ten and seven? It just I
don't know what they're afraid of. It's the under five
hundred phobia. I don't get it. I never have. There's
major evidence that one. Remember the Rams won the Super Bowl.
(10:22):
Then they thought were too expensive, We're too old, We're
gonna have two year rebuilt. It didn't even take two years.
I think there were five and twelve one the next
year They've been a playoff team since. So the Rams
and I had talked to people in the building. They
thought it was probably a two year deal to get younger,
less expensive and rebuild around Matt Stafford. It took a year,
(10:44):
That's all it took. They're a playoff team the next year.
It have been since Tom Brady's around the corner. J Mack,
I know you don't love Big Blue, but John Harbaugh,
this is a job for a Harbaugh, Jim West John
in New York. It feels like it's gonna work. Get
(11:04):
the right tackle. You got the rush ends Burns and
Abduall Carter, you got the weapons and Scataboo and neighbors
and the left tackle, Jackson Dart. Stay out of the
blue tent. I'll call it right now. Ten and seven.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Okay, So it's interesting. I just looked up their opponents
for next season. Are you ready for this time? We
don't have to schedule order, but we have the opponents. Okay,
all right, I know you're terrified.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Finally we can't get into it. Do I get the
Dallas Cowboys twice?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
You do get the Cowboys twice, Yes, and Washington as well.
But you have the AFC South Jacksonville, Houston, Indy, and Tennessee.
Two of those teams made the playoffs. But then the
tough one the NFC West Colin Rams, Niners, Seahawks, Cardinals.
They have two trips as of now to the West
Coast at Seattle at the Rams, they also have to
(11:53):
go to Houston for the rest, and they have to
go to Detroit as well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
For the record, Stafford'll be thirty eight if he's the starter,
and the Rams almost lost to Carolina twice this year.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
They did almost by the way, So eight of the
Giant seventeen opponents are playoff teams this year.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Half, what's the big deal?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
That's a brutal schedule, my friend, Hi, I'll push back
against the ten wins, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, I mean the schedule. People always go their schedules easy. Well,
couldn't I argue Brock Purty and the Niners have an
easy schedule. That's why successful. You're tough to win the games. Well,
New England's schedule is I don't know. I watched them
in a playoff game. You got to win the games.
I don't care how easier schedule. It's like college football.
There's not you know, a committee on this stuff. San
(12:40):
Francisco had an easier schedule. I watched the Niners play
this year when they lost all those players to injuries?
How easy was? It didn't look that easy to me?
And they were still banging on people. So I think
you got to win game everybody. Oh, New England's schedule is.
I watched them last weekend dominate a playoff game against
Jim Harbon Herbert. I think they're good. Oh, we got
(13:01):
a lot of stuff to this. Tom Brady is around
the corner.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
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Speaker 1 (13:40):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. And
the Seahawks Niners game. I was thinking about it this morning,
and there's so much pressure on Sam Darnold to get
that first you know, big playoff. But I'm like nervous
for him. It's Thursday. It just this game feels so big.
Division rivals Shanahan and Mike McDonald and with that, Tom
(14:02):
Brady is going to be there forty nine or Seahawks
for Fox. This is a I mean, this is honestly
this game is I mean, I feel it like I
It's Thursday and I can feel it. What do you
make Because I've defended quarterbacks who throw picks. Staffords had
seven and seven games. I've defended Andrew Luck for years.
(14:23):
You were an outliner. You didn't throw a lot of them.
Purty does, Donald does? How do you explain Donald's struggles
with interceptions in mostly big games? How do you explain it?
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Well, it's it's certainly a problem I think when you
get to these big moments in big games, whether that's
you know, certainly playoffs or some of these games have
happened at the end of the year determined whether going
to get in or not. The margin and there when
you play good teams is just very small. So that's
where the fundamentals come into play. You have to, you know,
in order to throw the ball accurate, okay, and if
(14:57):
you throw it accurately, make a decisions, you're not going
to throw a lot interceptions.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
So like you know, Aaron Rodgers is a great example
of that.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
If your mechanics are a little off or you're not
you know that accurate, and you get late in the season,
there's a little wet conditions, a little windy conditions, you're
playing against a defense that's got a good rush and
a good coverage scheme, so you're a little unsure where
you're throwing. That's where all the problems come into play.
So it's over time. You need to refine your techniques
(15:27):
so that when you get these big moments, you're as
accurate as you can possibly be because you have the
least margin of ere And then you need coaches that
are stressing you in practice all the time so that
you learn to deal with the stress emotion that you
feel when you need to perform at a high level.
So this is not a game where you know, it's
(15:50):
very hard to overcome turnovers in the NFL. Last week
I think was very much an anomaly for the forty
nine Ers. They lost the turnover battle to the Eagles
and still won the game, the Eagles playing very poorly.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
We covered that game.
Speaker 6 (16:02):
The forty nine Ers are gonna have to play a
great game against Seattle. This defense is entirely different than
the ones.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
That they faced.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
And you saw what happened in the Week eighteen game
with the Niners and the Seahawks. Niners just couldn't break
any tackles. There wasn't much action in the past game.
I'm really interested to see how coach Shanahan kind of
devises a game plan that gives his guys the best
opportunity possible. The loss of Kittle last week hurts, but
everyone's been kind of writing the Niners off all year.
(16:30):
They've won i think eight of nine, which is ridiculous
considering all their injuries.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
But I'm really.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Excited to go up there and check this game out
in Seattle. It's going to be so loud, this place
is going to be rocking. This is going to be
one of the great games of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You know, it's funny they're going to go in as
an underdog. Tom, You did not go in as an
underdog very often. But I said earlier this week, I
can see Seattle, and this is what you went into
games knowing you were the better team and being cautious.
In fact, if you go look at your Super Bowl history,
not a lot of first quarter scoring. You had a
quarterback to advantage. You quarterback, you get a coaching advantage.
(17:07):
You often were at least as good, generally the better team.
So my take is, if I'm Seattle, my thing is
Seattle's going to play kind of cautiously thinking we got
the deeper, better roster. We're at home. How do the Niners?
And again, you weren't in this position a lot. They're
not as deep as Seattle, and they're on the road
and they come out of a physically exhausting game against Philadelphia. Yeah,
(17:28):
when you were the rare underdog, does it change the
game plan the mindset of how you attack it? Early?
Speaker 6 (17:36):
I think there's a part of the game where you
realize this is playoff football. There's nothing tomorrow that's guaranteed.
There's sixty to seventy plays left in this game. Look
with Seattle's defense. Last time the Niners played them, they
had like less than fifty plays I think it was
like forty three plays or something in the game. They
lost the time of possession almost two to one. So
it's really interesting to see this game because how challenging
(18:01):
it's going to be for these forty nine ers to
go in there as the underdog coming off last week's
game and then still having to emotionally get up for
an environment that is really hostile to the opposing team.
The Niners can do it. They've been there before. They've
played the Seahawks a lot. It's not like there's going
to be some intimidation. It's just do they have enough firepower?
(18:22):
Do they have enough? Can they just find a way
through complimentary football? Through what they've done defensively? I thought
defensively last week they were just awesome. They played so hard.
They have such a great play style of the Niners defense.
They can play that way again and biden enough time.
The forty nine Ers have shown a little magic late
in the season that they can figure out how to
come back and win.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
A lot of these games, even if it's really close.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I remember you and Peyton Manning both faced that great
Seattle defense. It got bad for Peyton really fast. But
I do remember, I remember how you attacked it, and
you made sure when you're caught the ball, move forward,
don't go sideline. The sideline they'll strip the ball. And
(19:05):
I do feel Seattle has that because Witherspoon is so
aggressive and so strong. The way to beat I'm wondering
if the way to beat this Seattle is a little
like the way you beat them, which is guys five
yards four yards of the pap is fine, don't try
to get I mean, I think this Seattle defense looks
a little like the one you face, which is hyper aggressive,
(19:27):
seeking turnovers super fast. Do you see any similarities.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
They close space as well as any defense in the league.
As soon as the ball's caught, boom, there's guys on him,
there's linebacker's hitting you. Erniest Jones been phenomena. Reek Willens
got tremendous speed. He covers up so much wrong with
the Spoons phenomena. Eve unworried that the rookie is insane.
They've got this kind of swarming defense. Wherever the ball goes,
it's like there's these like scud missiles that are just
(19:54):
flying in to hit the ball carrier's It's a fascinating defense.
And then they got one of the most underrated defensive
lines in the league. I think the interior defensive line
is phenomenal. They've got four edge guys they rotate in
that are all kind of unique. They have different traits.
They really challenge the tackles. There's a reason why they
were the top scoring defense in the league. They just
(20:15):
have really suffocated these offenses by taking the space and
just making the field feel like it's so much smaller.
So they haven't allowed like one hundred yard rusher in
you know, a season and a half or something like that.
It's been insane. Their tackling is good, their pass defense
is elite. Their coverage schemes are really tricky for the quarterback.
(20:37):
You need a very kind of diversified set of weapons
on offense in order to move the ball.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
And they don't give up a ton of big plays.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
So they're gonna have to drive the ball down the field.
The Niners are going to have to keep it a
low scoring game. Look in the Week eighteen game, it
was thirteen to three at one point, and then the
ball got intercepted when Party threw it to McCaffrey, ball
got batted up in the air.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Could have been thirteen ten, could have been very tight game.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
Instead, one little mistake like that, one little batted ball
and the game is over.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
So Matt Stafford Texas. Then he goes to Georgia. Then
he goes to a dome. Now he's in La It's
not exactly the harshest environments in his life. And there
he goes And I've told you this before. I thought
you were the best cold weather thrower I've ever seen
in my life. But Stafford's whole career has been domes
(21:25):
in warm weather. And it's so far and it Sunday
is supposed to be feel like minus nine for you,
you know, Michigan, New England. But I remember, I've told
you before. I see pregame shots of guys you faced
in Foxboro and I'd be like, oh, Tom's won. It's
an hour before we get Tom's one. How do you psychologically?
(21:48):
How do you psychologically when the environment's not ideal? How
do you get out of that space and not think
about it and not let it affect you.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Yeah, it's a great question, Colin, and it's it's almost there.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Yeah, there could be a mental part to it. A
lot of it is.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
There's a physical element to dealing with the cold. It's
not just mental toughness. It's also the team that has
the advantage is the one that practice is in it
all the time. And when we were in Foxboro, we
practice outdoor. We had like a nice indoor facility. We
used to look at it all the time and be like, man,
why don't we ever go in there? It's been a
nice actually maybe going and Bill would be like, we're outside,
(22:24):
you know, And it's just your body acclimated over the
course of a long season to you know, the warm
weather in the summer, as it dropped through the fall
and then into the winter, you had to deal with
twenty degree weather, fifteen degree weather with twenty mine on
hour winds, and over time you just learned how to
deal with I knew exactly how many layers of clothes
(22:45):
to put on per the temperature, and I was always going, Okay,
you don't want to be like Roufi from Toy Story,
where you got so.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
Much damn clothes on you can't move the ball.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
So you've got to be still have just enough layers
on to keep you warm, but not too much where
you or restricted it anyway. You know, the big lineman
they got so much insulation. You know, they got a
lot of body fats, so they're not going to be
the ones that are cold. But it's kind of the
skill players that have, you know, got to use their
hands and the gloves and all kind of the fine
motor skills you need in the really cold weather. And
(23:15):
Matt did play in Detroit for a long time and
in that division you did go outside to Chicago in
Green Bay. It's not like he hasn't played in it.
But I will say when I went to Tampa after
my time in New England, it didn't take me very
long to get very soft.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
It took to the cold weather and we ended up going.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
To Green Bay in the NFC Championship game my first year,
and very fortunately the game wasn't that cold. It was
like thirty two thirty four degrees at kickoff. It wasn't
minus nine. That is really cold. And that's a big
advantage for Chicago because Chicago has played in these conditions.
Now for the last six weeks, it's been terrible weather
(23:52):
in the Midwest. They played against Cleveland in the freezing cold.
Caleb looked like it was just like he was playing
at the coliseum and l He's firing that ball over
the field. He's a really unique player. They've got a
really unique team if there's a team that can figure
it out. And I love the Rams all year with
their kind of their diversification of what they do in offense.
(24:15):
Tight ends, receivers, run game. Everyone touches it and that's
the moving target. Sean keeps everyone out balance. This is
going to be another terrific matchup. I'm so excited to
see the winner of this game.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Oh same here. So Josh Allen, you know you can do.
I remember an ELI team that went on the road
and kept winning road games. Burrow got to a super
Bowl with a bunch of road It's hard. So you know,
Buffalo's already jammed up in the Northeast. Then they go
down to Florida, then their home. Now they go out
to Mile High and I'm thinking to myself, man, and
(24:49):
now Josh is not one hundred percent. They're down to
three active wide receivers. And then part of me thinks,
Oh that's that's what Superman needs. Now's the phone booth
go to your care. Was there a game where you're
down two receivers, it's a second straight roady you mostly
at homes and that you really felt, man, we are
this thing is holding on by a thread. I've got
(25:11):
a slot receiver from Boise State. I'm crossing my fingers
James Cook's the ankle doesn't go. Did you ever have
a moment like that and what did it play into
it emotionally and physically how it turned out?
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Yeah? Interesting.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
We twenty thirteen, we had kind of a rash injuries
in that season.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Gronk got injured, we were down.
Speaker 6 (25:32):
We went to Denver in the championship game, we lost
all our backs. We brought in Stephen Jackson to play.
It was just a hard year, losing backs, losing tight ends,
kind of offensive line in and out. We're dealing with
rookie receivers on the road in the championship game, and
we still made.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
It a game. It was really close.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
I mean, we really could have made some plays early
in the game to kind of give us a little momentum,
but because we didn't play very well early. I remember
I missed the pass to Julian across the field on
kind of that would it gave us a lot of
moment You just get behind, and when you get behind
and you don't have all your weapons, it's really hard
to dig yourself out of a hole. Like even a
(26:12):
Niner game against the Eagles last week. The Niners have
been very you know, obviously, so many injuries, they've been
beaten up all year long. They go into the Eagles
and they got off to a good start. They went
down the field and scored right away, and I was like,
Holy chow, this is awesome. You know, I wasn't expecting
that against that kind of great Eagles defense.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
But that just injects a lot.
Speaker 6 (26:33):
Of life into, you know, the visiting team and also
deflates the crowd of the home team because they're like,
oh god, so right away you shut them up. So
that's what I think Buffalo needs to do. I know
they're depleted. Their pass game has been a little volatile
this year. They do have an incredible run game, a
very good run blocking offensive line, and they've got a
(26:54):
really challenging Broncos defense. They're going against another defense that's
very similar to Seattle, really unique structure of defense, really
well coached.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
They're always on the details of.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Nuances and then you know, Josh has got a great
opportunity to you know, this is this is the game
for him. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of career
defining games for quarterbacks, and when you're a veteran quarterback
and you're not dealing with Patrick Mahomes anymore, and that's
been kind of a bit of a kryptonite for the
Bills over the years. They're looking at like, Okay, this
(27:25):
is this is the time for you know who. They
feel Josh one of the best quarterbacks in ac to
go out there and have his year. He won the
MVP last year. He's got a great chance to go
on the road. I know he's a little bit under man,
but you know, that happens and Denver may not have everybody.
Denver could lose somebody in the first quarter of the game.
You don't know how it's going to play out. But
(27:47):
it's hard to it's hard to not love the Buffalo
Bills in this story. And you know, I think it
would be just incredible for their fan base, who have been,
you know, so enthusiastic about this team to finally get
over the hump and then make it to you know,
a championship game. It's gonna be a tough battle, but
it's a just again another great game.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You're former a dynasty, the Patriots and the Texans. I
think i'd feel better about it for Drake May if
it was year seven. Famously, you had talked to Jay
Lazer at one point it was in camp, and you said,
you know, I think I've seen everything. I've got the
answers to the test. You don't have that, Drake. Drake
May doesn't have the answers to all the test questions.
(28:31):
And Houston's defense, maybe it's not the Ray Lewis, Ravens, Tom.
You can turn the sound down. It just looks longer, faster,
and stronger that everybody in the league. It's it is
justin Herbert looked out, overwhelmed. Do you worry that Drake
just hasn't faced anything close to this this year?
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Well? It is interesting.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
I think the Patriots, you know, they haven't had you know,
I would say when you look at their schedule of
the quality of competition hasn't been you know what, some
other teams may have it. Now, that doesn't matter because
that's not the Patriots' fault. You know, you play who's
on the schedule, and however those teams are playing, you know,
they line you up and you've got to go out
there and be who you're going to be. You're now
(29:13):
into the final eight. Who is the best eight teams
in football? They've earned it. The teams that got the
buy had the best seasons in their conferences. The teams
the other three teams that are playing per conference have
already won a playoff game. They're riding high on confidence.
They feel like, hey, we can hang with anybody. And
I thought the Patriots played off some last week too,
and the Patriots had a great game.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
I mean, this is.
Speaker 6 (29:36):
Going to be you know, I'm not Drake is a
really poised, composed kid. The Patriot organization knows how to
deal with these type of atmospheres. The fan base they are,
they've been waiting for this since I left. It's going
to be rocking Foxborough. It's a tough place to play,
it's going to be cold. But this defensive Houston is
(29:58):
ridiculous and they could put a lot pressure on you.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
So I'm excited.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
I'm excited about how what does Josh do to try
to keep some of the risk, you know, mitigated from
from what Drake's done this year.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
And Drake's played.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Phenomenal and he's throwing the ball so well, so accurate.
Downfield throws are awesome. His escapability, his ability to move
in the pocket, his relatability with this teammate. There's so
much to love about him as a player. And that's
why the Patriots are in this position. So they they
are very high expectations in Foxborough. I mean, they're not believing.
They don't think that, you know, they're thinking one thing,
(30:34):
that they're going to go in there and.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
Kick some butt. But Houston's going to have a lot
to say about that too.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Finally, I remember, and I think it's hard because you
were so good to the very end. Two years after
you retired, you would have still been a top six quarterback.
Aaron I thought had a really good year all things
considered that he lost DK metcalf. The on line was
work in progress, not a consistent run game, more of
a defensive culture. And I remember your retirement video. It
(31:02):
was emotional. You were on the beach, you were sitting
down by yourself. Did you and so Aaron's in that
space now, did you have an epiphany? Was it a
drive around the block. Did you wake up? Was it
a dream? What got you to the I can still play,
I could still win a lot of games, and I
could still met the playoffs. I'm going to call it
a career. Do you remember the moment, because I think
(31:23):
Aaron could have a moment like that in the next
three weeks.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Yeah, I was. You know, my last season was tough.
Speaker 6 (31:29):
I was going through a lot of you know, just
a personal you know, a family issue, and it was
a challenge and it was a very you know, it
just took a lot out of me in terms of,
you know, my ability to continue to play.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
And I you know, it's.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
I had twenty three years of it, so I didn't
feel like I was missing anything retiring. I felt like, okay,
this time, I always had a goal. Forty five was
forty five years old.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
I wanted to spend time with my kids.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
I felt like, Okay, you know, now it's time for
me to be at all my kids games. You know,
they've been enough to the dad of their dad's games.
And Aaron's got his own decisions he's got to make.
He doesn't have kids, you know, he's trying to navigate
what he wants to do post career. It's hard to
give up football too. It's a it's something that we're
really good at. It's something you love to do. You
(32:15):
love being out there with your teammates. And I told
a friend the other day, when I got older, I
almost enjoyed practice more than playing, because playing it was
almost like it was a relief to win. And everyone
who's out there. I was like, what's another win going
to do for people? You know, it's never satisfying, even
for me, you know, sometimes winning and not winning like
(32:38):
you would expect. So I understood at that point, I
probably in my last season, like okay, this is this
is going to be my last time.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
I try to put as much as I could into it.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
I felt like I owed it to my teammates and
coaches to give them everything I had. I wish it
could have been a little bit better at the end,
but it was just a unique situation, a unique year
for Me's got that too, I mean, Aaron's got his
own ways that he deals with, you know, trying to
find solutions, and you know, I know it's it's he's
(33:08):
done some different things in the past.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
I'm sure he's trying to.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Figure out because football is like a marathon the season.
Everyone loves to run the first four miles of the marathon,
and everyone loves to run the last two miles of
the marathon.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
But it's those middle it's.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
Those middle twenty miles that are hard because kind of
the shine wears off after about a month, and now
you've got to dig deep into your preparation, into your
you know, into your body work, your treatments, you're you know,
you've got to dig deep with your team is and
over because it's such a long season, you need to
work really hard over the course of the off season
(33:46):
to kind of callish your body for what it takes
to be an NFL player. So to me, it's do
you want to make the commitment year round because if
you don't, well, then it's never going to turn out
well when the season happens. In order to be a
great NFL player, you've got to it and be foey
in and that's the only way your team's going to
have a chance to win, especially when you're starting quarterback.
And only Aaron can decide that for himself.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Well, Niners at the Seahawks the Pacific Northwest. I mean, honestly,
it's just you can see the game, you can see
the environment. You've had a great year at Fox, and
the world will be watching. My friend a great job
today and I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 6 (34:28):
I got the best team on the field, our team
at Fox, our whole crew. We love being up there,
we love working together, we love kind of bringing our
love of the game to the fans. And where you're
going to see us Sunday afternoon or Seuesday, Saturday night,
It's going to be awesome. I'm bringing my ear plugs.
It's going to be loud. That environment is so cool.
(34:50):
I mean my ears are still bringing from the last
time I played at that stadium, and.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
It's going to be rocking on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
All Right, Tom Brady seven trophies, great sing Uh.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
See you, but I'll see you hopefully next week. All Right.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That was really good stuff. There's a ton of good
stuff there. Yeah. I mean, Aaron's now married. I mean,
it's just there's a lot of different things that go
into play. I don't know, but it's Tom at the
end when he retired was still a top seven eight quarterback.
That's it's one thing if you're falling apart, but Brady
(35:25):
didn't have a lot of injuries. You know, you just
make decisions and it's life happens.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Uh Man.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
That that forty nine er Seahawk game, that is one
for the ages we got. How lucky that we get
last week? I mean the games were credible in Chicago,
It's the Herd.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Saturday on Fox.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
After dethroning the defending chance, Christian McCaffrey leads the Niners
against Sam Darnold in the top Sea did Seahawks the
Division Round Playoffs presented by Intuit TurboTax, Saturday, seven thirty
Eastern four to thirty Pacific on.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Fuck Obviously Saturday, It's Buffalo and Josh Allen at Denver.
Think about this. If Josh Allen was to win a
Super Bowl, listen to this journey. He would have beaten
the Jags on the road Jags number eight defense. He
would then have to beat Denver on the road cross
(36:28):
country number three defense. He could eventually face the Houston
Texans on the road number two defense, and then eventually
he could face the Seattle Seahawks neutral site the number
one defense. If he wins, it is an all time list.
This with a wide receiver room that's down to three
active players. Brandon Cooks is one of them. He arrived
(36:50):
week thirteen. Keon Coleman's another one. He appears to be
a bust. It'll be a slot receiver and cross your fingers.
So the journey is this, This is an all timer. Now.
The good news is if you look at the quarterbacks remaining,
there's a lot of talent, but there's one old guy
(37:15):
that doesn't move around and a lot of inexperience. Bow Knicks,
Drake May, Sam Darnold doesn't have much of a rich
playoff history. Caleb Williams Brock pretty it's pretty clear when
you look at that list, who's got the most firepower.
Here was bow Knicks this week on facing Josh Allen.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
He's incredible.
Speaker 7 (37:38):
He's a you know, MVP of the league for a reason.
You know, he continues to make play after play when
sort of the game's not necessarily looking like he can
make the play, he just goes out there and you know,
does superhero stuff. It's one of those things where he
can do it all at a at a high level
and it's it's always been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
You don't want to say now or never, but now
would be a good time because Mahomes is probably back
into it, justin Herbert probably gonna have both his tackles
next year. My guess is Joe Burrow or Lamar or
both will be back in it. It's not a now
or never, but I mean it's gonna be a big lift.
It's a lot of the best defenses. His wide receiver
(38:20):
group is breaking down, and Josh is probably eighty percent
to this point. I was really surprised by how they
played at Jacksonville. I really was. I thought. I mean
I watched Jacksonville play parts of every game and three
to four full games, and I thought they were more
consistent they were at home. Trevor Lawrence wasn't making mistakes.
(38:43):
Emmanuel Sanders, a former teammate of Josh Allen, talked about
him yesterday to close our show out.
Speaker 8 (38:50):
He's six foot five and just a machine and then
just a rocket of a arm. He was one of
the best teammates that I truly enjoyed being around. And
it was always light energy, like always having fun. Yeah,
when we get in the game, he would turn it on.
But it was always fun to go out and compete
with him because you know that he was gonna give
(39:11):
it as all. And that's why I always respected Josh.
And you know, the success that he's having it is
no surprise because he wants it. And I know how
bad he wants that Super Bowl too.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Yeah, and Emmanuel talked about but you know, you tend
to think players make the coaches, but Emmanuel said, really,
the coaches largely make the players. Now I think that
is to a degree true. I think Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald,
Reggie White, Calvin Johnson, Josh Allen would win anywhere in
(39:43):
professional football. Now Wyoming, he didn't win, but he didn't
have you know, he wasn't as good as he is now. Obviously,
there are a handful of players who aren't really reliant
on systems or coaches to be successful. Now, you may
not hoist a trophy without the great coach to Jimmy Johnson,
you know, without the without the Belichick, the Andy Reid.
(40:04):
But Josh is one of those players that kind of
falls into a Lawrence Taylor, Calvin Johnson, Aaron Donald, Regie White.
It doesn't it doesn't really matter where you put him.
It doesn't matter you give offensive coach, defensive coach less
than stellar coordinator. They're just different. He is just different.
By the way, Brady was one of those. He won
with Charlie Weiss. He won in Tampa with Bruce Arians.
(40:27):
You know, he went with Josh McDaniel. Some guys are
just going to succeed, but to get to the trophy room,
that's generally when you really need somebody to accompany you,
a king maker at some level. But if you look
at the potential journey for Josh Jags defense, Denver Defense,
Texans defense, Seahawks defense three neutral or three road one neutral,
(40:51):
that is a that is a lyft Joel Klatt around
the corner Kines Hoosiers. Monday, Greg Co said, well today
as well in Chicago, it's the hurt.
Speaker 7 (41:06):
Yeahm
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 Foxsports 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. Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It is a Thursday. Tom Brady stops my live in
twenty minutes. This in Chicago is the Herd. Wherever you
may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day. John Harbaugh five year deal,
is going to be the head coach of the New
(00:51):
York Giants, and that's where we begin today. If you
want to go from a bad team in the NFL
to a good team in the NFL, there's only one
thing you can absolutely control. Hire the best coach on
the market, whatever it costs, whatever it takes. You can
(01:14):
draft a quarterback top five. He could stink. Players get hurt.
Coaches don't. John harbbo is the best resume and is
the best culture builder on the market, and the Giants
smartly hired him first, meaning they'll get the best pick
of the assistant coaches and coordinators on the market. There's
(01:35):
very little you can control in the NFL. You can
control hiring the first coach, getting the best assistance, and
hiring the best resume. Yes, I know New York is
a tough market. The media is scary, but that's not
why the Jets and the Giants have been hasmatt spills
for a decade plus. They have been because they went
(01:59):
cheap and exparah Manlett head coach. The last time the
Giants were good, it was Tom Cofflin, who coached at
Boston College at the time, beat Notre Dame who was
number one, and went to Jacksonville. There was no experimenting.
He was a leader, a culture builder, successful. I look
at Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets. You're not
(02:19):
asking him to coach, You're asking him to fix a
completely broken culture. And I don't think Aaron Glenn's good enough.
And clearly all the guys after Conflin weren't good enough.
These nine coaching openings in the NFL now eight, they're
not looking for scheme guy. They're not looking for guy
that's good in the whiteboard. They're looking for CEOs Okay, Harball,
(02:42):
this is a job for a hardball, Like Jim to
the Chargers, John to the Giants, this is a job
for a hardball. The Giants didn't need an offensive coordinator,
they needed a crisis coordinator. And similar to Mike Vrabel
and New England, the day you high John Harbaugh, he
(03:03):
is immediately the best coach in the division. Say it
out loud, Nick Seriani, Brian Schottenheimer, Dan Quinn, John Harball.
In a couple of those instances, it's not even close.
And the Giants have a lot of pieces. So for
four years in a row, I have picked a team
(03:26):
successfully four for four pat in the back that would
double their win total. The New York Giants this morning,
four and thirteen this year are minimum double the win
total next year. My guess they get the ten to
eleven because like when Brady went to Tampa and Tom
(03:47):
Brady could have chosen any team, but he chose that
Tampa team that was about five hundred, that had a
star receiver, that had really good pass rushers, Like the
Giants had a pretty good old line. Left tackle was good,
but they needed a right tackle and the Bucks drafted
Tristan wurs Well what do you know. The Giants need
(04:09):
a right tackle, and it is an unbelievably good edge
rusher and offensive tackle draft. Sometimes you get lucky. The
Giants need what this draft provides. In fact, they could
move down a couple of spots, accumulate more picks, and
perhaps still get one of the two best tackles on
(04:32):
the market. Weapons they've got them winning coach. For the
last several years, the Giants have been hiring Belichick, tree guys,
finger crossers, coordinators. None of it works. Harbaugh's proven confidence,
proven culture builder. And I know you don't want to
(04:54):
hear this. I know you're looking this morning down at
the New York Jets. But the Giant are the Jets.
Since Coughlin, with a trophy room with better archive footage,
you have been the Jets. Now the Jets are still
trying to dig their way, and the Jets seemingly keep
grabbing a shovel and digging deeper. But the Giants officially
(05:21):
didn't get a scheme guy. They got a culture guy,
Vrabel Jim Harbaugh. This is a job that needs not superman,
harball man, and they got him. Here's Albert Brewery yesterday
on Harball and the Giants.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
The Giants job, how attractive it is is largely dependent
on what you think of Jackson Dart. That said, they
have a lot of other things with the Giants, Like
you said, franchise left tackle and Andrew Thomas, franchise receiver
in In Malik Neighbors. On the defensive front, I mean,
my goodness, Brian Burns, Abdulla Carter, Dexter, Lawrence, you have
a chance to be dominant up front right shoot. And
(06:00):
this is why, like the last couple of years, I
felt like they were the team right on the edge.
But if you love Dart, I think it's got everything
that you'd want. State of ownership, all of that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
All right, Now, let's talk about a team that is
still looking for a coach. And whereas the Giants bottomed out,
they didn't want to for all these years, the Steelers
keep saying we're not bottoming out. The Steelers have this
under five hundred phobia, which is remarkable because there's four
(06:33):
times evidence right in front of them. Think about this.
Four division winners. I'm not talking just playoff teams. Four
division winners, Bears, Patriots, Jaggs, Carolina lost twelve games last season.
This isn't the NBA where you're drafting eighteen and nineteen
(06:55):
year olds. They're not even mature enough, old enough at
the hotel bar to have a cocktail. This isn't baseball
where there's nobody you can draft on a college that
comes into your Major League baseball team and changes outcomes.
This is the NFL, where it happens all the time.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, always talks about this that
(07:17):
people overestimate the downside to risk and failure. It's never
as bad as you think. Kyle Shanahan four times in
San Francisco has been under five hundred. Think about that?
Is he a failure four times? Would you rather be
(07:38):
San Francisco or the Steelers since twenty seventeen, I don't
think it's close. For the record, the Texans bottomed out
the next year. They had double digit wins. That's the
team that just beat you on Monday Night. And also,
nine of the fourteen playoff quarterbacks are top ten picks. Right,
(07:59):
you can get to Lamar Jackson, maybe you're lucky and
Aaron Rodgers falls out of cow, but seventy percent of
the playoff quarterbacks were top ten picks, meaning it's okay
to have a bad year.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The NBA in baseball doesn't take years. NBA makes trading impossible.
The NFL encourages it. So the Steelers have convinced themselves
their house is charming. Yeah, maybe we'll fix just you know,
one of the guest rooms. It's like, no, you've got
turquoise tile in three bathrooms, in the kitchen. You see
(08:36):
your house as charming a lot of other people see
it as outdated and weird. It's time to take a
swing Pittsburgh. They've fallen in love with the house. And
the house isn't just a couple of screws there, a
cabinet shelf there, You've got turkoise tiles all over the place.
(08:58):
Art Rooney on the Rebuild.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Standards.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Try to compete to win a championship every year.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm not going to say, well, you know, we're going
to take a couple of years to figure this out
and then well then we'll try to compete.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
So I think you try every year.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I mean, you know, and as I said, some years
you have the horses to really get there, some years
you don't.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
But you try every year.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, you got four examples this year. Division winning teams
that have twelve losses last year. This isn't basketball football,
it's it's not any other sport. It's the NFL. Go
look at the Houston Texans recent history. Go look at
the New England Patriots. It takes about one year to
be bad. That's about it. One year at six and eleven,
(09:38):
you compete your butt off, you lose some close games.
Six and eleven, you get the eighth pick. But if
you start looking, we put it up for the TV
audience where they draft, you may look into Lamar Jackson,
but it's much easier to get that quarterback, or at
least the starting point top ten, eleven, twelve pick. Then
(09:59):
you don't have have to give up the entire farm
to get to four. So the Texans were three and thirteen,
had the number two pick. C J. Stroud, Demiko Ryans.
What do you know? Ten and seven? It just I
don't know what they're afraid of. It's the under five
hundred phobia. I don't get it. I never have. There's
major evidence that one. Remember the Rams won the Super Bowl.
(10:22):
Then they thought were too expensive, We're too old, We're
gonna have two year rebuilt. It didn't even take two years.
I think there were five and twelve one the next
year They've been a playoff team since. So the Rams
and I had talked to people in the building. They
thought it was probably a two year deal to get younger,
less expensive and rebuild around Matt Stafford. It took a year,
(10:44):
That's all it took. They're a playoff team the next year.
It have been since Tom Brady's around the corner. J Mack,
I know you don't love Big Blue, but John Harbaugh,
this is a job for a Harbaugh, Jim West John
in New York. It feels like it's gonna work. Get
(11:04):
the right tackle. You got the rush ends Burns and
Abduall Carter, you got the weapons and Scataboo and neighbors
and the left tackle, Jackson Dart. Stay out of the
blue tent. I'll call it right now. Ten and seven.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Okay, So it's interesting. I just looked up their opponents
for next season. Are you ready for this time? We
don't have to schedule order, but we have the opponents. Okay,
all right, I know you're terrified.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Finally we can't get into it. Do I get the
Dallas Cowboys twice?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
You do get the Cowboys twice, Yes, and Washington as well.
But you have the AFC South Jacksonville, Houston, Indy, and Tennessee.
Two of those teams made the playoffs. But then the
tough one the NFC West Colin Rams, Niners, Seahawks, Cardinals.
They have two trips as of now to the West
Coast at Seattle at the Rams, they also have to
(11:53):
go to Houston for the rest, and they have to
go to Detroit as well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
For the record, Stafford'll be thirty eight if he's the starter,
and the Rams almost lost to Carolina twice this year.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
They did almost by the way, So eight of the
Giant seventeen opponents are playoff teams this year.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Half, what's the big deal?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
That's a brutal schedule, my friend, Hi, I'll push back
against the ten wins, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, I mean the schedule. People always go their schedules easy. Well,
couldn't I argue Brock Purty and the Niners have an
easy schedule. That's why successful. You're tough to win the games. Well,
New England's schedule is I don't know. I watched them
in a playoff game. You got to win the games.
I don't care how easier schedule. It's like college football.
There's not you know, a committee on this stuff. San
(12:40):
Francisco had an easier schedule. I watched the Niners play
this year when they lost all those players to injuries?
How easy was? It didn't look that easy to me?
And they were still banging on people. So I think
you got to win game everybody. Oh, New England's schedule is.
I watched them last weekend dominate a playoff game against
Jim Harbon Herbert. I think they're good. Oh, we got
(13:01):
a lot of stuff to this. Tom Brady is around
the corner.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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(13:25):
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Speaker 1 (13:40):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. And
the Seahawks Niners game. I was thinking about it this morning,
and there's so much pressure on Sam Darnold to get
that first you know, big playoff. But I'm like nervous
for him. It's Thursday. It just this game feels so big.
Division rivals Shanahan and Mike McDonald and with that, Tom
(14:02):
Brady is going to be there forty nine or Seahawks
for Fox. This is a I mean, this is honestly
this game is I mean, I feel it like I
It's Thursday and I can feel it. What do you
make Because I've defended quarterbacks who throw picks. Staffords had
seven and seven games. I've defended Andrew Luck for years.
(14:23):
You were an outliner. You didn't throw a lot of them.
Purty does, Donald does? How do you explain Donald's struggles
with interceptions in mostly big games? How do you explain it?
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Well, it's it's certainly a problem I think when you
get to these big moments in big games, whether that's
you know, certainly playoffs or some of these games have
happened at the end of the year determined whether going
to get in or not. The margin and there when
you play good teams is just very small. So that's
where the fundamentals come into play. You have to, you know,
in order to throw the ball accurate, okay, and if
(14:57):
you throw it accurately, make a decisions, you're not going
to throw a lot interceptions.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
So like you know, Aaron Rodgers is a great example
of that.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
If your mechanics are a little off or you're not
you know that accurate, and you get late in the season,
there's a little wet conditions, a little windy conditions, you're
playing against a defense that's got a good rush and
a good coverage scheme, so you're a little unsure where
you're throwing. That's where all the problems come into play.
So it's over time. You need to refine your techniques
(15:27):
so that when you get these big moments, you're as
accurate as you can possibly be because you have the
least margin of ere And then you need coaches that
are stressing you in practice all the time so that
you learn to deal with the stress emotion that you
feel when you need to perform at a high level.
So this is not a game where you know, it's
(15:50):
very hard to overcome turnovers in the NFL. Last week
I think was very much an anomaly for the forty
nine Ers. They lost the turnover battle to the Eagles
and still won the game, the Eagles playing very poorly.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
We covered that game.
Speaker 6 (16:02):
The forty nine Ers are gonna have to play a
great game against Seattle. This defense is entirely different than
the ones.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
That they faced.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
And you saw what happened in the Week eighteen game
with the Niners and the Seahawks. Niners just couldn't break
any tackles. There wasn't much action in the past game.
I'm really interested to see how coach Shanahan kind of
devises a game plan that gives his guys the best
opportunity possible. The loss of Kittle last week hurts, but
everyone's been kind of writing the Niners off all year.
(16:30):
They've won i think eight of nine, which is ridiculous
considering all their injuries.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
But I'm really.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Excited to go up there and check this game out
in Seattle. It's going to be so loud, this place
is going to be rocking. This is going to be
one of the great games of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You know, it's funny they're going to go in as
an underdog. Tom, You did not go in as an
underdog very often. But I said earlier this week, I
can see Seattle, and this is what you went into
games knowing you were the better team and being cautious.
In fact, if you go look at your Super Bowl history,
not a lot of first quarter scoring. You had a
quarterback to advantage. You quarterback, you get a coaching advantage.
(17:07):
You often were at least as good, generally the better team.
So my take is, if I'm Seattle, my thing is
Seattle's going to play kind of cautiously thinking we got
the deeper, better roster. We're at home. How do the Niners?
And again, you weren't in this position a lot. They're
not as deep as Seattle, and they're on the road
and they come out of a physically exhausting game against Philadelphia. Yeah,
(17:28):
when you were the rare underdog, does it change the
game plan the mindset of how you attack it? Early?
Speaker 6 (17:36):
I think there's a part of the game where you
realize this is playoff football. There's nothing tomorrow that's guaranteed.
There's sixty to seventy plays left in this game. Look
with Seattle's defense. Last time the Niners played them, they
had like less than fifty plays I think it was
like forty three plays or something in the game. They
lost the time of possession almost two to one. So
it's really interesting to see this game because how challenging
(18:01):
it's going to be for these forty nine ers to
go in there as the underdog coming off last week's
game and then still having to emotionally get up for
an environment that is really hostile to the opposing team.
The Niners can do it. They've been there before. They've
played the Seahawks a lot. It's not like there's going
to be some intimidation. It's just do they have enough firepower?
(18:22):
Do they have enough? Can they just find a way
through complimentary football? Through what they've done defensively? I thought
defensively last week they were just awesome. They played so hard.
They have such a great play style of the Niners defense.
They can play that way again and biden enough time.
The forty nine Ers have shown a little magic late
in the season that they can figure out how to
come back and win.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
A lot of these games, even if it's really close.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I remember you and Peyton Manning both faced that great
Seattle defense. It got bad for Peyton really fast. But
I do remember, I remember how you attacked it, and
you made sure when you're caught the ball, move forward,
don't go sideline. The sideline they'll strip the ball. And
(19:05):
I do feel Seattle has that because Witherspoon is so
aggressive and so strong. The way to beat I'm wondering
if the way to beat this Seattle is a little
like the way you beat them, which is guys five
yards four yards of the pap is fine, don't try
to get I mean, I think this Seattle defense looks
a little like the one you face, which is hyper aggressive,
(19:27):
seeking turnovers super fast. Do you see any similarities.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
They close space as well as any defense in the league.
As soon as the ball's caught, boom, there's guys on him,
there's linebacker's hitting you. Erniest Jones been phenomena. Reek Willens
got tremendous speed. He covers up so much wrong with
the Spoons phenomena. Eve unworried that the rookie is insane.
They've got this kind of swarming defense. Wherever the ball goes,
it's like there's these like scud missiles that are just
(19:54):
flying in to hit the ball carrier's It's a fascinating defense.
And then they got one of the most underrated defensive
lines in the league. I think the interior defensive line
is phenomenal. They've got four edge guys they rotate in
that are all kind of unique. They have different traits.
They really challenge the tackles. There's a reason why they
were the top scoring defense in the league. They just
(20:15):
have really suffocated these offenses by taking the space and
just making the field feel like it's so much smaller.
So they haven't allowed like one hundred yard rusher in
you know, a season and a half or something like that.
It's been insane. Their tackling is good, their pass defense
is elite. Their coverage schemes are really tricky for the quarterback.
(20:37):
You need a very kind of diversified set of weapons
on offense in order to move the ball.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
And they don't give up a ton of big plays.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
So they're gonna have to drive the ball down the field.
The Niners are going to have to keep it a
low scoring game. Look in the Week eighteen game, it
was thirteen to three at one point, and then the
ball got intercepted when Party threw it to McCaffrey, ball
got batted up in the air.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Could have been thirteen ten, could have been very tight game.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
Instead, one little mistake like that, one little batted ball
and the game is over.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
So Matt Stafford Texas. Then he goes to Georgia. Then
he goes to a dome. Now he's in La It's
not exactly the harshest environments in his life. And there
he goes And I've told you this before. I thought
you were the best cold weather thrower I've ever seen
in my life. But Stafford's whole career has been domes
(21:25):
in warm weather. And it's so far and it Sunday
is supposed to be feel like minus nine for you,
you know, Michigan, New England. But I remember, I've told
you before. I see pregame shots of guys you faced
in Foxboro and I'd be like, oh, Tom's won. It's
an hour before we get Tom's one. How do you psychologically?
(21:48):
How do you psychologically when the environment's not ideal? How
do you get out of that space and not think
about it and not let it affect you.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Yeah, it's a great question, Colin, and it's it's almost there.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Yeah, there could be a mental part to it. A
lot of it is.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
There's a physical element to dealing with the cold. It's
not just mental toughness. It's also the team that has
the advantage is the one that practice is in it
all the time. And when we were in Foxboro, we
practice outdoor. We had like a nice indoor facility. We
used to look at it all the time and be like, man,
why don't we ever go in there? It's been a
nice actually maybe going and Bill would be like, we're outside,
(22:24):
you know, And it's just your body acclimated over the
course of a long season to you know, the warm
weather in the summer, as it dropped through the fall
and then into the winter, you had to deal with
twenty degree weather, fifteen degree weather with twenty mine on
hour winds, and over time you just learned how to
deal with I knew exactly how many layers of clothes
(22:45):
to put on per the temperature, and I was always going, Okay,
you don't want to be like Roufi from Toy Story,
where you got so.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
Much damn clothes on you can't move the ball.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
So you've got to be still have just enough layers
on to keep you warm, but not too much where
you or restricted it anyway. You know, the big lineman
they got so much insulation. You know, they got a
lot of body fats, so they're not going to be
the ones that are cold. But it's kind of the
skill players that have, you know, got to use their
hands and the gloves and all kind of the fine
motor skills you need in the really cold weather. And
(23:15):
Matt did play in Detroit for a long time and
in that division you did go outside to Chicago in
Green Bay. It's not like he hasn't played in it.
But I will say when I went to Tampa after
my time in New England, it didn't take me very
long to get very soft.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
It took to the cold weather and we ended up going.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
To Green Bay in the NFC Championship game my first year,
and very fortunately the game wasn't that cold. It was
like thirty two thirty four degrees at kickoff. It wasn't
minus nine. That is really cold. And that's a big
advantage for Chicago because Chicago has played in these conditions.
Now for the last six weeks, it's been terrible weather
(23:52):
in the Midwest. They played against Cleveland in the freezing cold.
Caleb looked like it was just like he was playing
at the coliseum and l He's firing that ball over
the field. He's a really unique player. They've got a
really unique team if there's a team that can figure
it out. And I love the Rams all year with
their kind of their diversification of what they do in offense.
(24:15):
Tight ends, receivers, run game. Everyone touches it and that's
the moving target. Sean keeps everyone out balance. This is
going to be another terrific matchup. I'm so excited to
see the winner of this game.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Oh same here. So Josh Allen, you know you can do.
I remember an ELI team that went on the road
and kept winning road games. Burrow got to a super
Bowl with a bunch of road It's hard. So you know,
Buffalo's already jammed up in the Northeast. Then they go
down to Florida, then their home. Now they go out
to Mile High and I'm thinking to myself, man, and
(24:49):
now Josh is not one hundred percent. They're down to
three active wide receivers. And then part of me thinks,
Oh that's that's what Superman needs. Now's the phone booth
go to your care. Was there a game where you're
down two receivers, it's a second straight roady you mostly
at homes and that you really felt, man, we are
this thing is holding on by a thread. I've got
(25:11):
a slot receiver from Boise State. I'm crossing my fingers
James Cook's the ankle doesn't go. Did you ever have
a moment like that and what did it play into
it emotionally and physically how it turned out?
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Yeah? Interesting.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
We twenty thirteen, we had kind of a rash injuries
in that season.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Gronk got injured, we were down.
Speaker 6 (25:32):
We went to Denver in the championship game, we lost
all our backs. We brought in Stephen Jackson to play.
It was just a hard year, losing backs, losing tight ends,
kind of offensive line in and out. We're dealing with
rookie receivers on the road in the championship game, and
we still made.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
It a game. It was really close.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
I mean, we really could have made some plays early
in the game to kind of give us a little momentum,
but because we didn't play very well early. I remember
I missed the pass to Julian across the field on
kind of that would it gave us a lot of
moment You just get behind, and when you get behind
and you don't have all your weapons, it's really hard
to dig yourself out of a hole. Like even a
(26:12):
Niner game against the Eagles last week. The Niners have
been very you know, obviously, so many injuries, they've been
beaten up all year long. They go into the Eagles
and they got off to a good start. They went
down the field and scored right away, and I was like,
Holy chow, this is awesome. You know, I wasn't expecting
that against that kind of great Eagles defense.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
But that just injects a lot.
Speaker 6 (26:33):
Of life into, you know, the visiting team and also
deflates the crowd of the home team because they're like,
oh god, so right away you shut them up. So
that's what I think Buffalo needs to do. I know
they're depleted. Their pass game has been a little volatile
this year. They do have an incredible run game, a
very good run blocking offensive line, and they've got a
(26:54):
really challenging Broncos defense. They're going against another defense that's
very similar to Seattle, really unique structure of defense, really
well coached.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
They're always on the details of.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Nuances and then you know, Josh has got a great
opportunity to you know, this is this is the game
for him. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of career
defining games for quarterbacks, and when you're a veteran quarterback
and you're not dealing with Patrick Mahomes anymore, and that's
been kind of a bit of a kryptonite for the
Bills over the years. They're looking at like, Okay, this
(27:25):
is this is the time for you know who. They
feel Josh one of the best quarterbacks in ac to
go out there and have his year. He won the
MVP last year. He's got a great chance to go
on the road. I know he's a little bit under man,
but you know, that happens and Denver may not have everybody.
Denver could lose somebody in the first quarter of the game.
You don't know how it's going to play out. But
(27:47):
it's hard to it's hard to not love the Buffalo
Bills in this story. And you know, I think it
would be just incredible for their fan base, who have been,
you know, so enthusiastic about this team to finally get
over the hump and then make it to you know,
a championship game. It's gonna be a tough battle, but
it's a just again another great game.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You're former a dynasty, the Patriots and the Texans. I
think i'd feel better about it for Drake May if
it was year seven. Famously, you had talked to Jay
Lazer at one point it was in camp, and you said,
you know, I think I've seen everything. I've got the
answers to the test. You don't have that, Drake. Drake
May doesn't have the answers to all the test questions.
(28:31):
And Houston's defense, maybe it's not the Ray Lewis, Ravens, Tom.
You can turn the sound down. It just looks longer, faster,
and stronger that everybody in the league. It's it is
justin Herbert looked out, overwhelmed. Do you worry that Drake
just hasn't faced anything close to this this year?
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Well? It is interesting.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
I think the Patriots, you know, they haven't had you know,
I would say when you look at their schedule of
the quality of competition hasn't been you know what, some
other teams may have it. Now, that doesn't matter because
that's not the Patriots' fault. You know, you play who's
on the schedule, and however those teams are playing, you know,
they line you up and you've got to go out
there and be who you're going to be. You're now
(29:13):
into the final eight. Who is the best eight teams
in football? They've earned it. The teams that got the
buy had the best seasons in their conferences. The teams
the other three teams that are playing per conference have
already won a playoff game. They're riding high on confidence.
They feel like, hey, we can hang with anybody. And
I thought the Patriots played off some last week too,
and the Patriots had a great game.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
I mean, this is.
Speaker 6 (29:36):
Going to be you know, I'm not Drake is a
really poised, composed kid. The Patriot organization knows how to
deal with these type of atmospheres. The fan base they are,
they've been waiting for this since I left. It's going
to be rocking Foxborough. It's a tough place to play,
it's going to be cold. But this defensive Houston is
(29:58):
ridiculous and they could put a lot pressure on you.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
So I'm excited.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
I'm excited about how what does Josh do to try
to keep some of the risk, you know, mitigated from
from what Drake's done this year.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
And Drake's played.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Phenomenal and he's throwing the ball so well, so accurate.
Downfield throws are awesome. His escapability, his ability to move
in the pocket, his relatability with this teammate. There's so
much to love about him as a player. And that's
why the Patriots are in this position. So they they
are very high expectations in Foxborough. I mean, they're not believing.
They don't think that, you know, they're thinking one thing,
(30:34):
that they're going to go in there and.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
Kick some butt. But Houston's going to have a lot
to say about that too.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Finally, I remember, and I think it's hard because you
were so good to the very end. Two years after
you retired, you would have still been a top six quarterback.
Aaron I thought had a really good year all things
considered that he lost DK metcalf. The on line was
work in progress, not a consistent run game, more of
a defensive culture. And I remember your retirement video. It
(31:02):
was emotional. You were on the beach, you were sitting
down by yourself. Did you and so Aaron's in that
space now, did you have an epiphany? Was it a
drive around the block. Did you wake up? Was it
a dream? What got you to the I can still play,
I could still win a lot of games, and I
could still met the playoffs. I'm going to call it
a career. Do you remember the moment, because I think
(31:23):
Aaron could have a moment like that in the next
three weeks.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Yeah, I was. You know, my last season was tough.
Speaker 6 (31:29):
I was going through a lot of you know, just
a personal you know, a family issue, and it was
a challenge and it was a very you know, it
just took a lot out of me in terms of,
you know, my ability to continue to play.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
And I you know, it's.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
I had twenty three years of it, so I didn't
feel like I was missing anything retiring. I felt like, okay,
this time, I always had a goal. Forty five was
forty five years old.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
I wanted to spend time with my kids.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
I felt like, Okay, you know, now it's time for
me to be at all my kids games. You know,
they've been enough to the dad of their dad's games.
And Aaron's got his own decisions he's got to make.
He doesn't have kids, you know, he's trying to navigate
what he wants to do post career. It's hard to
give up football too. It's a it's something that we're
really good at. It's something you love to do. You
(32:15):
love being out there with your teammates. And I told
a friend the other day, when I got older, I
almost enjoyed practice more than playing, because playing it was
almost like it was a relief to win. And everyone
who's out there. I was like, what's another win going
to do for people? You know, it's never satisfying, even
for me, you know, sometimes winning and not winning like
(32:38):
you would expect. So I understood at that point, I
probably in my last season, like okay, this is this
is going to be my last time.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
I try to put as much as I could into it.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
I felt like I owed it to my teammates and
coaches to give them everything I had. I wish it
could have been a little bit better at the end,
but it was just a unique situation, a unique year
for Me's got that too, I mean, Aaron's got his
own ways that he deals with, you know, trying to
find solutions, and you know, I know it's it's he's
(33:08):
done some different things in the past.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
I'm sure he's trying to.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Figure out because football is like a marathon the season.
Everyone loves to run the first four miles of the marathon,
and everyone loves to run the last two miles of
the marathon.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
But it's those middle it's.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
Those middle twenty miles that are hard because kind of
the shine wears off after about a month, and now
you've got to dig deep into your preparation, into your
you know, into your body work, your treatments, you're you know,
you've got to dig deep with your team is and
over because it's such a long season, you need to
work really hard over the course of the off season
(33:46):
to kind of callish your body for what it takes
to be an NFL player. So to me, it's do
you want to make the commitment year round because if
you don't, well, then it's never going to turn out
well when the season happens. In order to be a
great NFL player, you've got to it and be foey
in and that's the only way your team's going to
have a chance to win, especially when you're starting quarterback.
And only Aaron can decide that for himself.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Well, Niners at the Seahawks the Pacific Northwest. I mean, honestly,
it's just you can see the game, you can see
the environment. You've had a great year at Fox, and
the world will be watching. My friend a great job
today and I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 6 (34:28):
I got the best team on the field, our team
at Fox, our whole crew. We love being up there,
we love working together, we love kind of bringing our
love of the game to the fans. And where you're
going to see us Sunday afternoon or Seuesday, Saturday night,
It's going to be awesome. I'm bringing my ear plugs.
It's going to be loud. That environment is so cool.
(34:50):
I mean my ears are still bringing from the last
time I played at that stadium, and.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
It's going to be rocking on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
All Right, Tom Brady seven trophies, great sing Uh.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
See you, but I'll see you hopefully next week. All Right.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That was really good stuff. There's a ton of good
stuff there. Yeah. I mean, Aaron's now married. I mean,
it's just there's a lot of different things that go
into play. I don't know, but it's Tom at the
end when he retired was still a top seven eight quarterback.
That's it's one thing if you're falling apart, but Brady
(35:25):
didn't have a lot of injuries. You know, you just
make decisions and it's life happens.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Uh Man.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
That that forty nine er Seahawk game, that is one
for the ages we got. How lucky that we get
last week? I mean the games were credible in Chicago,
It's the Herd.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Saturday on Fox.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
After dethroning the defending chance, Christian McCaffrey leads the Niners
against Sam Darnold in the top Sea did Seahawks the
Division Round Playoffs presented by Intuit TurboTax, Saturday, seven thirty
Eastern four to thirty Pacific on.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Fuck Obviously Saturday, It's Buffalo and Josh Allen at Denver.
Think about this. If Josh Allen was to win a
Super Bowl, listen to this journey. He would have beaten
the Jags on the road Jags number eight defense. He
would then have to beat Denver on the road cross
(36:28):
country number three defense. He could eventually face the Houston
Texans on the road number two defense, and then eventually
he could face the Seattle Seahawks neutral site the number
one defense. If he wins, it is an all time list.
This with a wide receiver room that's down to three
active players. Brandon Cooks is one of them. He arrived
(36:50):
week thirteen. Keon Coleman's another one. He appears to be
a bust. It'll be a slot receiver and cross your fingers.
So the journey is this, This is an all timer. Now.
The good news is if you look at the quarterbacks remaining,
there's a lot of talent, but there's one old guy
(37:15):
that doesn't move around and a lot of inexperience. Bow Knicks,
Drake May, Sam Darnold doesn't have much of a rich
playoff history. Caleb Williams Brock pretty it's pretty clear when
you look at that list, who's got the most firepower.
Here was bow Knicks this week on facing Josh Allen.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
He's incredible.
Speaker 7 (37:38):
He's a you know, MVP of the league for a reason.
You know, he continues to make play after play when
sort of the game's not necessarily looking like he can
make the play, he just goes out there and you know,
does superhero stuff. It's one of those things where he
can do it all at a at a high level
and it's it's always been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
You don't want to say now or never, but now
would be a good time because Mahomes is probably back
into it, justin Herbert probably gonna have both his tackles
next year. My guess is Joe Burrow or Lamar or
both will be back in it. It's not a now
or never, but I mean it's gonna be a big lift.
It's a lot of the best defenses. His wide receiver
(38:20):
group is breaking down, and Josh is probably eighty percent
to this point. I was really surprised by how they
played at Jacksonville. I really was. I thought. I mean
I watched Jacksonville play parts of every game and three
to four full games, and I thought they were more
consistent they were at home. Trevor Lawrence wasn't making mistakes.
(38:43):
Emmanuel Sanders, a former teammate of Josh Allen, talked about
him yesterday to close our show out.
Speaker 8 (38:50):
He's six foot five and just a machine and then
just a rocket of a arm. He was one of
the best teammates that I truly enjoyed being around. And
it was always light energy, like always having fun. Yeah,
when we get in the game, he would turn it on.
But it was always fun to go out and compete
with him because you know that he was gonna give
(39:11):
it as all. And that's why I always respected Josh.
And you know, the success that he's having it is
no surprise because he wants it. And I know how
bad he wants that Super Bowl too.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Yeah, and Emmanuel talked about but you know, you tend
to think players make the coaches, but Emmanuel said, really,
the coaches largely make the players. Now I think that
is to a degree true. I think Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald,
Reggie White, Calvin Johnson, Josh Allen would win anywhere in
(39:43):
professional football. Now Wyoming, he didn't win, but he didn't
have you know, he wasn't as good as he is now. Obviously,
there are a handful of players who aren't really reliant
on systems or coaches to be successful. Now, you may
not hoist a trophy without the great coach to Jimmy Johnson,
you know, without the without the Belichick, the Andy Reid.
(40:04):
But Josh is one of those players that kind of
falls into a Lawrence Taylor, Calvin Johnson, Aaron Donald, Regie White.
It doesn't it doesn't really matter where you put him.
It doesn't matter you give offensive coach, defensive coach less
than stellar coordinator. They're just different. He is just different.
By the way, Brady was one of those. He won
with Charlie Weiss. He won in Tampa with Bruce Arians.
(40:27):
You know, he went with Josh McDaniel. Some guys are
just going to succeed, but to get to the trophy room,
that's generally when you really need somebody to accompany you,
a king maker at some level. But if you look
at the potential journey for Josh Jags defense, Denver Defense,
Texans defense, Seahawks defense three neutral or three road one neutral,
(40:51):
that is a that is a lyft Joel Klatt around
the corner Kines Hoosiers. Monday, Greg Co said, well today
as well in Chicago, it's the hurt.
Speaker 7 (41:06):
Yeahm
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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