October 2, 2026 • 43 mins
Jason McIntyre fills in for Colin Cowherd reacting to the Browns surprising win over the Steelers. After another disappointing performance, J-Mac explains why quarterback Aaron Rodgers is holding back the offense in Pittsburgh.
He also believes Brock Purdy continues to be underrated despite playing like the best quarterback in the league right now leading the 49ers to a 3-0 start.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Herd Podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Here we go. It is a fiery Friday on the herd. Yes,
Colin Cowherd is out. Very rare day off for him
during the football season. He's got a big family thing
to attend. And it's me, Jason McIntyre, in for Colin Cowherd.
I am joined by Rachel Nichols. We have so many
(00:47):
good NFL stories.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
On a Friday.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Rachel and I are used to, you know, summer duty
where we're making.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Things happen, concocting stories.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Rachel, we got so much to offer today.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I know you're fired up after a pretty great Thursday
night in sports.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
We're talking about how good this football season has been
so far on the way up here with the producers.
But I got to tell you, we got to sneak
a little Dodgers in later in the show because the
playoffs this weekend, I am so hyped.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, you're going to have to dress appropriately because it's.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Going to be hot.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Out here in L.A., very exciting weekend in sports. We
got to start with what happened Thursday night in Believe Land, folks.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yes, in Cleveland, it was a crazy game.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
The Browns shocked the Steelers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers become unraveled. Folks, listen,
the big storyline coming into this one was, oh, Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
He's reborn. See what he did last week against the Bengals?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
He's back.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
The Steelers are good. They're going back to the playoffs.
And then the vibes.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
fell apart last night in the dog pound. Folks, Aaron
Rodgers melting down at his coach. You had TJ Watt
sounding off. The Steelers lose 27-24 on a last-second field goal.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
We'll get to the Browns in a moment. Third straight
stirring win for Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
But the storyline here is Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy
going at it. Folks, when your quarterback is F-bombing your
head coach, midway through the first quarter of a scoreless game,
as you see on TV here, Aaron Rodgers unhappy, the
play call's not getting in, huffing and puffing like an
eight-year-old because he didn't get his dessert. Folks, this was ugly.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I mean, I don't know what people expected, okay?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
We saw this show Eight years ago in Green Bay,
when Rodgers and McCarthy fell apart, it was ugly. The
stories were all over the media about how they did
not get along. I mean, essentially, Aaron Rodgers would roll
his eyes at play calls coming in from McCarthy and
Green Bay. And then he would change the plays at
the line of scrimmage. It got so bad in that
(02:52):
final year. McCarthy basically just decided, you know what? I'm
going to get massages during team meetings. Rodgers, you don't
want to listen to me. You could just run them anyway.
You run the show anyway, because it's going to be
your call. And eight years later, everybody thought it was
going to be different. And so you got Mike Tomlin out,
a respected coach in Tomlin. There was no way Aaron
(03:12):
Rodgers was going to dog cuss him on national TV
in primetime. Now, he would do that to his OC,
Arthur Smith, last year because that's what Rodgers is. You know,
he's just a petulant quarterback who's aging and not as
good as he used to be. And he's a fiery guy,
and I get it. But, folks, this is unacceptable behavior
from your quarterback. cursing at your coach in the first
(03:33):
quarter and of course mccarthy the cameras cut to him
and he calls him a bleeping you know what you
can read lips now afterward it was interesting because mccarthy
owned it and you can guess what aaron rogers said
here's mccarthy after the loss of the browns.
Speaker 7 (03:46):
Communication sometimes is not the best choice of words but
everybody's competing on the field and i think you know
um but said on the field The way I grew
up in this game, you know, usually stays on the field.
That's not the case today. I understand that. But yeah,
any negative communication on my part, I wish I wouldn't
(04:07):
use those words. I have to look at the film,
but I don't think it was, yeah, it wasn't our
cleanest game all the way around.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
They're a good defense, so you got to give them credit.
Speaker 7 (04:18):
It was loud.
Speaker 8 (04:19):
It was definitely a good crowd tonight. It was loud.
So some of the calls, it was.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Hard to hear for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I don't want to be body language guy, but Mike
McCarthy standing up straight, looking people in the eye. Aaron Rodgers,
head down, looking at the podium, looking in the sky,
doesn't want to make eye contact.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
He's embarrassed. You know this, guys.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Anybody with kids knows, like, this is, you know, childish
behavior from Aaron Rodgers. But this is par for the course, right?
I mean, we're four games into the season. The Steelers
don't know what they want to be. I mean, their
best player, I think you would agree, is Jalen Warren.
Kid was awesome last week against the Bengals. Dynamic running back.
Catches all the dump balls from Rodgers because, you know,
(05:00):
Rodgers can't.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Move in the pocket.
Speaker 8 (05:01):
I mean, look at him.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
He got sacked five times. And this is against a
Browns team that traded away Myles Garrett. Mason Graham, their
best interior defensive lineman, he leaves the game injured. And look,
Rodgers coming off the field, cursing at McCarthy more. Folks,
this is embarrassing. Rodgers, it's like he's.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Trying to prove a point.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Hey, man, I can be the old guy. Just give
me what I need. Okay, Aaron, we'll give you a
DK Metcalf last year. And then we'll give you Michael
Pittman this year. By the way, did you see last week?
Rodgers ticked off at Pittman and was saying this guy
can't bleep and catch. Like, I'm telling you, it's falling
apart for the Steelers. Now, the schedule is fortuitous, so
they will win some games. But I just want to
(05:42):
remind some people, this is what you did when you
decided to bring back Rodgers. If we're being honest with ourselves,
Steelers fans know they got lucky. You got lucky to
make the playoffs last year. Tyler Luke misses a chip
shot 44 yarder in week 18 or you're not in
the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And then you get to the postseason. You face the Texans.
You get smashed.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I mean, just buried at home in an embarrassing performance.
And Rodgers, I don't want to go out with a
pick six as my final pass. I'm coming back. And
so Rodgers wants to throw all these deep balls. And
yet he's still 32nd in the league in yards per
attempt because none of the deep balls are connecting. Now,
he had a couple nice throws there coming back in
the fourth quarter, down 11, sure. But I think the
(06:25):
bigger story is the meltdown. Folks, we haven't even gotten
into this Joey Porter stuff. You got a veteran team.
They don't want to rebuild. The smart move was to rebuild.
They don't want to do that. You know, the Joey
Porter trait to me is a sign like, hey, we're
building for the future. And then you see Cam Hayward
ticked off on the sideline. You see TJ Watt. Give
(06:47):
me the damn headset. I want to yell at Patrick Graham,
the defensive coordinator. Folks, we're in week four for Pittsburgh.
This is not good. The vibes, they're bad in Pittsburgh.
And listen, I'll be real.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
One of our staffers said, you know, you.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Know, the that one of the nicknames for Pittsburgh is
the city of bridges because of all the waterways. I
believe they have the most bridges of any city in
the world.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Well, here we are. First week in October.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And Aaron Rodgers is well on his way to burning
all those bridges in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Now let's move to a positive story and the Cleveland Browns.
How about that?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Listen, anybody have three and one for the Browns after
four games? Folks, do you remember how ugly it was
in the preseason? Rachel and I would be talking about, oh, well,
Deshaun Watson, he's not going to make it. He's getting
booed by the home crowd. And then Watson's firing back.
What do they expect, 400 yards from me?
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I mean, it was comedy.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It's Todd Munkin. I'm making fun of his voice. He
sounds like he's losing his mind in the preseason. And
then in week one, they're down 24-0 at the half
to Jacksonville. It looks like a total abomination. Tank for
Arch Manning, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Folks, three straight games. Three straight games.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Deshaun Watson game winning drives in the fourth quarter. Now, listen,
I get it. You know, it's Tampa Bay. OK, these
are not super impressive victories. But if we're being honest,
given the expectations for for Cleveland, I'm impressed. Now, I
don't know if this is you could continue this because
(08:25):
let's be real. Watson was great in the first half.
You could argue it was his best half since leaving
the Texans. Second half, he came back to reality. You know,
he had two fumbles, lost one. He had the pick.
I think he was sacked twice. They nearly blew the game.
But when it mattered most, look at Watson winning with
his legs on the ground. And there's a lot to
(08:46):
clean up if you're a Cleveland Browns fan. I think
they had 14 penalties last night. They lead the NFL
in penalties. And Watson's bailed them out here. Here's Todd Munkin. Yes,
Todd Munkin, first-time NFL head coach on the win last
night over Pittsburgh.
Speaker 8 (09:02):
We've only got three wins, right?
Speaker 6 (09:06):
But I've said this all along, like, if you'd have
gotten me at 45, you wouldn't have gotten the best
version of me.
Speaker 8 (09:15):
I feel like I still got juice. I still feel
like I go to practice and get after our guys.
But it's still only three.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So besides the contrasting vibes between the Steelers and the Browns,
Like you could see the Browns sideline. Everybody loves each other.
They're very excited. The locker room afterward, I watched a
video where Munkin handed the game ball to the kicker.
Didn't have much else to say. Hands a game ball
to Deshaun Watson. Everybody's silent waiting for this big speech.
And Munkin's like, I'll see you guys Tuesday. He gave
(09:47):
the team a bunch of days off and they earned it.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Browns team that had
a win total of five and a half.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
They got three wins already. Nobody had this.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And honestly, they are building this the right way. We
just talked about how Pittsburgh didn't want to rebuild. Let's
put in Aaron Rodgers. Let's go get Metcalf.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Let's get Pittman. We can do something on the fly.
We can contend.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
That's just delusional teams in front offices. Cleveland is building
the right way. Look at their last two drafts. I mean,
they're throwing Watson to Boston, the young receiver. Concepcion, fan
in the tight end, is terrific. Judkins is a good
running back. The left tackle, Faneu, is playing great. Graham,
(10:33):
before he was injured, they've got a great young nucleus.
Like the Browns are building things the right way. This
is how you put stuff together. Again, I don't think
this is sustainable. I don't think they'll make the playoffs.
My guess is it will be the Ravens and Bengals
in that division. That being said, you got to be
impressed with Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And guess what?
Speaker 3 (10:54):
You get extra time off before you face my Jets
next week. We know the Jets ain't great. They got
a bunch of injuries. And you could be looking at
a 4-1 Cleveland Browns team heading into the A huge
showdown on Fox in week six in the Dog Pound
against Lamar Jackson. Folks, this is a fun Cleveland Browns story.
(11:15):
Congrats to Todd Munkin. I was way wrong about him.
Here we are four weeks into the season. And Deshaun Watson.
I know you guys remember this, but when the things
were not going well in the preseason, all the talk was, oh, oh,
Shador is the better quarterback.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
He's maybe the future.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know, he'll probably start week three after Watson vomits
all over himself in the first two weeks.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Nobody's talking about Shador Sanders, folks. Nobody. Because Munkin and Watson.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Are delivering victories for the surprising 3-1 kings of the
AFC North, the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
What a story. All right, we have a tremendous show
coming up next.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Oh, boy.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Colin's out so I can talk about my main man,
Brock Purdy. Wait till you hear the latest on the
superstar seventh round pick.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
That's next here on The Herd.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1,
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Speaker 9 (12:19):
Stugatz here, pleased to be hosting college football with Stugatz
and the Bear. We do it two times a week,
every Monday, every single Friday throughout the college football season.
You can expect a little bit of this.
Speaker 7 (12:31):
Will Stein, the head.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Coach at Kentucky, joins us. Open bar at a wedding,
ordering a Shirley Temple. Will or will not?
Speaker 8 (12:37):
No. Will not.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Ketchup on steak. Will or will not?
Speaker 8 (12:44):
Will not. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (12:45):
A little bit of this.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Reese Davis, host of College Game Day, is with us now.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And then I'm going home to the BBC, and they're
saying Jockovich instead of Jokovich.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Right, because you can't say Jockovich.
Speaker 9 (12:56):
If you do, you know the blowback you're going to
get from the American audience.
Speaker 8 (12:59):
Right.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
And a whole lot of this.
Speaker 9 (13:07):
Listen to college football with Stugatz and the Bear on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Back here on The Herd. Fun Thursday night in sports.
Huge Saturday ahead in baseball. All four playoff series in
action today. We've got some college football. Schedule's pretty good.
Be careful Alabama this weekend. And then Sunday, a monster
NFL slate. And we've talked about this game a little
bit this week. This San Francisco showdown against the Denver Broncos.
(13:46):
The 49ers are off to an unbelievable start this season, folks.
Brock Purdy now has risen to second in the MVP odds.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
I know it's early. We're a month in.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Purdy had made a run a few years back where
he was in the mix till a dreadful, I think
it was a five interception performance in primetime, I believe
against Lamar Jackson. But if you look at the MVP odds,
Josh Allen, the obvious favorite, he's been incredible. But Purdy
has surpassed Lamar, Mahomes and Burrow because the Niners are
on top of the league. And I was thinking about Purdy,
(14:19):
reading some articles.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
There's a lot of people out there who just continue
to doubt Rock Purdy. Well, you know, he was the
last pick in the draft. Well, he's only six one. Like,
what's his awesome trait processing?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Like, come on.
Speaker 10 (14:36):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Like, there's a lot of Brock Purdy doubters out there. Well,
he's got Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
What do you expect? You know, he's got McCaffrey and
Kittle and Mike Evans now.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
Like, come on.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
He's got a loaded deck. It's all this stuff is nonsense.
And I settled on. that Purdy is kind of, he's
been typecast, right? I'll never forget reading this incredible story
about Bradley Cooper, the great actor who was an awesome
bit player in a bunch of movies. I think Wedding
Crashers is one of my top 15 movies that I've
(15:07):
ever seen in comedy.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
And Bradley Cooper is excellent in Wedding Crashers. Small bit,
bit role, right? He's good in, he's just not that
into you. Not bad.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I'm into some rom-coms, not gonna lie. He's in an ensemble,
The Hangover. He wasn't like, the guy. You're not selling him.
You're selling the story. American Sniper. He was great.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
A war movie. I love that movie.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And Bradley Cooper had to eventually sell movie executives that
he was the guy to produce and also star in
the movie with Lady Gaga, A Star is Born. And
it was a tough sell, but Bradley Cooper explained selling
it to the executives who never saw him as a
leading guy. He gets that leading role. He's nominated for
(15:51):
an Academy Award. Boom, he's stamped now. That's a guy.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
That's an alpha. You can build movies around him.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And I feel like Brock Purdy is up against that
in the NFL. Nobody wants to give him the credit. Well, oh,
he had a good game and they're just waiting for
a loss and then to blame Brock Purdy.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
But if you look around the league, we have Greg
Cosell on every week.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
He's consistently trying to tell Colin, hey, Brock Purdy's in
that elite group of quarterbacks with Burrow, with Lamar, with
Mahomes and Allen.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
He's there.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Like if you listen, Cosell's telling Colin and Colin still,
I don't buy it. And then if you listen to
Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback in the history of the sport,
six round pick, Tom Brady raves about Purdy and he's
on record.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
He's a tier one quarterback.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I mean, Daniel Jeremiah, the top draft guy, excellent voice
when it comes to breaking down quarterbacks, a former quarterback himself.
He raves about Purdy and says how he's an elite quarterback.
This week, Sean Payton, who is facing Brock Purdy, really
gassed up the young quarterback. Here's what Sean Payton had
to say about Brock Purdy.
Speaker 11 (17:02):
He's playing, you know, at a real high level, very decisive.
You never feel like he's through his progressions fast. Kyle
and those guys have done a great job, whether he's
under center or in the gun. The mix of run,
play pass, and drop back is impressive. And you see
(17:23):
in three weeks, not only no sacks, first and third down,
first in red zone, very efficient. And he's making all
the throws.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Listen, Purdy's been my guy for a few years.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I love everything about him, but he's not going to
go to the combine and stand out, right? When he
was at Iowa State, he was really good for the
first couple of years with Matt Campbell. And there was
talk about the NFL. Then he backslid a little bit
and ended up staying four years. So he goes to
the combine where it's the Underwear Olympics. They're looking for big, strong.
How many bench presses can you put up? What's your
(18:00):
40 time? He's not going to excel at any of
that stuff. And so that's why people are drafting these. Oh, well,
Joe Milton has a huge arm and people are obsessed
with strength and height. And it's like, that's not what
makes a quarterback, folks. Brock Purdy is what you want
as your franchise guy. Kyle Shanahan identified it early to
(18:20):
the surprise of everyone is like that. That's our best
quarterback on the roster. And now you've got him second
in NFL MVP odds. And I will point out to
some people who want to say he's got a stacked deck.
They're losing wide receivers left and right, and people haven't
really noticed this, and I'm not knocking him, but Christian
McCaffrey's lost a step, and they know that because they're
force-feeding the backup each week to save McCaffrey's legs. He
(18:44):
doesn't have one explosive carry through three weeks. Christian McCaffrey,
one of the best, most dynamic backs in the league,
not one carry over 20 yards. I think he's 23rd
in yardage, and he only has like 35 carries on
the season because they know like, hey, A, we have
to save him, and B, he's not what he was
two years ago. So all this, oh, the Niners are stacked. Now,
(19:04):
you know what this means. I'm hyping the hell out
of Purdy.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
He's my guy.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I got him in a fantasy league. He's probably going
to struggle against Denver. Injury reports today. We're waiting on
Mike Evans, waiting on Greenlaw, waiting on Trent Williams. And yes,
I can hear you responding. Well, see, you got to
wait to hear about these guys before you know about Purdy. No, no,
Purdy's my guy. I believe in Brock Purdy. He doesn't
look the part. He's not your alpha quarterback who's going
(19:30):
to come out with his chest puffing. He's not going
to make Caleb Williams plays. I would guarantee you if
we got Ben Johnson on the show, gave him truth serum.
You could say to him, hey, who's your ideal quarterback? Well,
Caleb moves like, Brock Purdy moves like Caleb Williams. And
Brock Purdy is elite in the pocket like Jared Goff.
(19:53):
He's basically a mix of Goff and Caleb Williams. And
I'm sorry, guys, if you're not a believer in Purdy,
I don't.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Know what to tell you. Let's go to Rachel Nichols
with the news.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
On the news this is the herd line.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
News gotta love an underdog story yes come on this
is what we watch sports for speaking of underdogs i've
got one for you uh the raiders four and a
half point underdogs to kansas city at home this weekend
now look the chiefs obviously dominated this series in recent
memory but this is different jason the raiders clint kubiak
kirk cousins they're playing extremely well of course they're playing
(20:30):
patrick mahomes also extremely well 13-2 career against the Raiders,
Mahomes has. But Pat's not taking this lightly. Take a
listen to what he had to say about the Raiders
after practice.
Speaker 10 (20:42):
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a very hostile environment.
Try to take me back to those Oakland Raiders days.
And so I'm excited just for the challenge, you know.
I mean, they're playing great football. You can see it
on tape. That 3-0 record's real. They've been playing great
the entire season. And so for us, it's another step,
another challenge that we have to go up there and match.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
That's exactly what you're supposed to say. Do you, Jason,
give the Raiders any shot this weekend?
Speaker 10 (21:08):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I mean, listen, like you said, Kubiak is working wonders.
I think we should probably do five minutes on the
reemergence of Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yes, we should, Jason.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
He's been up and down, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'd love to see Fernando Mendoza under center, but like Shador,
nobody's talking about Mendoza. I mean, Brock Bowers looks like
wide receiver one. I mean, Ashton Gentry's not even doing much.
I don't want to say smoke and mirrors. Rachel, how
are they 3-0 again?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Well, look, they haven't played great competition. I think in
the first three weeks, their opponents are a collective 1-8.
So not so good. But I will say this. The
reason why I was advocating for Kirk Cousins to start
this season is exactly what we are seeing. He is
such a steadying influence. He knows Kubiak's offense. He's able
to get the younger players on this roster who are
(21:54):
on Mendoza's timeline, just that consistency, reliability that they need,
while he gives the older players that feeling of like, hey,
we're in good hands. We're not like stumbling around here.
And the defense has been incredible. They have not allowed
a point in the fourth quarter all season.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
I love an underdog story. I'm picking the Chiefs in
this one. I'm picking Fernando Mendoza in the long term.
I think he's going to be fantastic in the NFL.
But I love this decision to start Kirk Cousins, and
you're seeing why right now.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
The defense coming out of nowhere is a shocker. N'Kobe Dean,
in particular, has been excellent. Every time you watch him,
he's making plays. But if we could get the Raiders'
schedule up real quick. Yes, the 3-0 start is fun.
I do think some reality sets in here. Chiefs, Patriots.
I don't think the Patriots are as bad as the record.
They're going to be fine. Bills, Rams. So this could
(22:46):
go 3-0 to 3-4 pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
At that point, maybe we talk Mendoza.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
And that was always one of the places that we
thought we might see Mendoza, right? Seven, eight games in,
that kind of thing. I don't remember exactly when their
bye week is, but the idea is that, you know, hey, midseason,
this is a guy who played in shotgun in Indiana.
You want to give him time to adjust to being
an NFL quarterback. He's getting that under the best guy
he could be tutored by, Kirk Cousins, very generous guy
(23:16):
helping Mendoza. Mendoza's been praising him. There's no like old guy,
young guy thing going on there. Everybody knows the score.
And this steadying influence that Kirk has had I can't
say enough. The offensive line has gelled in a way
we didn't expect. And that, of course, is part because
they've got a quarterback behind them who knows what he's doing,
who is always where he says he is going to be.
(23:38):
And that's only going to benefit Fernando Mendoza when he
comes in because playing against a line that's full of holes,
it's the quickest way for a young quarterback to get
hurt and to get off to a bad start in
this league. And instead, Kirk is setting the table for
Fernando Mendoza to have a great run here I'm just
thrilled to see this work out this way. And I
agree with you. It's probably going to be a three
and three, three and four start, you know, maybe as
(24:00):
we go here. But guess what? No one expected this
team to win the Super Bowl this year. This is
about development and they're developing great.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
So let me ask you this, though, Rachel. What if
they're able to go? Let's say they beat the Chiefs.
And next thing you know, they're seven and three.
Speaker 6 (24:15):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And maybe headed toward the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
And it's like, OK, well, Kubiak had cousins in Minnesota
and you can see why this is working. And are
we headed toward a maybe Fernando Mendoza doesn't play at
all this year?
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I mean, and then what do you like? I don't
know if you're you make the playoffs and lose or
come close.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Is it is there a quarterback controversy potentially?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Why are you trying to manufacture a quarterback controversy week?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
This is television. That's what we do.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Come on, Jason. No, everybody knows Mendoza is the quarterback
of the future. look, if he sits seven weeks, if
he sits 12 weeks, if he sits a whole season,
everybody knows where this team is going. Eventually I have
listed for you over and over this summer, the hall
of fame quarterbacks who sat their first season. It's going
to be fine. It's only good for him. And it's
(25:03):
good for the rest of the team to gel in
the way that they are going into this chiefs game where,
you know, Pat's saying the right things, but You got
to pick the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
If we can manufacture a controversy and it needs them
to beat the Chiefs, go Raiders this weekend.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
That would be awesome.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Let's talk a little bit about the Bears. You mentioned
Ben Johnson. Look, he has not named a starter for
Sunday's game against the Jets. Reports from practice, though, this
week indicate it will be Tyson Bajent. He's been handling
most of the first team reps. Now, that would be
a change. Remember, Bajent missed last week's game. He was
in concussion protocol, got off of it by that Monday night. But,
you know, it wasn't quick enough. They wanted to get
(25:37):
Case Keenum in there. He got the start. He did
a great job, Jason. I watched that game from start
to finish. Two touchdowns, 250 yards for Keenum. Do you
think that Keenum deserves to keep the wheel this coming week?
Or do you like the move to go back to
Bajent if, in fact, that's what we're getting at?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
I mean, I think Ben made it pretty clear that,
you know, Tyson won the backup job in the preseason. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
And we're not going to overreact to one game.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
So and he Bajan's been in the system now for
two years. So I don't I don't hate the move.
It's similar to the Carson Wentz, Kyler Murray. It's kind
of similar, though, although these are both backups where it's
like I didn't love going back to Kyler Murray and
he looked horrible against Tampa. They still won.
Speaker 11 (26:20):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I think you probably go to Bajan. My guess is
that was a one-off for Case Keenum. They were celebrating
with his family. He was talking about, like, I'm back
for one game, and now I can go back to
being a clipboarder.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
I mean, look, he was happy he said that his
kids got to see him play at this age because
they're older now. He had a 71% completion rate, so
this was not like a charity thing. He is a
38-year-old quarterback, though. I don't know if you expect this
two weeks in a row. Bajan obviously has been in
the system, as you say, And he is the one
you want to develop for the future. I think he's
26 years old. You want to know my fun fact, though,
(26:54):
about Tyson Bajan?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Is it about his dad?
Speaker 5 (26:56):
His dad is a champion, 17-time world champion arm wrestler.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
So that kid knows how to win.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Holy cow.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
17-time world champion arm wrestler.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Well, let me ask you, though. So this was Bears
minus three, and I liked him.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Three and a half? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Can they get separation with a backup quarterback against the Jets?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
I see you're wearing Jets green today. I know you're
fired up about the Jets. Yes, yes.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
That's all I am thinking about this whole week, Jason,
is the Jets. I don't think anyone's shaking in their
boots over there in Chicago, but we'll see. Obviously, it's
going to be a challenge for him to come in
after not playing. not even being in practice last week,
but we'll see. Today is the day that normally we
would find out who's starting if there is a question.
There's some sort of speculation around Chicago, like, ooh, can
(27:44):
Ben Johnson keep this under wraps all week? Who's playing
a quarterback? Because obviously that would be a huge advantage.
I don't know. They say a secret between three people
is hard. You know, once a secret expands from two
to three people, you know, everybody knows. What if it's
among 70 or 80 people in an organization? I think
it's going to get out who's playing quarterback. We might
find out as early as this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Also, by the way, the DeAndre Swift stuff, it sounds
like he may not play.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
So it could be a Kyle Menungai game. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
This could be an interesting one. That was a big
win for them Monday. They were celebrating like they were
going to the Super Bowl, pretty much.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
And not just that they won, but the way they won.
It was just a dominant win in a game that
you thought Philadelphia sort of came in expecting to win.
So we'll see. You know what will probably not be
that closely contested this weekend, Jason? Oh, yes, the Ravens.
They are 11 and a half point favorites on the
Titans on Sunday at home. But there is still some
(28:39):
urgency in the locker room about this game. This is crazy.
Baltimore hasn't won a home game in 10 months. Now, obviously,
that covers the offseason. But remember, they lost four straight
games at home dating back to week 12 before Thanksgiving
last season. That is one shy of a franchise record.
So that's what they're teetering on. Here's Coach Jesse Minter
talking about what Baltimore needs to do to change things
(29:01):
at home.
Speaker 12 (29:04):
Us versus us, like, man, chase the best version of ourselves. Obviously,
an opponent walks in. We respect them. We want to
know what they do. We want to study them. But
at the end of the day, we really want to
focus on us and controlling the variables that we can
control to play the way that we want to play
in all three phases, get out of our own way
as much as possible, make it a really clean game.
And if we do that, we'll be able to live
(29:25):
with the results.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I mean, he's right.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Clean game at home. That's what you want for these
fans who have been waiting 10 months to see a
win at home. Now, I'm going to ask you the
Kevin Wilds questions. My favorite Kevin Wilds question. Is this
streak of not winning at home something? Nothing? or everything?
Speaker 4 (29:43):
I'll go nothing.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I mean, I think, did Lamar miss any games down
the stretch last year, any of those home games?
Speaker 5 (29:49):
I know that if you look at those games, it's
like two TD bounces and three interceptions over those four games. Look,
I used to work in the Washington, D.C.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
Area.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
I covered the Ravens quite a bit. They were just
dominant at home for so long. 20 years, you just
knew that Baltimore was getting protected. And it hasn't been
like that recently. So I think this is actually an
important game. Of course, we expect them to win. You know,
Cam Ward has had so much trouble. We don't expect
the Titans to come out and make some big stands.
But the Ravens have to do it. It's what Jesse
(30:18):
Minter said. They've got to execute. They've got to play
a clean game. And, you know, fan apathy in that town,
we've seen it go up and down over the years
as people have gotten frustrated with this Ravens team. So
you want to bring those fans in. You want them
to have a great time this weekend and feel like
we've got it this season. We're behind Lamar. You need
that energy and you're going to need it later in
(30:40):
the season during those playoff games that we criticize Lamar
Jackson for. This is when they can start building it
because after a while you get dejected as a fan.
If you never see a win when you go to
a game, you pay all that money.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I mean, is this even going to be a sellout?
It's the Titans.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
It sounds like Lamar missed one of those home games.
I got to ask, though, so you've covered a lot
of sports games. I don't know if we have any
data on going to Brazil, playing a pretty damn thrilling game,
and then coming back with no bye week and playing again.
I don't know what the reaction's going to be, but
I did see the Ravens are down. They're starting two centers.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
And they lost their big guy last year, Linderbaum.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
So the kid they drafted, I can't even say his name,
in the first round, who was a guard, they're moving
him to center, apparently.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
They're shuffling the line, yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
And so.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
I don't, I have, this could easily be a blowout, right?
Derek Henry against his former team, Rumbles for 200 yards.
I don't know what to do with this.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Similar to the.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Dallas game, which we'll talk about in about 20 minutes.
The post-Rio, is there going to be a hangover? Because
there is some London hangover. It's tough to come back
from London and play, but that is a little different
than Rio.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
I was going to say, it's a big change in
time difference when you're talking about London versus Brazil. So
I don't think the time difference thing is getting— it' s just
a long flight. It's not the same thing as playing, certainly,
in Australia or in London.
Speaker 12 (32:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
And so, and I think, you know, it's a cushion
game at home, right? I mean, obviously they put these
teams at home after they play these international games and
they put them against opponents that might not be the strongest.
That's how we're going to talk about the Titans right now.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Might not be.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
So I got Zach selling me on, is Cam Ward
the biggest bust in NFL draft history? And at first
I'm like, no. And then he sends me some stats
and I was like, whoa, he's like in Jamarcus Russell
territory through 20 games.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Now it's only 20 games. This franchise fail. Will Levis.
Are they going to fail? Cam Ward that quick?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Like, Rachel, I don't know if you saw the cut
up against the Giants, but he's just so apathetic in
the pot. He just dropped back and he's like, is
he trying to be too cool?
Speaker 10 (32:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
I mean, and it was a disaster for him at
the end of that game against the Giants. I mean,
there's a hard game to watch. Low scoring rain, all
of that stuff. But look, Robert Sala not looking good
right now. Oh, and three. So that is a tough
situation down in Tennessee. But I expect, again, I thought
Minter had the exact right approach. Clean game. They just
need to keep to their side of the street. If
they play clean throughout, as you said, the offensive line,
(33:04):
the communication there has to be right with guys shifting over.
they will win this football game. And again, I do think,
I think it's something this streak of losing at home.
I don't think it's everything. I don't think it's a
huge deal, but I think as you build over a season,
you need to start feeling like you protect home, that
you win your home games, that we have a home
field advantage. And that was such a big part of
the Baltimore Ravens for decades that they need to get
(33:27):
that back. And look, if you get an easy one
to start building that back up, that's great. Take it,
do it, be clean.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Rachel with the news.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Well, that's the news.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
And thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
The Herdline News.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
All right, coming up next, more reaction to Steelers-Browns and
who's the team to beat in the NFC North.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
That's next here on The Herd.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Back here on The Herd. Folks, this is exciting. We've
got a debut.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Guest on The Herd. His name is John Jansen. Surely
you know him. He was with the Michigan Wolverines in
1997 when they won the Natty. Undefeated, spent 11 years
in the NFL. Let's bring in John Jansen from the
ticket in Detroit. John, welcome to the herd. Very happy
to have you. Obviously blowing up as an announcer, analyst.
(34:21):
I want to start with what you saw last night
in the NFL Steelers-Browns. Did you ever play with a
quarterback who F-bombed the coach from.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
The huddle in the first quarter?
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Yeah, I think you could probably put it on one
hand on the quarterbacks I didn't play with that didn't
use the F-bomb. I mean, I think it's hilarious that
everybody is making so much of that interaction between Aaron
Rodgers and Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
It happens.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
It happens between player and coach, especially between two guys
that have known each other and worked together for so long.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
So you put really nothing into it. Now, last week,
Rodgers took a shot at Michael Pittman for a drop pass.
We know there's a history with Rodgers and McCarthy, but
you're saying this is not a big deal. They can
overcome it. I saw like a Pittsburgh team kind of unraveling.
Watt on the sideline was unhappy, got on the headset. But,
you know, you were in the trenches for longer than
(35:13):
I was.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Zero for me. So maybe this is not a big deal.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
To me, it's not.
Speaker 6 (35:19):
And I know for some that maybe haven't been in
the huddle, haven't been on the sidelines, those interactions can
feel very dramatic.
Speaker 8 (35:26):
But these conversations, we're not talking.
Speaker 6 (35:29):
If this was happening in college football between a college
teammate and a coach, yeah, I think there's something there.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
But between two.
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Guys that have worked together for so long, between guys
that are 30, 35, 38 years old and a coach.
It's to me, it's just how guys talk to each
other and it's how they're interacting. And it's just a
little bit more dramatic because it's caught on camera. It's
everything is is out there for everybody to hear these days.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (35:54):
All right.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Let's go to Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Very positive story with the Browns being in the Midwest. John,
I got to ask, like, nobody seems to have seen
this coming three and one on top. Of the AFC North,
Deshaun Watson, three straight comebacks. We're a month removed from
talking about him losing his job to Shadur Sanders.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
What do you make of this Browns run?
Speaker 6 (36:14):
It's very impressive what Todd Monk is doing in Cleveland.
I think it's a lot of it has attributed to
him finally getting a shot as a head coach in
the NFL.
Speaker 8 (36:21):
He's making the most of everything. And Deshaun Watson, you're right.
Speaker 6 (36:24):
Nobody even thought he would play again, let alone lead
the Cleveland Browns. They're now three and one. And it
is it is really taking everybody by surprise. And I
think I saw a stat this morning. It's been like
forty four hundred days since they've led the division this
I'm glad for those guys that are down in Cleveland.
Not real happy for anybody in the state of Ohio,
given my background, but you got to be happy for
(36:46):
a franchise that is probably the AFC version of the
one I cover here in Detroit.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Now, I will say it's too early to do math
on 4,400 days, John, but is this sustainable in Cleveland?
Do you think Watson can, I don't know, keep this up,
maybe get the team in a wild card contention?
Speaker 6 (37:05):
We saw what he did when he was with Houston.
So yeah, I mean, the answer is yes, he could
do it. Now, is it something that's sustainable? They're such
a young team and they've drafted extremely well. Are those
young players going to be able to handle with Schlesinger?
We saw what he's done the last couple of years.
We know what he was. He was a steal in
the draft. Mason Graham last year didn't have a great
(37:27):
rookie season, at least, you know, in terms of numbers,
but is dominating up front right now. I think it
is 100 percent possible that it is sustainable.
Speaker 8 (37:35):
Now they're going to have to continue to protect better.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
They're going to have to run the football better than
they did last night, especially in that division. And that's
going to come down to can they execute up front
on that offensive line?
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Let's go quickly to Brock Purdy and the 49ers.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
This is a team that is shocking everybody, 3-0, leading
in every advanced stat possible, specifically Brock Purdy. Now, again,
quarterbacks in the NFL, everybody's like, oh, I need a
6'5 quarterback.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I need a guy with a big arm who can
throw the ball out of the stadium. Purdy is none
of these things.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
He was the last pick in the draft, and yet
here he is in MVP contention again.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
I don't know. What do you make of Brock Purdy's
hot start?
Speaker 6 (38:13):
I think Brock Purdy has had great coaching at the
NFL level. There's nothing more that needs to be said
about Kyle Shanahan. But one of my former teammates, Brian Greasy,
was a quarterback coach there.
Speaker 8 (38:23):
Then it was what?
Speaker 6 (38:24):
Clay Kubiak. And now he's the offensive coordinator. We all
know Kyle Shanahan runs the show there. And he's done
a tremendous job of putting Brock Purdy in position to
be successful, making things early in his career a little
bit easier on him.
Speaker 8 (38:41):
Giving him some weapons.
Speaker 6 (38:42):
And now, hey, you've got Mike Evans there as another receiver.
Hopefully he can play this weekend. But Brock Purdy is,
to me, he's a very cerebral quarterback. He processes things quickly.
He can move around in the pocket. I think he
is amazing. He's really starting to become the quarterback that
everybody was wondering, could he possibly take the next step?
And we're seeing it right now. You're talking about MVP
(39:04):
caliber at the start of the season.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Let's go to your Detroit Lions, John.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
I stacked up on all Lions in the fantasy drafts
because I think they're going to put up major numbers. However,
we've seen some struggles, you know, since they lost Ben Johnson,
missed the playoffs last year. I don't I don't know
what to make of Jared Goff in this team. Dan Campbell,
a lot of people like we should have just kept
the offensive coordinator guy.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
I don't know the defense, obviously.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Has major issues, but where are you so far three
games into the Lions season?
Speaker 8 (39:34):
Well, I'd like the offense to start faster.
Speaker 6 (39:36):
I mean, you can't really complain with 31 points a game.
It's exactly what they've scored for three games, but they've
only had one touchdown in three first quarters. They need
to start faster, especially with the struggles that they have
on defense. And I hope you got Jameer Gibbs on
your fantasy team because he's going to be rocking up
some huge points. Amon Ross, St.
Speaker 8 (39:55):
Brown, Jamo.
Speaker 6 (39:56):
Jamo, this offense would be going even better if Jamo
caught a couple of those long passes in that New
Orleans game. So, It's sputtered a little bit, but as
we know with Dan Campbell led teams, and this is
going to be his offense. It doesn't matter who the
play caller is. This is his offense. They're going to
get better week in, week out. Jared Goff is quietly
having his best season to start with eight touchdowns, no interceptions,
(40:21):
even in Buffalo where things were wild and crazy. He
was very judicious with the ball. He did a great
job of seeing, locating, identifying blitzes and get rid of
the football.
Speaker 8 (40:31):
To only Detroit Lions.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
And that's been one of the bugaboos for Jared Goff is, hey,
in those big games, has turnovers. So far this year,
he's played extremely well.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, we'll see how he does outdoors against Carolina, down
a lot of secondary players.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
I think he'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Let me ask you, though, I'd love to have guys
on who cover that division, the NFC North. Go ahead
and rank the starters for me. Jordan Love, Goff, Kyler Murray,
and then Caleb Williams. If everybody's healthy, how would you
rank them in terms of who would you take?
Speaker 6 (41:02):
I would put Goff at number one, Caleb Williams two.
Speaker 8 (41:06):
I'd put, oh, I heard an ooh there. Ooh, do
you disagree already?
Speaker 3 (41:09):
A lot of people have Caleb Williams as like a
top seven quarterback already.
Speaker 6 (41:12):
I mean, so Caleb Williams, he is really good off schedule.
No one's going to mistake Jared Goff for a guy
that's a mobile quarterback, but he processes, we just talked
about Brock Purdy, the way that Jared Goff processes. And
talking to Dan Campbell this week, I asked him, Why
does nobody give Jared Goff credit? They put so much
on him and he gets up to the line of
scrimmage sometimes with two or three plays, putting him in
(41:35):
the right play, putting him, you know, picking up blitzes, organizing,
you know, with juice drugs as a center in there
in the, in the stead of Kate Mays injured center,
he's done a great job of organizing everything and getting
everything going. So I would definitely put, Jared Goff won,
Caleb Williams two, Kyler Murray three, and Jordan Love, I
(41:55):
would put number four. And some of that just has
to do with what we saw last year, especially at
the end of the year when he's asked to go
win games. And so far this year, it hasn't looked
like what they were anticipating Jordan Love would be after
all the development that they put into him.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
All right, we got 20 seconds.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Give me a grade, John, for the Michigan head coach
Kyle Winningham early in the season.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
How are you grading him out?
Speaker 6 (42:21):
I'd probably go C plus right now, a little better
than average, but you're too penalized. You're, you're turning the
ball over too many times. You're not getting turnovers. This
is the first time they're going on the road. We'll
see if they can fix those issues in somewhere other
than the big house.
Speaker 7 (42:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:34):
Brutal loss. I mean, goodness gracious to Iowa. Holy hell.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Anyways, John Jansen, great debut. Thanks a lot, John. And
we'll look for your coverage on the lions.
Speaker 8 (42:42):
Thanks. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
All right.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
Great stuff from John Jansen who played with Tom Brady.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
And he gave him, Kyle winning him a C +.
Might be a little lower.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
On that, given the Western Michigan debacle. All right, coming
up next, we'll do a little gambling at the top
of the hour. And there is an elimination game. Yes,
an elimination game in week four. Dallas-Houston, the loser, they're done.
Speaker 8 (43:07):
It's official.
Thanks for listening to the Herd Podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and
noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for the Herd at foxsportsradio.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 3 (00:26):
Here we go. It is a fiery Friday on the herd. Yes,
Colin Cowherd is out. Very rare day off for him
during the football season. He's got a big family thing
to attend. And it's me, Jason McIntyre, in for Colin Cowherd.
I am joined by Rachel Nichols. We have so many
(00:47):
good NFL stories.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
On a Friday.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Rachel and I are used to, you know, summer duty
where we're making.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Things happen, concocting stories.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Rachel, we got so much to offer today.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I know you're fired up after a pretty great Thursday
night in sports.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
We're talking about how good this football season has been
so far on the way up here with the producers.
But I got to tell you, we got to sneak
a little Dodgers in later in the show because the
playoffs this weekend, I am so hyped.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, you're going to have to dress appropriately because it's.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Going to be hot.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Out here in L.A., very exciting weekend in sports. We
got to start with what happened Thursday night in Believe Land, folks.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yes, in Cleveland, it was a crazy game.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
The Browns shocked the Steelers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers become unraveled. Folks, listen,
the big storyline coming into this one was, oh, Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
He's reborn. See what he did last week against the Bengals?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
He's back.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
The Steelers are good. They're going back to the playoffs.
And then the vibes.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
fell apart last night in the dog pound. Folks, Aaron
Rodgers melting down at his coach. You had TJ Watt
sounding off. The Steelers lose 27-24 on a last-second field goal.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
We'll get to the Browns in a moment. Third straight
stirring win for Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
But the storyline here is Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy
going at it. Folks, when your quarterback is F-bombing your
head coach, midway through the first quarter of a scoreless game,
as you see on TV here, Aaron Rodgers unhappy, the
play call's not getting in, huffing and puffing like an
eight-year-old because he didn't get his dessert. Folks, this was ugly.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I mean, I don't know what people expected, okay?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
We saw this show Eight years ago in Green Bay,
when Rodgers and McCarthy fell apart, it was ugly. The
stories were all over the media about how they did
not get along. I mean, essentially, Aaron Rodgers would roll
his eyes at play calls coming in from McCarthy and
Green Bay. And then he would change the plays at
the line of scrimmage. It got so bad in that
(02:52):
final year. McCarthy basically just decided, you know what? I'm
going to get massages during team meetings. Rodgers, you don't
want to listen to me. You could just run them anyway.
You run the show anyway, because it's going to be
your call. And eight years later, everybody thought it was
going to be different. And so you got Mike Tomlin out,
a respected coach in Tomlin. There was no way Aaron
(03:12):
Rodgers was going to dog cuss him on national TV
in primetime. Now, he would do that to his OC,
Arthur Smith, last year because that's what Rodgers is. You know,
he's just a petulant quarterback who's aging and not as
good as he used to be. And he's a fiery guy,
and I get it. But, folks, this is unacceptable behavior
from your quarterback. cursing at your coach in the first
(03:33):
quarter and of course mccarthy the cameras cut to him
and he calls him a bleeping you know what you
can read lips now afterward it was interesting because mccarthy
owned it and you can guess what aaron rogers said
here's mccarthy after the loss of the browns.
Speaker 7 (03:46):
Communication sometimes is not the best choice of words but
everybody's competing on the field and i think you know
um but said on the field The way I grew
up in this game, you know, usually stays on the field.
That's not the case today. I understand that. But yeah,
any negative communication on my part, I wish I wouldn't
(04:07):
use those words. I have to look at the film,
but I don't think it was, yeah, it wasn't our
cleanest game all the way around.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
They're a good defense, so you got to give them credit.
Speaker 7 (04:18):
It was loud.
Speaker 8 (04:19):
It was definitely a good crowd tonight. It was loud.
So some of the calls, it was.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Hard to hear for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I don't want to be body language guy, but Mike
McCarthy standing up straight, looking people in the eye. Aaron Rodgers,
head down, looking at the podium, looking in the sky,
doesn't want to make eye contact.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
He's embarrassed. You know this, guys.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Anybody with kids knows, like, this is, you know, childish
behavior from Aaron Rodgers. But this is par for the course, right?
I mean, we're four games into the season. The Steelers
don't know what they want to be. I mean, their
best player, I think you would agree, is Jalen Warren.
Kid was awesome last week against the Bengals. Dynamic running back.
Catches all the dump balls from Rodgers because, you know,
(05:00):
Rodgers can't.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Move in the pocket.
Speaker 8 (05:01):
I mean, look at him.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
He got sacked five times. And this is against a
Browns team that traded away Myles Garrett. Mason Graham, their
best interior defensive lineman, he leaves the game injured. And look,
Rodgers coming off the field, cursing at McCarthy more. Folks,
this is embarrassing. Rodgers, it's like he's.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Trying to prove a point.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Hey, man, I can be the old guy. Just give
me what I need. Okay, Aaron, we'll give you a
DK Metcalf last year. And then we'll give you Michael
Pittman this year. By the way, did you see last week?
Rodgers ticked off at Pittman and was saying this guy
can't bleep and catch. Like, I'm telling you, it's falling
apart for the Steelers. Now, the schedule is fortuitous, so
they will win some games. But I just want to
(05:42):
remind some people, this is what you did when you
decided to bring back Rodgers. If we're being honest with ourselves,
Steelers fans know they got lucky. You got lucky to
make the playoffs last year. Tyler Luke misses a chip
shot 44 yarder in week 18 or you're not in
the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And then you get to the postseason. You face the Texans.
You get smashed.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I mean, just buried at home in an embarrassing performance.
And Rodgers, I don't want to go out with a
pick six as my final pass. I'm coming back. And
so Rodgers wants to throw all these deep balls. And
yet he's still 32nd in the league in yards per
attempt because none of the deep balls are connecting. Now,
he had a couple nice throws there coming back in
the fourth quarter, down 11, sure. But I think the
(06:25):
bigger story is the meltdown. Folks, we haven't even gotten
into this Joey Porter stuff. You got a veteran team.
They don't want to rebuild. The smart move was to rebuild.
They don't want to do that. You know, the Joey
Porter trait to me is a sign like, hey, we're
building for the future. And then you see Cam Hayward
ticked off on the sideline. You see TJ Watt. Give
(06:47):
me the damn headset. I want to yell at Patrick Graham,
the defensive coordinator. Folks, we're in week four for Pittsburgh.
This is not good. The vibes, they're bad in Pittsburgh.
And listen, I'll be real.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
One of our staffers said, you know, you.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Know, the that one of the nicknames for Pittsburgh is
the city of bridges because of all the waterways. I
believe they have the most bridges of any city in
the world.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Well, here we are. First week in October.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And Aaron Rodgers is well on his way to burning
all those bridges in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Now let's move to a positive story and the Cleveland Browns.
How about that?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Listen, anybody have three and one for the Browns after
four games? Folks, do you remember how ugly it was
in the preseason? Rachel and I would be talking about, oh, well,
Deshaun Watson, he's not going to make it. He's getting
booed by the home crowd. And then Watson's firing back.
What do they expect, 400 yards from me?
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I mean, it was comedy.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It's Todd Munkin. I'm making fun of his voice. He
sounds like he's losing his mind in the preseason. And
then in week one, they're down 24-0 at the half
to Jacksonville. It looks like a total abomination. Tank for
Arch Manning, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Folks, three straight games. Three straight games.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Deshaun Watson game winning drives in the fourth quarter. Now, listen,
I get it. You know, it's Tampa Bay. OK, these
are not super impressive victories. But if we're being honest,
given the expectations for for Cleveland, I'm impressed. Now, I
don't know if this is you could continue this because
(08:25):
let's be real. Watson was great in the first half.
You could argue it was his best half since leaving
the Texans. Second half, he came back to reality. You know,
he had two fumbles, lost one. He had the pick.
I think he was sacked twice. They nearly blew the game.
But when it mattered most, look at Watson winning with
his legs on the ground. And there's a lot to
(08:46):
clean up if you're a Cleveland Browns fan. I think
they had 14 penalties last night. They lead the NFL
in penalties. And Watson's bailed them out here. Here's Todd Munkin. Yes,
Todd Munkin, first-time NFL head coach on the win last
night over Pittsburgh.
Speaker 8 (09:02):
We've only got three wins, right?
Speaker 6 (09:06):
But I've said this all along, like, if you'd have
gotten me at 45, you wouldn't have gotten the best
version of me.
Speaker 8 (09:15):
I feel like I still got juice. I still feel
like I go to practice and get after our guys.
But it's still only three.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So besides the contrasting vibes between the Steelers and the Browns,
Like you could see the Browns sideline. Everybody loves each other.
They're very excited. The locker room afterward, I watched a
video where Munkin handed the game ball to the kicker.
Didn't have much else to say. Hands a game ball
to Deshaun Watson. Everybody's silent waiting for this big speech.
And Munkin's like, I'll see you guys Tuesday. He gave
(09:47):
the team a bunch of days off and they earned it.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Browns team that had
a win total of five and a half.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
They got three wins already. Nobody had this.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And honestly, they are building this the right way. We
just talked about how Pittsburgh didn't want to rebuild. Let's
put in Aaron Rodgers. Let's go get Metcalf.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Let's get Pittman. We can do something on the fly.
We can contend.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
That's just delusional teams in front offices. Cleveland is building
the right way. Look at their last two drafts. I mean,
they're throwing Watson to Boston, the young receiver. Concepcion, fan
in the tight end, is terrific. Judkins is a good
running back. The left tackle, Faneu, is playing great. Graham,
(10:33):
before he was injured, they've got a great young nucleus.
Like the Browns are building things the right way. This
is how you put stuff together. Again, I don't think
this is sustainable. I don't think they'll make the playoffs.
My guess is it will be the Ravens and Bengals
in that division. That being said, you got to be
impressed with Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And guess what?
Speaker 3 (10:54):
You get extra time off before you face my Jets
next week. We know the Jets ain't great. They got
a bunch of injuries. And you could be looking at
a 4-1 Cleveland Browns team heading into the A huge
showdown on Fox in week six in the Dog Pound
against Lamar Jackson. Folks, this is a fun Cleveland Browns story.
(11:15):
Congrats to Todd Munkin. I was way wrong about him.
Here we are four weeks into the season. And Deshaun Watson.
I know you guys remember this, but when the things
were not going well in the preseason, all the talk was, oh, oh,
Shador is the better quarterback.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
He's maybe the future.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know, he'll probably start week three after Watson vomits
all over himself in the first two weeks.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Nobody's talking about Shador Sanders, folks. Nobody. Because Munkin and Watson.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Are delivering victories for the surprising 3-1 kings of the
AFC North, the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
What a story. All right, we have a tremendous show
coming up next.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Oh, boy.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Colin's out so I can talk about my main man,
Brock Purdy. Wait till you hear the latest on the
superstar seventh round pick.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
That's next here on The Herd.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1,
and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (12:19):
Stugatz here, pleased to be hosting college football with Stugatz
and the Bear. We do it two times a week,
every Monday, every single Friday throughout the college football season.
You can expect a little bit of this.
Speaker 7 (12:31):
Will Stein, the head.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Coach at Kentucky, joins us. Open bar at a wedding,
ordering a Shirley Temple. Will or will not?
Speaker 8 (12:37):
No. Will not.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Ketchup on steak. Will or will not?
Speaker 8 (12:44):
Will not. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (12:45):
A little bit of this.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Reese Davis, host of College Game Day, is with us now.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And then I'm going home to the BBC, and they're
saying Jockovich instead of Jokovich.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Right, because you can't say Jockovich.
Speaker 9 (12:56):
If you do, you know the blowback you're going to
get from the American audience.
Speaker 8 (12:59):
Right.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
And a whole lot of this.
Speaker 9 (13:07):
Listen to college football with Stugatz and the Bear on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Back here on The Herd. Fun Thursday night in sports.
Huge Saturday ahead in baseball. All four playoff series in
action today. We've got some college football. Schedule's pretty good.
Be careful Alabama this weekend. And then Sunday, a monster
NFL slate. And we've talked about this game a little
bit this week. This San Francisco showdown against the Denver Broncos.
(13:46):
The 49ers are off to an unbelievable start this season, folks.
Brock Purdy now has risen to second in the MVP odds.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
I know it's early. We're a month in.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Purdy had made a run a few years back where
he was in the mix till a dreadful, I think
it was a five interception performance in primetime, I believe
against Lamar Jackson. But if you look at the MVP odds,
Josh Allen, the obvious favorite, he's been incredible. But Purdy
has surpassed Lamar, Mahomes and Burrow because the Niners are
on top of the league. And I was thinking about Purdy,
(14:19):
reading some articles.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
There's a lot of people out there who just continue
to doubt Rock Purdy. Well, you know, he was the
last pick in the draft. Well, he's only six one. Like,
what's his awesome trait processing?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Like, come on.
Speaker 10 (14:36):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Like, there's a lot of Brock Purdy doubters out there. Well,
he's got Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
What do you expect? You know, he's got McCaffrey and
Kittle and Mike Evans now.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
Like, come on.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
He's got a loaded deck. It's all this stuff is nonsense.
And I settled on. that Purdy is kind of, he's
been typecast, right? I'll never forget reading this incredible story
about Bradley Cooper, the great actor who was an awesome
bit player in a bunch of movies. I think Wedding
Crashers is one of my top 15 movies that I've
(15:07):
ever seen in comedy.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
And Bradley Cooper is excellent in Wedding Crashers. Small bit,
bit role, right? He's good in, he's just not that
into you. Not bad.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I'm into some rom-coms, not gonna lie. He's in an ensemble,
The Hangover. He wasn't like, the guy. You're not selling him.
You're selling the story. American Sniper. He was great.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
A war movie. I love that movie.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And Bradley Cooper had to eventually sell movie executives that
he was the guy to produce and also star in
the movie with Lady Gaga, A Star is Born. And
it was a tough sell, but Bradley Cooper explained selling
it to the executives who never saw him as a
leading guy. He gets that leading role. He's nominated for
(15:51):
an Academy Award. Boom, he's stamped now. That's a guy.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
That's an alpha. You can build movies around him.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And I feel like Brock Purdy is up against that
in the NFL. Nobody wants to give him the credit. Well, oh,
he had a good game and they're just waiting for
a loss and then to blame Brock Purdy.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
But if you look around the league, we have Greg
Cosell on every week.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
He's consistently trying to tell Colin, hey, Brock Purdy's in
that elite group of quarterbacks with Burrow, with Lamar, with
Mahomes and Allen.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
He's there.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Like if you listen, Cosell's telling Colin and Colin still,
I don't buy it. And then if you listen to
Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback in the history of the sport,
six round pick, Tom Brady raves about Purdy and he's
on record.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
He's a tier one quarterback.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I mean, Daniel Jeremiah, the top draft guy, excellent voice
when it comes to breaking down quarterbacks, a former quarterback himself.
He raves about Purdy and says how he's an elite quarterback.
This week, Sean Payton, who is facing Brock Purdy, really
gassed up the young quarterback. Here's what Sean Payton had
to say about Brock Purdy.
Speaker 11 (17:02):
He's playing, you know, at a real high level, very decisive.
You never feel like he's through his progressions fast. Kyle
and those guys have done a great job, whether he's
under center or in the gun. The mix of run,
play pass, and drop back is impressive. And you see
(17:23):
in three weeks, not only no sacks, first and third down,
first in red zone, very efficient. And he's making all
the throws.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Listen, Purdy's been my guy for a few years.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I love everything about him, but he's not going to
go to the combine and stand out, right? When he
was at Iowa State, he was really good for the
first couple of years with Matt Campbell. And there was
talk about the NFL. Then he backslid a little bit
and ended up staying four years. So he goes to
the combine where it's the Underwear Olympics. They're looking for big, strong.
How many bench presses can you put up? What's your
(18:00):
40 time? He's not going to excel at any of
that stuff. And so that's why people are drafting these. Oh, well,
Joe Milton has a huge arm and people are obsessed
with strength and height. And it's like, that's not what
makes a quarterback, folks. Brock Purdy is what you want
as your franchise guy. Kyle Shanahan identified it early to
(18:20):
the surprise of everyone is like that. That's our best
quarterback on the roster. And now you've got him second
in NFL MVP odds. And I will point out to
some people who want to say he's got a stacked deck.
They're losing wide receivers left and right, and people haven't
really noticed this, and I'm not knocking him, but Christian
McCaffrey's lost a step, and they know that because they're
force-feeding the backup each week to save McCaffrey's legs. He
(18:44):
doesn't have one explosive carry through three weeks. Christian McCaffrey,
one of the best, most dynamic backs in the league,
not one carry over 20 yards. I think he's 23rd
in yardage, and he only has like 35 carries on
the season because they know like, hey, A, we have
to save him, and B, he's not what he was
two years ago. So all this, oh, the Niners are stacked. Now,
(19:04):
you know what this means. I'm hyping the hell out
of Purdy.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
He's my guy.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I got him in a fantasy league. He's probably going
to struggle against Denver. Injury reports today. We're waiting on
Mike Evans, waiting on Greenlaw, waiting on Trent Williams. And yes,
I can hear you responding. Well, see, you got to
wait to hear about these guys before you know about Purdy. No, no,
Purdy's my guy. I believe in Brock Purdy. He doesn't
look the part. He's not your alpha quarterback who's going
(19:30):
to come out with his chest puffing. He's not going
to make Caleb Williams plays. I would guarantee you if
we got Ben Johnson on the show, gave him truth serum.
You could say to him, hey, who's your ideal quarterback? Well,
Caleb moves like, Brock Purdy moves like Caleb Williams. And
Brock Purdy is elite in the pocket like Jared Goff.
(19:53):
He's basically a mix of Goff and Caleb Williams. And
I'm sorry, guys, if you're not a believer in Purdy,
I don't.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Know what to tell you. Let's go to Rachel Nichols
with the news.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
On the news this is the herd line.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
News gotta love an underdog story yes come on this
is what we watch sports for speaking of underdogs i've
got one for you uh the raiders four and a
half point underdogs to kansas city at home this weekend
now look the chiefs obviously dominated this series in recent
memory but this is different jason the raiders clint kubiak
kirk cousins they're playing extremely well of course they're playing
(20:30):
patrick mahomes also extremely well 13-2 career against the Raiders,
Mahomes has. But Pat's not taking this lightly. Take a
listen to what he had to say about the Raiders
after practice.
Speaker 10 (20:42):
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a very hostile environment.
Try to take me back to those Oakland Raiders days.
And so I'm excited just for the challenge, you know.
I mean, they're playing great football. You can see it
on tape. That 3-0 record's real. They've been playing great
the entire season. And so for us, it's another step,
another challenge that we have to go up there and match.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
That's exactly what you're supposed to say. Do you, Jason,
give the Raiders any shot this weekend?
Speaker 10 (21:08):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I mean, listen, like you said, Kubiak is working wonders.
I think we should probably do five minutes on the
reemergence of Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yes, we should, Jason.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
He's been up and down, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'd love to see Fernando Mendoza under center, but like Shador,
nobody's talking about Mendoza. I mean, Brock Bowers looks like
wide receiver one. I mean, Ashton Gentry's not even doing much.
I don't want to say smoke and mirrors. Rachel, how
are they 3-0 again?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Well, look, they haven't played great competition. I think in
the first three weeks, their opponents are a collective 1-8.
So not so good. But I will say this. The
reason why I was advocating for Kirk Cousins to start
this season is exactly what we are seeing. He is
such a steadying influence. He knows Kubiak's offense. He's able
to get the younger players on this roster who are
(21:54):
on Mendoza's timeline, just that consistency, reliability that they need,
while he gives the older players that feeling of like, hey,
we're in good hands. We're not like stumbling around here.
And the defense has been incredible. They have not allowed
a point in the fourth quarter all season.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
I love an underdog story. I'm picking the Chiefs in
this one. I'm picking Fernando Mendoza in the long term.
I think he's going to be fantastic in the NFL.
But I love this decision to start Kirk Cousins, and
you're seeing why right now.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
The defense coming out of nowhere is a shocker. N'Kobe Dean,
in particular, has been excellent. Every time you watch him,
he's making plays. But if we could get the Raiders'
schedule up real quick. Yes, the 3-0 start is fun.
I do think some reality sets in here. Chiefs, Patriots.
I don't think the Patriots are as bad as the record.
They're going to be fine. Bills, Rams. So this could
(22:46):
go 3-0 to 3-4 pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
At that point, maybe we talk Mendoza.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
And that was always one of the places that we
thought we might see Mendoza, right? Seven, eight games in,
that kind of thing. I don't remember exactly when their
bye week is, but the idea is that, you know, hey, midseason,
this is a guy who played in shotgun in Indiana.
You want to give him time to adjust to being
an NFL quarterback. He's getting that under the best guy
he could be tutored by, Kirk Cousins, very generous guy
(23:16):
helping Mendoza. Mendoza's been praising him. There's no like old guy,
young guy thing going on there. Everybody knows the score.
And this steadying influence that Kirk has had I can't
say enough. The offensive line has gelled in a way
we didn't expect. And that, of course, is part because
they've got a quarterback behind them who knows what he's doing,
who is always where he says he is going to be.
(23:38):
And that's only going to benefit Fernando Mendoza when he
comes in because playing against a line that's full of holes,
it's the quickest way for a young quarterback to get
hurt and to get off to a bad start in
this league. And instead, Kirk is setting the table for
Fernando Mendoza to have a great run here I'm just
thrilled to see this work out this way. And I
agree with you. It's probably going to be a three
and three, three and four start, you know, maybe as
(24:00):
we go here. But guess what? No one expected this
team to win the Super Bowl this year. This is
about development and they're developing great.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
So let me ask you this, though, Rachel. What if
they're able to go? Let's say they beat the Chiefs.
And next thing you know, they're seven and three.
Speaker 6 (24:15):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And maybe headed toward the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
And it's like, OK, well, Kubiak had cousins in Minnesota
and you can see why this is working. And are
we headed toward a maybe Fernando Mendoza doesn't play at
all this year?
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I mean, and then what do you like? I don't
know if you're you make the playoffs and lose or
come close.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Is it is there a quarterback controversy potentially?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Why are you trying to manufacture a quarterback controversy week?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
This is television. That's what we do.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Come on, Jason. No, everybody knows Mendoza is the quarterback
of the future. look, if he sits seven weeks, if
he sits 12 weeks, if he sits a whole season,
everybody knows where this team is going. Eventually I have
listed for you over and over this summer, the hall
of fame quarterbacks who sat their first season. It's going
to be fine. It's only good for him. And it's
(25:03):
good for the rest of the team to gel in
the way that they are going into this chiefs game where,
you know, Pat's saying the right things, but You got
to pick the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
If we can manufacture a controversy and it needs them
to beat the Chiefs, go Raiders this weekend.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
That would be awesome.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Let's talk a little bit about the Bears. You mentioned
Ben Johnson. Look, he has not named a starter for
Sunday's game against the Jets. Reports from practice, though, this
week indicate it will be Tyson Bajent. He's been handling
most of the first team reps. Now, that would be
a change. Remember, Bajent missed last week's game. He was
in concussion protocol, got off of it by that Monday night. But,
you know, it wasn't quick enough. They wanted to get
(25:37):
Case Keenum in there. He got the start. He did
a great job, Jason. I watched that game from start
to finish. Two touchdowns, 250 yards for Keenum. Do you
think that Keenum deserves to keep the wheel this coming week?
Or do you like the move to go back to
Bajent if, in fact, that's what we're getting at?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
I mean, I think Ben made it pretty clear that,
you know, Tyson won the backup job in the preseason. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
And we're not going to overreact to one game.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
So and he Bajan's been in the system now for
two years. So I don't I don't hate the move.
It's similar to the Carson Wentz, Kyler Murray. It's kind
of similar, though, although these are both backups where it's
like I didn't love going back to Kyler Murray and
he looked horrible against Tampa. They still won.
Speaker 11 (26:20):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I think you probably go to Bajan. My guess is
that was a one-off for Case Keenum. They were celebrating
with his family. He was talking about, like, I'm back
for one game, and now I can go back to
being a clipboarder.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
I mean, look, he was happy he said that his
kids got to see him play at this age because
they're older now. He had a 71% completion rate, so
this was not like a charity thing. He is a
38-year-old quarterback, though. I don't know if you expect this
two weeks in a row. Bajan obviously has been in
the system, as you say, And he is the one
you want to develop for the future. I think he's
26 years old. You want to know my fun fact, though,
(26:54):
about Tyson Bajan?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Is it about his dad?
Speaker 5 (26:56):
His dad is a champion, 17-time world champion arm wrestler.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
So that kid knows how to win.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Holy cow.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
17-time world champion arm wrestler.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Well, let me ask you, though. So this was Bears
minus three, and I liked him.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Three and a half? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Can they get separation with a backup quarterback against the Jets?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
I see you're wearing Jets green today. I know you're
fired up about the Jets. Yes, yes.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
That's all I am thinking about this whole week, Jason,
is the Jets. I don't think anyone's shaking in their
boots over there in Chicago, but we'll see. Obviously, it's
going to be a challenge for him to come in
after not playing. not even being in practice last week,
but we'll see. Today is the day that normally we
would find out who's starting if there is a question.
There's some sort of speculation around Chicago, like, ooh, can
(27:44):
Ben Johnson keep this under wraps all week? Who's playing
a quarterback? Because obviously that would be a huge advantage.
I don't know. They say a secret between three people
is hard. You know, once a secret expands from two
to three people, you know, everybody knows. What if it's
among 70 or 80 people in an organization? I think
it's going to get out who's playing quarterback. We might
find out as early as this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Also, by the way, the DeAndre Swift stuff, it sounds
like he may not play.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
So it could be a Kyle Menungai game. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
This could be an interesting one. That was a big
win for them Monday. They were celebrating like they were
going to the Super Bowl, pretty much.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
And not just that they won, but the way they won.
It was just a dominant win in a game that
you thought Philadelphia sort of came in expecting to win.
So we'll see. You know what will probably not be
that closely contested this weekend, Jason? Oh, yes, the Ravens.
They are 11 and a half point favorites on the
Titans on Sunday at home. But there is still some
(28:39):
urgency in the locker room about this game. This is crazy.
Baltimore hasn't won a home game in 10 months. Now, obviously,
that covers the offseason. But remember, they lost four straight
games at home dating back to week 12 before Thanksgiving
last season. That is one shy of a franchise record.
So that's what they're teetering on. Here's Coach Jesse Minter
talking about what Baltimore needs to do to change things
(29:01):
at home.
Speaker 12 (29:04):
Us versus us, like, man, chase the best version of ourselves. Obviously,
an opponent walks in. We respect them. We want to
know what they do. We want to study them. But
at the end of the day, we really want to
focus on us and controlling the variables that we can
control to play the way that we want to play
in all three phases, get out of our own way
as much as possible, make it a really clean game.
And if we do that, we'll be able to live
(29:25):
with the results.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I mean, he's right.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Clean game at home. That's what you want for these
fans who have been waiting 10 months to see a
win at home. Now, I'm going to ask you the
Kevin Wilds questions. My favorite Kevin Wilds question. Is this
streak of not winning at home something? Nothing? or everything?
Speaker 4 (29:43):
I'll go nothing.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I mean, I think, did Lamar miss any games down
the stretch last year, any of those home games?
Speaker 5 (29:49):
I know that if you look at those games, it's
like two TD bounces and three interceptions over those four games. Look,
I used to work in the Washington, D.C.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
Area.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
I covered the Ravens quite a bit. They were just
dominant at home for so long. 20 years, you just
knew that Baltimore was getting protected. And it hasn't been
like that recently. So I think this is actually an
important game. Of course, we expect them to win. You know,
Cam Ward has had so much trouble. We don't expect
the Titans to come out and make some big stands.
But the Ravens have to do it. It's what Jesse
(30:18):
Minter said. They've got to execute. They've got to play
a clean game. And, you know, fan apathy in that town,
we've seen it go up and down over the years
as people have gotten frustrated with this Ravens team. So
you want to bring those fans in. You want them
to have a great time this weekend and feel like
we've got it this season. We're behind Lamar. You need
that energy and you're going to need it later in
(30:40):
the season during those playoff games that we criticize Lamar
Jackson for. This is when they can start building it
because after a while you get dejected as a fan.
If you never see a win when you go to
a game, you pay all that money.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I mean, is this even going to be a sellout?
It's the Titans.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
It sounds like Lamar missed one of those home games.
I got to ask, though, so you've covered a lot
of sports games. I don't know if we have any
data on going to Brazil, playing a pretty damn thrilling game,
and then coming back with no bye week and playing again.
I don't know what the reaction's going to be, but
I did see the Ravens are down. They're starting two centers.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
And they lost their big guy last year, Linderbaum.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
So the kid they drafted, I can't even say his name,
in the first round, who was a guard, they're moving
him to center, apparently.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
They're shuffling the line, yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
And so.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
I don't, I have, this could easily be a blowout, right?
Derek Henry against his former team, Rumbles for 200 yards.
I don't know what to do with this.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Similar to the.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Dallas game, which we'll talk about in about 20 minutes.
The post-Rio, is there going to be a hangover? Because
there is some London hangover. It's tough to come back
from London and play, but that is a little different
than Rio.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
I was going to say, it's a big change in
time difference when you're talking about London versus Brazil. So
I don't think the time difference thing is getting— it' s just
a long flight. It's not the same thing as playing, certainly,
in Australia or in London.
Speaker 12 (32:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
And so, and I think, you know, it's a cushion
game at home, right? I mean, obviously they put these
teams at home after they play these international games and
they put them against opponents that might not be the strongest.
That's how we're going to talk about the Titans right now.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Might not be.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
So I got Zach selling me on, is Cam Ward
the biggest bust in NFL draft history? And at first
I'm like, no. And then he sends me some stats
and I was like, whoa, he's like in Jamarcus Russell
territory through 20 games.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Now it's only 20 games. This franchise fail. Will Levis.
Are they going to fail? Cam Ward that quick?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Like, Rachel, I don't know if you saw the cut
up against the Giants, but he's just so apathetic in
the pot. He just dropped back and he's like, is
he trying to be too cool?
Speaker 10 (32:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
I mean, and it was a disaster for him at
the end of that game against the Giants. I mean,
there's a hard game to watch. Low scoring rain, all
of that stuff. But look, Robert Sala not looking good
right now. Oh, and three. So that is a tough
situation down in Tennessee. But I expect, again, I thought
Minter had the exact right approach. Clean game. They just
need to keep to their side of the street. If
they play clean throughout, as you said, the offensive line,
(33:04):
the communication there has to be right with guys shifting over.
they will win this football game. And again, I do think,
I think it's something this streak of losing at home.
I don't think it's everything. I don't think it's a
huge deal, but I think as you build over a season,
you need to start feeling like you protect home, that
you win your home games, that we have a home
field advantage. And that was such a big part of
the Baltimore Ravens for decades that they need to get
(33:27):
that back. And look, if you get an easy one
to start building that back up, that's great. Take it,
do it, be clean.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Rachel with the news.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Well, that's the news.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
And thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
The Herdline News.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
All right, coming up next, more reaction to Steelers-Browns and
who's the team to beat in the NFC North.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
That's next here on The Herd.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Back here on The Herd. Folks, this is exciting. We've
got a debut.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Guest on The Herd. His name is John Jansen. Surely
you know him. He was with the Michigan Wolverines in
1997 when they won the Natty. Undefeated, spent 11 years
in the NFL. Let's bring in John Jansen from the
ticket in Detroit. John, welcome to the herd. Very happy
to have you. Obviously blowing up as an announcer, analyst.
(34:21):
I want to start with what you saw last night
in the NFL Steelers-Browns. Did you ever play with a
quarterback who F-bombed the coach from.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
The huddle in the first quarter?
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Yeah, I think you could probably put it on one
hand on the quarterbacks I didn't play with that didn't
use the F-bomb. I mean, I think it's hilarious that
everybody is making so much of that interaction between Aaron
Rodgers and Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
It happens.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
It happens between player and coach, especially between two guys
that have known each other and worked together for so long.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
So you put really nothing into it. Now, last week,
Rodgers took a shot at Michael Pittman for a drop pass.
We know there's a history with Rodgers and McCarthy, but
you're saying this is not a big deal. They can
overcome it. I saw like a Pittsburgh team kind of unraveling.
Watt on the sideline was unhappy, got on the headset. But,
you know, you were in the trenches for longer than
(35:13):
I was.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Zero for me. So maybe this is not a big deal.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
To me, it's not.
Speaker 6 (35:19):
And I know for some that maybe haven't been in
the huddle, haven't been on the sidelines, those interactions can
feel very dramatic.
Speaker 8 (35:26):
But these conversations, we're not talking.
Speaker 6 (35:29):
If this was happening in college football between a college
teammate and a coach, yeah, I think there's something there.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
But between two.
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Guys that have worked together for so long, between guys
that are 30, 35, 38 years old and a coach.
It's to me, it's just how guys talk to each
other and it's how they're interacting. And it's just a
little bit more dramatic because it's caught on camera. It's
everything is is out there for everybody to hear these days.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (35:54):
All right.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Let's go to Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Very positive story with the Browns being in the Midwest. John,
I got to ask, like, nobody seems to have seen
this coming three and one on top. Of the AFC North,
Deshaun Watson, three straight comebacks. We're a month removed from
talking about him losing his job to Shadur Sanders.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
What do you make of this Browns run?
Speaker 6 (36:14):
It's very impressive what Todd Monk is doing in Cleveland.
I think it's a lot of it has attributed to
him finally getting a shot as a head coach in
the NFL.
Speaker 8 (36:21):
He's making the most of everything. And Deshaun Watson, you're right.
Speaker 6 (36:24):
Nobody even thought he would play again, let alone lead
the Cleveland Browns. They're now three and one. And it
is it is really taking everybody by surprise. And I
think I saw a stat this morning. It's been like
forty four hundred days since they've led the division this
I'm glad for those guys that are down in Cleveland.
Not real happy for anybody in the state of Ohio,
given my background, but you got to be happy for
(36:46):
a franchise that is probably the AFC version of the
one I cover here in Detroit.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Now, I will say it's too early to do math
on 4,400 days, John, but is this sustainable in Cleveland?
Do you think Watson can, I don't know, keep this up,
maybe get the team in a wild card contention?
Speaker 6 (37:05):
We saw what he did when he was with Houston.
So yeah, I mean, the answer is yes, he could
do it. Now, is it something that's sustainable? They're such
a young team and they've drafted extremely well. Are those
young players going to be able to handle with Schlesinger?
We saw what he's done the last couple of years.
We know what he was. He was a steal in
the draft. Mason Graham last year didn't have a great
(37:27):
rookie season, at least, you know, in terms of numbers,
but is dominating up front right now. I think it
is 100 percent possible that it is sustainable.
Speaker 8 (37:35):
Now they're going to have to continue to protect better.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
They're going to have to run the football better than
they did last night, especially in that division. And that's
going to come down to can they execute up front
on that offensive line?
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Let's go quickly to Brock Purdy and the 49ers.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
This is a team that is shocking everybody, 3-0, leading
in every advanced stat possible, specifically Brock Purdy. Now, again,
quarterbacks in the NFL, everybody's like, oh, I need a
6'5 quarterback.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I need a guy with a big arm who can
throw the ball out of the stadium. Purdy is none
of these things.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
He was the last pick in the draft, and yet
here he is in MVP contention again.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
I don't know. What do you make of Brock Purdy's
hot start?
Speaker 6 (38:13):
I think Brock Purdy has had great coaching at the
NFL level. There's nothing more that needs to be said
about Kyle Shanahan. But one of my former teammates, Brian Greasy,
was a quarterback coach there.
Speaker 8 (38:23):
Then it was what?
Speaker 6 (38:24):
Clay Kubiak. And now he's the offensive coordinator. We all
know Kyle Shanahan runs the show there. And he's done
a tremendous job of putting Brock Purdy in position to
be successful, making things early in his career a little
bit easier on him.
Speaker 8 (38:41):
Giving him some weapons.
Speaker 6 (38:42):
And now, hey, you've got Mike Evans there as another receiver.
Hopefully he can play this weekend. But Brock Purdy is,
to me, he's a very cerebral quarterback. He processes things quickly.
He can move around in the pocket. I think he
is amazing. He's really starting to become the quarterback that
everybody was wondering, could he possibly take the next step?
And we're seeing it right now. You're talking about MVP
(39:04):
caliber at the start of the season.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Let's go to your Detroit Lions, John.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
I stacked up on all Lions in the fantasy drafts
because I think they're going to put up major numbers. However,
we've seen some struggles, you know, since they lost Ben Johnson,
missed the playoffs last year. I don't I don't know
what to make of Jared Goff in this team. Dan Campbell,
a lot of people like we should have just kept
the offensive coordinator guy.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
I don't know the defense, obviously.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Has major issues, but where are you so far three
games into the Lions season?
Speaker 8 (39:34):
Well, I'd like the offense to start faster.
Speaker 6 (39:36):
I mean, you can't really complain with 31 points a game.
It's exactly what they've scored for three games, but they've
only had one touchdown in three first quarters. They need
to start faster, especially with the struggles that they have
on defense. And I hope you got Jameer Gibbs on
your fantasy team because he's going to be rocking up
some huge points. Amon Ross, St.
Speaker 8 (39:55):
Brown, Jamo.
Speaker 6 (39:56):
Jamo, this offense would be going even better if Jamo
caught a couple of those long passes in that New
Orleans game. So, It's sputtered a little bit, but as
we know with Dan Campbell led teams, and this is
going to be his offense. It doesn't matter who the
play caller is. This is his offense. They're going to
get better week in, week out. Jared Goff is quietly
having his best season to start with eight touchdowns, no interceptions,
(40:21):
even in Buffalo where things were wild and crazy. He
was very judicious with the ball. He did a great
job of seeing, locating, identifying blitzes and get rid of
the football.
Speaker 8 (40:31):
To only Detroit Lions.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
And that's been one of the bugaboos for Jared Goff is, hey,
in those big games, has turnovers. So far this year,
he's played extremely well.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, we'll see how he does outdoors against Carolina, down
a lot of secondary players.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
I think he'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Let me ask you, though, I'd love to have guys
on who cover that division, the NFC North. Go ahead
and rank the starters for me. Jordan Love, Goff, Kyler Murray,
and then Caleb Williams. If everybody's healthy, how would you
rank them in terms of who would you take?
Speaker 6 (41:02):
I would put Goff at number one, Caleb Williams two.
Speaker 8 (41:06):
I'd put, oh, I heard an ooh there. Ooh, do
you disagree already?
Speaker 3 (41:09):
A lot of people have Caleb Williams as like a
top seven quarterback already.
Speaker 6 (41:12):
I mean, so Caleb Williams, he is really good off schedule.
No one's going to mistake Jared Goff for a guy
that's a mobile quarterback, but he processes, we just talked
about Brock Purdy, the way that Jared Goff processes. And
talking to Dan Campbell this week, I asked him, Why
does nobody give Jared Goff credit? They put so much
on him and he gets up to the line of
scrimmage sometimes with two or three plays, putting him in
(41:35):
the right play, putting him, you know, picking up blitzes, organizing,
you know, with juice drugs as a center in there
in the, in the stead of Kate Mays injured center,
he's done a great job of organizing everything and getting
everything going. So I would definitely put, Jared Goff won,
Caleb Williams two, Kyler Murray three, and Jordan Love, I
(41:55):
would put number four. And some of that just has
to do with what we saw last year, especially at
the end of the year when he's asked to go
win games. And so far this year, it hasn't looked
like what they were anticipating Jordan Love would be after
all the development that they put into him.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
All right, we got 20 seconds.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Give me a grade, John, for the Michigan head coach
Kyle Winningham early in the season.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
How are you grading him out?
Speaker 6 (42:21):
I'd probably go C plus right now, a little better
than average, but you're too penalized. You're, you're turning the
ball over too many times. You're not getting turnovers. This
is the first time they're going on the road. We'll
see if they can fix those issues in somewhere other
than the big house.
Speaker 7 (42:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:34):
Brutal loss. I mean, goodness gracious to Iowa. Holy hell.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Anyways, John Jansen, great debut. Thanks a lot, John. And
we'll look for your coverage on the lions.
Speaker 8 (42:42):
Thanks. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
All right.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
Great stuff from John Jansen who played with Tom Brady.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
And he gave him, Kyle winning him a C +.
Might be a little lower.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
On that, given the Western Michigan debacle. All right, coming
up next, we'll do a little gambling at the top
of the hour. And there is an elimination game. Yes,
an elimination game in week four. Dallas-Houston, the loser, they're done.
Speaker 8 (43:07):
It's official.
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Colin Cowherd
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