September 14, 2020 • 39 mins
People need to be realistic about the Cowboys
The Buccaneers losing to the Saints shouldn't be a surprise
Joe Burrow's first start was impressive
Guest: Michael Vick
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
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Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It is a Monday.
(00:25):
Football is back in America. How much fun was that?
Live in Los Angeles? This is the Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening Fox Sports
Radio and right here on FS one. I sat on
a couch yesterday and watched ten hours of football, ordered
to go food twice. Pet, my dogs had a beer.
(00:49):
Had the time of my life. I'm sure you did
something similar without the dogs. Guy may tacos and had
a chardonnay instead of that. But yeah, it was many,
many hours without, so I'm a creature to have it
to begin with the normalcy I felt yesterday. I was
so deliriously happy, you know, I tweeted, It's a blessing,
(01:12):
and I know that that kind of sounds dramatic, but
it was incredible. I still can't get over it. I
literally like we're having a football Monday. It's amazing. I
didn't think about COVID once yesterday. Now, of course I
didn't leave the house. That helps, right, you know. Let
me start with this. The stadium looks great in Los Angeles.
That's good for the league, good imagery. But expectations will
(01:37):
overwhelmingly in your life and my life, control our happiness.
What are expectations. I look at the Dallas Cowboys and
I think they have a pretty good head coach. He's
not bad. I think they have a pretty good quarterback.
And I thought last night that had a pretty good performance.
Those were my expectations. I think Sean McVay, this is
(01:57):
why I picked the Rams, is a much better head coach.
They were at home, and frankly, I think they have
a slightly better overall roster, not as many holes as
Dallas in the back end, and that was the result. Folks,
there is something wrong with this offense. And now you're
delusional if you can't admit it, because I've seen it
over and over and over again. Dallas has a top
(02:20):
three offensive line, maybe top five, a top two running back,
maybe top three. They may have the best receiving corps
in the league, let's say top three, and they had
three points in the second half on the road with
no crowd against a very so so Rams defense. Aaron
Donald's great, Jalen Ramsey's talented, that's not a great defense.
(02:41):
LA's talents on the offensive side. And y'all love Dak,
but at some point now this is the people that
are angry about this. If you're a Cowboy fan, this
is about managing your expectations. Your expectations are out of whack.
Once again, Dak a little uncomfortable on the road above
average ball team. Here are his second half numbers with Zeke,
(03:02):
with a receiving corps, with that offensive line, with an
offensive coach, his passer rating is fifty seven. Okay, so
the Dallas team I saw this is what I thought
I would see. Said on Friday close game, I'll take
the Rams. Sean mcvayh told you everything he thought about
Dak in the Cowboys offense. Five minutes left, Rams had
(03:24):
outplayed the Cowboys, led by only three and got the
ball five plays, all runs. In fact, one time Jared
Goff had an open receiver, he made him go and slide.
He told Jared Goff, run, run, run, eat the clock,
fourth and one at the fifty rams punt at home,
moving the ball punt they punted to Dak with two
(03:46):
twenty eight left and a timeout, and Zeke and that
receiving corps and that offensive line at home. They'd outplayed Dallas.
They basically gave Dallas a chance to win the game,
and Dallas and in ten plays move fifyards. So at
this point, if you're struggling with expectations, it's on you.
This team looks a lot like what we think. Alden
(04:08):
Smith played pretty well. Dak made a couple of good throws.
Now you don't like the past interference call late, I
get it, But those things even out. Earlier in the game.
Jared Goff got picked off and hit in the face.
That's the illegal and they allow the interception. Those things
work out over time. Okay, the Saints don't think that.
They think the world's against him. Off. In the NFL,
you get a good call, you get a bad call.
(04:28):
Over the course of a season, you get about six
good calls go your way, six bad calls go against you. Whatever.
But in the last fourteen games, Dallas is five and nine.
That's the reality Dallas and dak twenty two tds, nine
interceptions in those fourteen games. That's in a division that
maybe the worst in football. That's the reality. I mean,
(04:51):
yesterday we all saw special. We saw it on Thursday
with Mahomes, Russell Wilson, ridiculous, Lamar Jackson. Hello, Aaron Rodgers.
Oh old Aaron Rodgers. We saw special all day. He's
between both those teams. They're not a lot of special.
Rams are better, but there's not a lot of special here.
So at some point, I just think we have to
(05:12):
be honest with expectations. With Dallas, they have a pretty
good head coach. You don't think he's as good as
Kyle Shanahanner Belichick, Randy Reader, Champagne, that pretty good quarterback,
but you don't think he's Russell Lamaron Rodgers. And it
was a pretty good opening performance. Anything beyond that is
on Cowboy fans. It's not on the team. They are
(05:32):
exactly what they should be, all right. So let's talk
about Tom Brady. So I have a theory in life,
and we all potentially can get caught up in our
emotions in the moment. It's very we all do it.
You do it I do it. You know, you get
caught up in the moment and you're all the world's
ending and you're overly dramatic. But I have a theory
called to say it out loud. Theory. I got six kids,
(05:53):
nunner in jail. I'm a good enough parent. If they're
successful or failures in life, it'll beyond that. I kept
him out of jail, I kept him alive, I fed him.
They're healthy. It's good enough now. Day to day, I
may go crazy, they may drive me nuts, they'll yell
at me. I'll yell at them. But if you're a
parent with a bunch of kids nun are in jail,
they're all still going to school. They're good kids. They're kind,
they're empathetic, semi curious. You did a good job. Don't
(06:16):
out think the room. You're gonna have bad days in
great days, So just say this out loud. A forty
three year old quarterback with a brand new coach and
a brand new system and brand new teammates with a
socio offensive line and his best receiver miss most of
practice this week, went on the road and lost to
(06:36):
the NFC favorites. Okay, there's a reason Tom Brady was
an underdog for the first time in what like five years.
When the schedule came out and you saw this game,
didn't you think New Orleans was gonna win. In fact,
you thought they were gonna win by more. But because
of COVID, there's no fans in the stands. This was
(06:57):
a forty three year old quarterback with a new coach
for the first time in his career, and a new
system and a new offensive line with no preseason and
no OTAs and Mike Mike Evans was hurt during camp
and didn't practice this week. When when Brady made mistakes
yesterday and he was better than everybody's saying, you had
a couple of deep balls pass interference that would have
been completed. So if not for that, Brady did played terribly.
(07:21):
The Saints are maybe the best roster in the NFC.
I don't think they're Baltimore. I don't think they're Kansas City.
This is the Saints. When you got your schedule, this
was an L. You put a big L there. Even
people in Tampa that were realistic or like, this is
a bad opening. I think when the schedule came out,
we said that we're like Brady didn't get any breaks
on the opener. This is what it looks like. Mike
(07:41):
Evans and Tom Brady had a communication air. Yes, of course,
you didn't have four preseason games to work any of
this stuff out. I mean what I saw yesterday, the
good teams look still good. The bad teams are still bad.
The good teams miss preseason, but they had momentum from
last year. Didn't get anybody hurting preseason, and the teams
didn't have time to sand paper the rough edges off
(08:02):
and they were still mostly Cleveland and Sintodati. That's what
the league looked like. All Tampa's been doing for weeks
and months as new player, new guy, new tackle, new
draft pick, new tight end. Tom Brady said afterwards, it's mistakes.
Mistakes a new coach, a new team, a new system.
Clearly are gonna have to get through anytime you turn
(08:25):
the ball over like we did. You know, we had
opportunities out there to make plays and it just came
up short. So there's no excuses, and we're the only
ones I could do something about it. The Saints kind
of play how they always play. You know, they did
a good job on offense. You know we hung our
defense out to dry, you know on some short fields
(08:45):
with not moving the ball, not you know, doing very
well on third down at certain times. Not the turnovers
really hurt us. And uh, you know, got to clean
that up for next week. We gotta do a lot
better job. I'm gonna make a prediction they're gonna look
much better again it's Carolina's defense next week. They're gonna
look much better in October, and when they play the
(09:06):
Saints in Week nine in Tampa, they'll probably look better then. Now,
I do believe one of the things I really kept
preaching over and over again New England. You saw it yesterday. Efficient,
no mistakes, no penalties. Tampa's different. What Brady is going
to have to get used to is he's got more weapons,
(09:29):
but Tampa as a franchise has got more baggage. Special
teams in Tampa have been bad forever. Yesterday they got
a pump blocked that never happens in New England. Yesterday
Tampa had nine penalties that doesn't happen a lot in
New England. That's what Tom's gonna have to get used to.
(09:49):
This is a different scenario. The most rigid, perfected, well
oiled machine in the NFL is New England. Tampa's often
just well oiled, not much machine stuff. They're just a
little sloppy and a little loose and a little weird
and a punt blocked and nine penalties. And this is
what Tampa is. That's to me, the struggle with Tom.
(10:10):
And when you go you know that, remember that old
I don't even know if it's still in the air.
It was like called the family swap or wife swap
or something. When you go from like a family that
puts their money away and they sit together as a
family and read at night and they're very efficient and
very quiet, and they go to bed early and they
(10:30):
eat their vegetables. And then you go to another family.
It's live pot Ta Tuesday night, What PoTA Wednesday night? What?
Tampa's a little loose. They can't get special teams right,
they're a little wild cocktails earlier, not very buttoned up.
They weren't yesterday. That is Tom's issue, not losing to
(10:51):
the Saints. That's a great team that has a chance
to win a Super Bowl. You were there. They brought
all their pieces back. Say it out loud, what happened
should have happened? Coming up next I watched almost every
snap of Joe Burrow, and I've got my opening thoughts
on Joe Burrow forty five minutes from now. Top of
next hour. Colin was right, Colin was wrong. Jimmy Johnson
(11:14):
on the Show today, Trent Dilfer on the Show today,
Mike Vick this hour on the Show today as well.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Geico get fifteen percent
off motorcycle Insurance RV policies fifteen percent credit on your
(11:35):
car insurance as well. October seventh, though as the day
I got a change to get those advantages. Fifteen percent
off Geico dot com. To learn more. Top of next Hour,
Colin Wright, Colin wrong, Michael Vick in less than ten minutes. So.
I watched Joe Burrow yesterday and I said, going into
the season, I thought he was a B plus prospect.
I thought he was Tony Romo. I think it's about
(11:55):
once every other year. I think we have an a prospect.
Next year's weird. I think we have two or three prospects.
But I thought Burrell was a good player. I think
the comparisons that Brady and Manning are stupid. It's too
much pressure on the kid. I mean, he had one
really good year of college. But I gotta tell you yesterday,
when you consider the circumstances, I thought he was really good.
I thought he was really good. No, ta's no preseason.
(12:16):
The Chargers have the best corners in the league. The
Chargers have two of the best pass rushers, Bosa and Ingram.
You're talking about a young kid, young head coach, below
average offensive line. You got to grade this kid on
the curve. You gotta consider circumstances. My first forty five
second reaction, just what did my eyes say? He's a
(12:40):
little bigger than I thought he would look in the NFL.
He's clearly jacked up his arms and shoulders. He looks
like a Lamar Jackson. You see him and you're like, oh,
he looks a little bigger than I thought. Joe Burrow
put on some upper body weight. He's a little quicker
and more elusive than I thought he would be. He's
clearly trained for this and put a lot of hours in.
I thought he looked really good. He gave himself a
D which I love because he's humble. I thought it
(13:02):
was a B to a B plus performance. That's what
a franchise quarterback looks like. That's what they look like.
It's and I'll tell you something that last drive. These
are against great wide receiver, great corners, great edge rushers.
He'd been hammered on the day. He threw for almost
two hundred yards, he rushed for forty six in a touchdown.
(13:22):
He'd gotten his lunch handed to him. He had a bad, bad,
late fourth quarter turnover. All that could get into his head. Nothing.
They gave him the ball in the last drive. He
marched right down. He was cool, he was calm, he
was poised. His feet were good. He wasn't locked in
on one receiver. Tyrod Taylor, the veteran to me yesterday,
(13:44):
was too often locked in on one receiver. Burrow, the
kid was not. I could sit here today and bang
on him. He had a sixty six quarterback rating and
a terrible late game turnover. I thought he was really good.
I thought he was really good. He's much He's a
much prospect than Baker Mayfield. I believe after watching him yesterday,
He's not as erratic. Although mistake Prono little yesterday. He's
(14:07):
got more ups Maybe I don't know the upside. He
looks better than Darnald, who's still making dumb mistakes. Baker
still feels like the same guy with a fourth coach.
If that's the opening act for Joe Burrow, that is
a good opening act. He never looked nervous. And remember
he won't face the rest of the year corners. That
good that those corners for the Chargers. They got three
(14:29):
guys that can play, three guys that have made a
Pro Bowl. I think two or three you're still in
their prime, So tip of the cap. I thought he
was good. And by the way, I said this before
when I compared him to Tony Romo, Tony Romo is
a minus B plus quarterback. Tony Romo's good player. Y'all
dogged him for year. I swear to guy. When I
(14:50):
was at the other company, all I did was defend
Tony Romo Tony Row. He looked like a Tony Romo.
He can move. He's prone to an occasional big mistake,
but he's kind of a gun slinger. He's athletic, he
moves well. He's got a nice arm, not a great arm.
He got a nice arm. He looks like an athlete.
I mean he reminds me a Romo, and that's a
really good comp Romo. If you go look at Tony
(15:11):
Romo's final stats in his career, he's a strong B
plus or a week game on his quarterback. Cincinnati hadn't
had that in a long time. This is a way
better prospect than Baker, a way better prospect than Andy
Dalton this morning. I think he's a better prospect than
Sam Darnold, who I like, and better than Josh Allen.
He's good. He's a good player. You got a player
in Cincinnati. Joy with the news. No, no turn on
(15:32):
the news. This is the herd line news. I mean
the final drive, he got them down there and put
them in field goal position. If the kicker didn't, he
got bingled. Whatever that was he got bingled. I mean
he had them in a position to send them in
the overtime. We're working you out again against the team
that strength is their defensive front and corners. It was
like he wasn't he wasn't moving up and down the
field on a weak defense. I thought it was impressive.
(15:53):
I'm not gonna Sam surprised because I did think that
Joe Barrow was going to be good, but I thought
it was a great yeah, great first game for him
considering the circumstances. So someone else I was very impressed
with yesterday, Dwayne Haskins. Washington didn't get off to a
great start. They fell down seventeen in the first half
of the Eagles, but at halftime, Coachron Rivera was getting
(16:14):
an IV and Dwayne Haskins took the opportunity to step
up and be a leader. He gave a speech that
his teammate Fabian Morrow said, got everyone riled up and
put the team on his back and definitely worked. Washington
kept Philly scoreless in the second half and rallied to
win twenty seven seventeen in kind of a shocker. Now,
(16:34):
Jason McIntire did come on the show Friday and predict this,
and I was like, Oh, I don't know about that,
but that was really impressed about Washington. Yes, you know
what this is a now Here's the thing has always
been true with Haskins. Great size and when he can
stay in the pocket, got a big, strong frame and
a big arm. When when I saw him Ohio State,
my knock was when he moves. He gets really erratic.
(16:55):
He's not he's not super athletic with his feet, but
he's a big, tall kid with a big arm, and
if you him in a pocket, I'll tell it. He
made some nice throws in this game. This is not
you can say what you want, but Philadelphia is a
real team with a button and they have some good
players in the back end. I thought it was impressive
by him. Well, he was impressive to me. But that defense,
(17:16):
oh god, segments eight times. Now, Look, I don't I
don't want to give too much credit to the Washington
defense because the offensive line was a bit of a disaster. Yesterday.
This was a big Washington and it was a big
day for Ron River. Remember the last four months for Washington,
nothing is gone right. It has been utter chaos for
this franchise. And yesterday it was chaos in the first
(17:39):
half and something mapping at halftime and Washington came out.
For the last four months, it's been noise and calamity
and owner issues, and well, that's why I love that
it was Haskins that happened at halftime. I had a
lot of questions about Haskins coming into this year. Really
wasn't sure if he was going to take the next step,
and I don't want to overreact to week one and
be that person, but you gotta love what you saw
from him yet today seventeen to thirty, one hundred and
(18:01):
seventy eight yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and he was
voted the team captain this season. So he's definitely stepping
into that role. Now, how he's going to develop, we'll see,
but he's got the defense there, so as long as
he can continue taking steps forward. I thought that was
a nice win for them yesterday. Ozza. I am going
to overreact to the Packers though, because that was unbelievable. Yeah,
(18:23):
he looked as good as ever. Aaron Rodgers in the
season opener against the Vikings three hundred and sixty four
yards for touchdowns, a forty three thirty four win, and
him and Davante Adams were on fire, franchise record tying
fourteen catches for one hundred and fifty six yards and
two touchdowns. I do think that Minnesota is better than
they looked yesterday, but that was really impressed about it.
(18:45):
By the way. Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer does not
want Kirk Cousins to throw the ball. Well, yeah, I
mean that stat line for Kirk Cousins is what three
of five? Like they that's an organization and your coach
will tell you what he thinks of your quarterback by attempts.
I mean Mike Zimmer has no interest Kirk Cousins throwing
(19:07):
the football like none. I mean, can you argue that
looking at that performance yesterday and what they asked from him? Yeah,
the book is out on Kirk Cousins. Let's stop. It's
that guy always said this about Andy Dalton, franchise guy capable.
Stop trying to convince me what my eyes are not seeing.
Kirk's fine, really low ceiling. That's that's We can stop
arguing that their team looks different than last year. Obviously,
(19:29):
and again, I don't want to overreact a week one.
I do think Minnesota is still a good team. They
lost a defensive end and they had not pass rush
or her Minnesota is better than this. Yes, green Bay
is probably not quite this good. Minnesota's not this It
will level out throughout the season, but it's still a
great opener for green Bay considering finally, Clippers cannot seem
to close out the Nuggets. There were so much Sports
(19:49):
on yesterday. I didn't watch any of this, Okay, I
caught the fourth quarter. Yeah, but it was on during
the early games, like it's it's tough. But after being
up three one in the series, they're headed to a
game seven with Denver to earn a spot in the
Western Conference Finals. In Game six, the Clippers at a
nineteen point lead at the start of the third, but
Denver outscored them sixty four to thirty five in the
second half to get the one eleven ninety eight win.
(20:12):
The Nuggets are trying to become the first team in
NBA history to rally from a pair of three one
deficits in the same postseason, after obviously doing it with
Utah in the first round. All Right, nobody thinks the
Clippers are the Warriors of the k D and Staff.
Nobody thinks they're MJ's Bulls. Nobody thinks they're the Spurs
dynasty of the Heatles. Can people stop going coll and
what about the Clippers? They're going to a game seven.
(20:34):
Nobody thinks this is a great team. We think it's
occasionally great, but mostly pretty good, wildly inconsistent, developing chemistry.
It is okay to go to a game seven, which
the Clippers will win. It'll be feisty Denver. For the record,
we knew going into this season they're one of the
most talented teams. This is not like they're This is
not a Portland team that's hobbled. It's a healthy Denver
(20:56):
team that's really good, folks. This is not MJ's bull.
You get seven game series in six game series when
you're a pretty good team against a pretty good opponent.
I really don't love that they're up three one, like
close a team out. That part is it is not
confencing to me, Like for what I expected the Clippers
(21:17):
this year, this should not have happens. They're O and
seven and games when they could clinch a trip to
the conference finals. But it's okay to have full series
like this. This is what we want. We want the
most amount of basketball like it's supposed to be game
seven series. We got spoiled with the Warriors sweeping through
because we get spoiled with Lebron sweeping or gentlemen sweeping
(21:39):
teams through all the way to the fays. Mostly, look,
they're supposed to look like that pretty even and we
came into this season with two good stars everywhere. Nobody
had three great stars. So we said it was going
to be a year of probably much more balanced and
it is. Yes, and the Celtics and the Raptors went
to a Game seven. Again. I don't love it from
the Clippers. I do think the Clippers should have closed
them out. But I'm happy with the game seven. And
(22:01):
what's better than a game seven? In sports? Should be
happy about this. We're gonna have two game sevens in
both conferences. Why because we don't have a great team.
If we had a great team, we'd had any five
anybody wanted. All I can hear about for the past
ten years, this runs twig threes. We don't have one.
This is what you get, exactly joy with the news.
(22:24):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping the herdline news.
It is um top of the next hour, thirty minutes away.
Colin right, Colin wrong. Uh, there's so many things. I
have all these notes today and Mondays are tough because
most of my shows I got three hours to talk
and we're looking to fill stuff. Mondays I have to
pair stuff off because I have so many things to
(22:45):
talk about. Um, you just just remember this as everybody
freaks out Jacksonville one yesterday and the forty nine ers lost. Okay,
don't freak out. I thought the one game yesterday that
looked like I thought it would exactly would look like.
I think the Rams are slightly better than the Cowboys,
(23:08):
and I thought the Rams look slightly better in key
spots than Dallas. And I thought Dallas looked pretty good
but slightly inefficient in the big spots. That game looked like.
That's what I think those teams are. But I don't
think Baltimore is gonna steamroll everybody like that. I don't
think Cleveland's gonna be that bad. I don't think the
Jags are gonna win a lot of times. I think
Philip Rivers will make mistakes, but I think the Colts
(23:29):
will be better. If you looked around the NFL yesterday,
there are nine games counting tonight New York Giants. There's
nine games where you have either like a new coach
or a new quarterback. And I said eight of the
nine would lose. So Washington won, and that was like, wow,
that kind of that that kind of shocked me. But
(23:51):
let's be honest about this. Most of those teams lost yesterday,
and I think the Giants will lose to Pittsburgh. So
most of these teams are losing. Michael VICKI is now
joining us. Thirteen years in the NFL, a third of them.
He was a pro bowler. Brought to you by Mercedes
Ben's the Best or Nothing. Michael vick is now joining
me on the phone. So when you watched Dallas last night,
here's my biggest problem, Michael. They've got a running back,
(24:12):
an old line, they've got weapons, and I get a
field goal in the second half. What is missing with
the Dallas Cowboys offense? Uh well, let me retract for
a second. Not only did they get a field going
second half, they got a field goal after a big
turnover by a Woozier, And I think that was the
big turning point in the game. That was the opportunity
(24:33):
to take advantage. But not being able to finish drives
and not being affishent in the red zone. They wasn't
good on third downs. You know, the offense kind of
looked it wasn't too much of a difference from what
we've seen with Jason Garrett last year. And you know,
I was looking for, you know, some different nuances and
I wanted to see, you know, different concepts and you know,
some sort of offensive explosion. But you know, it was
(24:56):
it was kind of you know, I won't say it
was basic, but it was like what we're accustomed to. Stand.
You know, they gotta put it all together. They gotta
find a way to um just you know, put drives together,
finished drives and not stall out. Because against good things
like the Los Angeles Rams, you gotta score points. Three
is not gonna do it, especially if you gotta earn
(25:17):
Donald and you got data rams on the edge. You know,
superstar guys that you gotta beat throughout the course of
the game, and you get those moments, you got to
take advantage of it. Yeah, the Dallas needs to be
more versatile and more multiple, and it was a fairly
simplistic offensive game plan. And I agree with you, they've
got they've got to kind of be more dynamic. There's
(25:39):
just too many great offenses right now in the NFL. So,
Tom Tom Tom Brady's debut, what did you make of it?
I thought it was fair. Obviously, the two turnovers was
crucial points in the game, where the one that Genor
Jenkins just it was deflating. I think that um that
(25:59):
was a swing that Tom just couldn't stick back from Um.
But you know, ultimately it's it's a team game. You know,
it's collective efforts. So you know, we need more out
of Grump, we need more out of out of Mike Evans,
we need Leonifournette to turn up and do his thing. UM,
But I put my trust in Bruce Areas. I know
he's a he's a great study of the game, he's
(26:19):
a problem solver, and him and Tom Brady had worked
throughout the week to make you know, next week right,
So I'm not going to panic on him right now,
but next the next game is very crucial. So go
back to your first start in the NFL. I say
you got a grade. Sometimes in life, you got a
great people on a curve. What are they dealing with,
where are they from? How much support do they have?
(26:42):
I thought Joe Burrow looked pretty strong, Michael, I thought
he looked pretty strong. Your thoughts. I've been impressed with
Joe Brown since he left LSU. UM. You know, I
loved everything he did in college and I wanted to
see how that would relate to the pros. And you know,
yesterday was you know, I think the Cincinnati Bengals fans
have to be excited about what they saying and Joe
(27:04):
because now that's one of the tougher defenses that he's
gonna face all season, especially with Joey Bosa lining up
on the edge. So, um, he was able to you know,
not you know, sustained drives and you know, put it
all together. It is a rookie debut. But you know,
he made some plays at the end of that game
and they should have won that game. But he showed toughness,
(27:27):
he showed poise, He was calm, cool and collective, and
he he put his team in a position to win.
And as a coach, that's all you want. You want
a quarterback who you know understand the game plan, knows
what he's doing. It can go out of executed and
Joe did that on all levels yesterday. So you know,
we can't overreact tom week one. I mean, you well
(27:48):
know this. Sometimes you come in with a bunch of injuries,
sometimes you got new coordinators. You can't overreact to stuff. Um,
listen to Miami Dolphins are a rebuilding team and Ryan
Fitzpatrick struggled. But there are listen, there are some positives.
I mean New England. They ran the ball more. I
mean they just looked like a completely different offense. Uh yeah,
(28:08):
what did Jamaica Cam's debut? I like what Cam did yesterday,
and I knew it was coming. I knew there was
gonna be brunt oriented. Um, you know, he only threw
the ball eighteen times, completed fifteen passes. Uh, that goes
and sorted. It was an expensive passing game. The game
is gonna be won, you know by Cam and the
running backs and everybody else had had to do their
(28:29):
job and just compliment. Um, you know what they were
doing in a run game. And that's Bill Belitex's style
of play. Like if I think if he could play
that type of game consistently throughout the course of the season,
he'll do it. If he can get away with taking
advantage of teams in the run game, he's gonna do it.
And now he got a second running back in the
backstill within Cam, you know, who can take off and
(28:52):
the expo explosive himself. So you know, I expect the
game playing to broaden from here. You know, I know
the competition is gonna get stiffer. So the game plan
got it changed, you know it was the Miami Dolphins.
Three turnovers by Fitzpatrick. He's not gonna happen every week,
so they need to look at this game upcom this
upcoming week versus Russell Wilson is you know, it's gonna
(29:13):
be a bomb burn, it's gonna be a shootout. They
have to take advantage of everything that comes their way.
So it'd be really interesting to see how CAIM reacts
this week then, and how different game plan is last week.
You you've told me your favorite coach of all time
was Andy Reid and m I want to go back
to Thursday Night with Patrick Mahomes. He was really wickedly
(29:36):
efficient and just your thoughts. We knew he was a
gun slinger, but he went really surgical on Thursday Night,
And what was your interpretation of what you saw? Oh man?
Just a guy in year four who who gets it,
who understands the game even more than he did it.
You know, year two and three, Year two won the
MVP and year three wins a super Bowl. Year four
(29:58):
he comes out and looks even better than his debut,
and uh, you know, I just gotta give perhaps to
Andy Man in terms of, uh, you know, finding another
good running back um called Edwards Hilary who stepped in
and he almost looked like a Brian Westbrook. And you
know that's just the catalyst success. You know in International
Football League, when you put a good back, you know,
(30:20):
in the backfield, you can neutralize the defense. And m Patrick,
you know, he exemplified that in every way. You know,
the run game was going in and he just did
his thing in the passing game stowing dots. His precision
is amazing and in his vision, you know, the way
he sees to feel you. I mean, he can make
every dope, but you got to see it before you
throw it. There. He see it before it even happened.
(30:42):
And Andy loves guys with great vision. I'd tell you that.
You know, we had that conversation. Patrick vision is just
on another level. And his anticipation. Yeah, Michael Vick's great
talking to you. By the way, I'm from the Pacific Northwest.
You played in Atlanta. I thought Russell Wilson yesterday, Michael,
I mean, I mean, honest to god, Michael, I just
(31:03):
I don't even know that was flawless. Russell like fine one.
He getting better with time. You know, he's one of
the guys. He's gonna age really well in the National
Football League and he'll playing Pilis forties. He got the
body side, he got the smart man. You know, good
things for Seattle. They can continue to build around Russell. Yeah,
good stuff, all right, Mike, good talking to you. Michael
Vick is joining us. We appreciate that, Michael. He's going
(31:25):
to be hanging out in LA for a few months,
so we'll see more of Michael Vick. Thanks, Bud, appreciate it.
Coming up next. You know, we saw a bunch of
stuff yesterday, and so the question becomes like, um, what
is real and what is not gonna last? Because there's
a lot of stuff I saw yesterday it's not gonna last.
And then there's two or three things I saw and
(31:45):
I'm like, oh, that's that's surprising, or that's gonna stick.
That's a seventeen week platform player performance. And three or
four things jumped out to me and it's really shocking,
and I I don't even think it's arguable at this
point what we're seeing, and it's wildly dynamic, and I
want to touch on that. Coming up next, be sure
(32:07):
to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Nun
Easter ninety Impacific by Raycon dot com slash heard fifty
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I don't overreact on Mondays Top of Next Hour, Collin Right,
(32:29):
Colin Roun, don't overreact. But I take what I saw
last year, and I take what I've seen the last year,
and then I take what I saw yesterday, and a
lot of stuff's not gonna stick. Jacksonville one, San Francisco loss.
Don't overreact to stuff, but I gotta tell you, you know,
everybody always talks about their top ten quarterback list top twelve.
(32:50):
I think three guys are separating from the league. I
think Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson are separating
from the league. And I think the fourth best quarterback
depends on the Sunday. Yesterday it was Aaron Rodgers. Sometimes
it's Carson Wentz. I like a lot of quarterbacks in
this league. I don't think there's ever been a time
I liked more quarterbacks, but I'm telling you the guys now,
(33:12):
Lamar Mahomes and Russell Wilson are frightening. Like they can move,
they can run, they can throw their playmakers. I like
Jared Goff, but Sean McVay protects him. I like Jimmy Garoppolo,
but the coach protects him. I like Carson Wentz, but
his highs are highs and his lows are lows. I
like the Shaun Watson, but again, Hiser highs lows can
(33:34):
be really low and he doesn't feel like this group.
I mean, I'm watching Russell Wilson yesterday. That is one
of the greatest performances. I mean, he was flawless and
they got bad offensive line play on the road against
the Pro Bowl quarterback Lamar Jackson. I just kind of
feel like I don't have a top five quarterback list.
(33:54):
I've got a top three and they're separating again. Brady
and Breeze are good when everything is going right. Wentz
into Shawn and Rogers can be spectacular, but Aaron leaves
way too much on the field. He didn't yesterday. Deshaun
doesn't throw a beautiful ball and he has, like Wentz,
(34:14):
some really bad moments. These guys are sick. They're just unbelievable.
You get all the ceiling, very very rarely get the lows.
I mean, they're they're they're playmakers, so you're gonna make
mistakes because you're just maybe yesterday, Lamar took a shot
in the sideline and I'm like, oh, dude, get out
of bounds. But I um a lot of what I
(34:36):
see yesterday doesn't stick. I got a top three quarterback list,
and then four is about six guys, depending on who
they play. Aaron yesterday with spectacular. I don't think he's
gonna look like the rest of the year like that.
But I wouldn't be prized if Lamar has twelve more
Sundays like that, or Mahomes has twelve more Sundays or
Russell's got twelve more Sundays like that. I don't think
Aaron wentz or to Shawn will they feel like they've separated.
(34:58):
I mean, just just say, just are you can't take
your eyes off them. Here's the other thing. So I
picked Baltimore to win the Super Bowl and they look great,
blah blah blah. So you know again they were gonna
win that game. It was the only game this way.
I wouldn't even touch the Jacks Colts game, the only
game I predicted a blowout. I said, come on, you
gotta give me a break on this. Cleveland's got a
new coach. Cleveland's not as good Baltimore. Cleveland beat Baltimore
(35:21):
last year, so Baltimore is not going to overlook Cleveland.
It was a blow out, it wasn't close. Two things
I take away from that game. Number One, Baltimore is fantastic.
They would have blown out a lot of teams in
the NFL yesterday. So let's not bury Cleveland. Okay, the
Baltimore is packed there, you dynamic, physical. They didn't even
(35:42):
run the football particularly well yesterday. They're still dropping. They
could have gone to their third stringers backups by the
third quarter. Baltimore is a in a salary cap era.
That's about as good as a roster can be. They
got deep threats, they got tight ends, they got a
start quarterback, they gotta go to old line. They got
star corners, they got a star pass rusher in a
salary cap league. They got everything. They got everything. But
(36:05):
the second thing, you can keep changing head coaches. Baker
Mayfield's the same guy. Number one. He continues to think
he's way more athletic than he is, tries to run
around he's not number two. He still has no relationship
with o b J. A thirteen targets, ten targets, three catches,
It doesn't click. Baker still wildly inconsistent. His accuracy, which
(36:32):
was a strength in Oklahoma, is all over the map.
He sails the ball way too much. This football team
in Cleveland, you can keep changing the coaches. You got
a limited quarterback, mistake prone, not as accurate as he
should be, not as athletic as he thinks he is.
And they ran the ball very effectively yesterday with Nick
Chubb and Kareem Hunt. They had like a one hundred
(36:53):
and twenty three yards. That's what they are. That is
what they are, and I think buff Flows figured it out.
They like Josh Allen, but they're not led by Josh Allen.
You know most teams with young quarterback. Now now Arizona
is different. They just Tyler go save us. But when
I watched Cleveland, you can keep changing everything, but they
(37:13):
were a mess early, they were a mess late. Ob
J and Baker have no relationship and Baker's got to
get out of this feeling that he's some like athletic guy.
Hyper athletic can move around. Dude, you're you're a guy
that throws well on third and two. Picket stick, get
it done, get it out, get the ball away faster,
don't hold on to it. That's not your game plan.
But I still think Cleveland can go nine and seven.
(37:35):
I'm not bailing because I think Baltimore would have blown
out everybody but Kansas City maybe yesterday, or a Seattle.
They would have rolled everybody yesterday. But you can keep
changing coaches. I see the same Baker. I saw more
potential with Joe Burrow in his first game. He's bigger
than Baker, he throws a better ball than Baker. He's
more athletic than Baker. He feels more poised, he feels
(37:57):
more consistent, more calm. I just look at Cleveland and
I'm like, you know, Baker afterwards on the on the Ravens,
here's what he said. Times a wake up call is
pretty good for everybody. Um, you know, a nice, nice
punch in the mouth, and that's how we should take it.
We should you know, not doell on it. Realize that
(38:17):
we just got beat today. They played better than us.
Look at it and get better, move on and go
play the Bengals. That's all we can do. I don't
think it's a punch in the mouth moment. I think
it's to realize what you are and play to your
strains moment. And by the way, I know what you're
gonna say, what about Sam Darnold. He doesn't have these weapons,
He doesn't have anything close to this. The Jets have
a completely rebuilt offensive line, four new starters, and they're
(38:39):
not high end guys. Ones are rookie and the other
guys are kind of like bounce around the league guys.
There's are not superstar offensive lineman. So you know, I
didn't think it was a punch in the mouth moment.
I thought it was a moment of clarity, which is,
if Baker is going to be thrown at thirty five
times in these games, this is what's gonna look like.
This is what it was gonna lay running around more
than he should, inaccurate more than he's and let's stop
(39:00):
pretending ob j and Baker work. It doesn't work. They've
had a billion practices, they've had a bunch of games.
It doesn't work. This is why I think I think
ob J. I think Baker feels like he's got to
get him the football, and I think it distracts him.
I think it gets him out of his kind of rhythm. O.
B J is a great trade piece. I'd be happy
if he went there. They Cleveland doesn't need another great receiver.
(39:24):
What Cleveland needs to do is just pound the rock.
Throw it on third and two, second and four. That's
what they need because they ran the ball against the
Raven jesterday, Colin right, Colin wrong, Hour two and The
Monday Next Live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It is a Monday.
(00:25):
Football is back in America. How much fun was that?
Live in Los Angeles? This is the Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening Fox Sports
Radio and right here on FS one. I sat on
a couch yesterday and watched ten hours of football, ordered
to go food twice. Pet, my dogs had a beer.
(00:49):
Had the time of my life. I'm sure you did
something similar without the dogs. Guy may tacos and had
a chardonnay instead of that. But yeah, it was many,
many hours without, so I'm a creature to have it
to begin with the normalcy I felt yesterday. I was
so deliriously happy, you know, I tweeted, It's a blessing,
(01:12):
and I know that that kind of sounds dramatic, but
it was incredible. I still can't get over it. I
literally like we're having a football Monday. It's amazing. I
didn't think about COVID once yesterday. Now, of course I
didn't leave the house. That helps, right, you know. Let
me start with this. The stadium looks great in Los Angeles.
That's good for the league, good imagery. But expectations will
(01:37):
overwhelmingly in your life and my life, control our happiness.
What are expectations. I look at the Dallas Cowboys and
I think they have a pretty good head coach. He's
not bad. I think they have a pretty good quarterback.
And I thought last night that had a pretty good performance.
Those were my expectations. I think Sean McVay, this is
(01:57):
why I picked the Rams, is a much better head coach.
They were at home, and frankly, I think they have
a slightly better overall roster, not as many holes as
Dallas in the back end, and that was the result. Folks,
there is something wrong with this offense. And now you're
delusional if you can't admit it, because I've seen it
over and over and over again. Dallas has a top
(02:20):
three offensive line, maybe top five, a top two running back,
maybe top three. They may have the best receiving corps
in the league, let's say top three, and they had
three points in the second half on the road with
no crowd against a very so so Rams defense. Aaron
Donald's great, Jalen Ramsey's talented, that's not a great defense.
(02:41):
LA's talents on the offensive side. And y'all love Dak,
but at some point now this is the people that
are angry about this. If you're a Cowboy fan, this
is about managing your expectations. Your expectations are out of whack.
Once again, Dak a little uncomfortable on the road above
average ball team. Here are his second half numbers with Zeke,
(03:02):
with a receiving corps, with that offensive line, with an
offensive coach, his passer rating is fifty seven. Okay, so
the Dallas team I saw this is what I thought
I would see. Said on Friday close game, I'll take
the Rams. Sean mcvayh told you everything he thought about
Dak in the Cowboys offense. Five minutes left, Rams had
(03:24):
outplayed the Cowboys, led by only three and got the
ball five plays, all runs. In fact, one time Jared
Goff had an open receiver, he made him go and slide.
He told Jared Goff, run, run, run, eat the clock,
fourth and one at the fifty rams punt at home,
moving the ball punt they punted to Dak with two
(03:46):
twenty eight left and a timeout, and Zeke and that
receiving corps and that offensive line at home. They'd outplayed Dallas.
They basically gave Dallas a chance to win the game,
and Dallas and in ten plays move fifyards. So at
this point, if you're struggling with expectations, it's on you.
This team looks a lot like what we think. Alden
(04:08):
Smith played pretty well. Dak made a couple of good throws.
Now you don't like the past interference call late, I
get it, But those things even out. Earlier in the game.
Jared Goff got picked off and hit in the face.
That's the illegal and they allow the interception. Those things
work out over time. Okay, the Saints don't think that.
They think the world's against him. Off. In the NFL,
you get a good call, you get a bad call.
(04:28):
Over the course of a season, you get about six
good calls go your way, six bad calls go against you. Whatever.
But in the last fourteen games, Dallas is five and nine.
That's the reality Dallas and dak twenty two tds, nine
interceptions in those fourteen games. That's in a division that
maybe the worst in football. That's the reality. I mean,
(04:51):
yesterday we all saw special. We saw it on Thursday
with Mahomes, Russell Wilson, ridiculous, Lamar Jackson. Hello, Aaron Rodgers.
Oh old Aaron Rodgers. We saw special all day. He's
between both those teams. They're not a lot of special.
Rams are better, but there's not a lot of special here.
So at some point, I just think we have to
(05:12):
be honest with expectations. With Dallas, they have a pretty
good head coach. You don't think he's as good as
Kyle Shanahanner Belichick, Randy Reader, Champagne, that pretty good quarterback,
but you don't think he's Russell Lamaron Rodgers. And it
was a pretty good opening performance. Anything beyond that is
on Cowboy fans. It's not on the team. They are
(05:32):
exactly what they should be, all right. So let's talk
about Tom Brady. So I have a theory in life,
and we all potentially can get caught up in our
emotions in the moment. It's very we all do it.
You do it I do it. You know, you get
caught up in the moment and you're all the world's
ending and you're overly dramatic. But I have a theory
called to say it out loud. Theory. I got six kids,
(05:53):
nunner in jail. I'm a good enough parent. If they're
successful or failures in life, it'll beyond that. I kept
him out of jail, I kept him alive, I fed him.
They're healthy. It's good enough now. Day to day, I
may go crazy, they may drive me nuts, they'll yell
at me. I'll yell at them. But if you're a
parent with a bunch of kids nun are in jail,
they're all still going to school. They're good kids. They're kind,
they're empathetic, semi curious. You did a good job. Don't
(06:16):
out think the room. You're gonna have bad days in
great days, So just say this out loud. A forty
three year old quarterback with a brand new coach and
a brand new system and brand new teammates with a
socio offensive line and his best receiver miss most of
practice this week, went on the road and lost to
(06:36):
the NFC favorites. Okay, there's a reason Tom Brady was
an underdog for the first time in what like five years.
When the schedule came out and you saw this game,
didn't you think New Orleans was gonna win. In fact,
you thought they were gonna win by more. But because
of COVID, there's no fans in the stands. This was
(06:57):
a forty three year old quarterback with a new coach
for the first time in his career, and a new
system and a new offensive line with no preseason and
no OTAs and Mike Mike Evans was hurt during camp
and didn't practice this week. When when Brady made mistakes
yesterday and he was better than everybody's saying, you had
a couple of deep balls pass interference that would have
been completed. So if not for that, Brady did played terribly.
(07:21):
The Saints are maybe the best roster in the NFC.
I don't think they're Baltimore. I don't think they're Kansas City.
This is the Saints. When you got your schedule, this
was an L. You put a big L there. Even
people in Tampa that were realistic or like, this is
a bad opening. I think when the schedule came out,
we said that we're like Brady didn't get any breaks
on the opener. This is what it looks like. Mike
(07:41):
Evans and Tom Brady had a communication air. Yes, of course,
you didn't have four preseason games to work any of
this stuff out. I mean what I saw yesterday, the
good teams look still good. The bad teams are still bad.
The good teams miss preseason, but they had momentum from
last year. Didn't get anybody hurting preseason, and the teams
didn't have time to sand paper the rough edges off
(08:02):
and they were still mostly Cleveland and Sintodati. That's what
the league looked like. All Tampa's been doing for weeks
and months as new player, new guy, new tackle, new
draft pick, new tight end. Tom Brady said afterwards, it's mistakes.
Mistakes a new coach, a new team, a new system.
Clearly are gonna have to get through anytime you turn
(08:25):
the ball over like we did. You know, we had
opportunities out there to make plays and it just came
up short. So there's no excuses, and we're the only
ones I could do something about it. The Saints kind
of play how they always play. You know, they did
a good job on offense. You know we hung our
defense out to dry, you know on some short fields
(08:45):
with not moving the ball, not you know, doing very
well on third down at certain times. Not the turnovers
really hurt us. And uh, you know, got to clean
that up for next week. We gotta do a lot
better job. I'm gonna make a prediction they're gonna look
much better again it's Carolina's defense next week. They're gonna
look much better in October, and when they play the
(09:06):
Saints in Week nine in Tampa, they'll probably look better then. Now,
I do believe one of the things I really kept
preaching over and over again New England. You saw it yesterday. Efficient,
no mistakes, no penalties. Tampa's different. What Brady is going
to have to get used to is he's got more weapons,
(09:29):
but Tampa as a franchise has got more baggage. Special
teams in Tampa have been bad forever. Yesterday they got
a pump blocked that never happens in New England. Yesterday
Tampa had nine penalties that doesn't happen a lot in
New England. That's what Tom's gonna have to get used to.
(09:49):
This is a different scenario. The most rigid, perfected, well
oiled machine in the NFL is New England. Tampa's often
just well oiled, not much machine stuff. They're just a
little sloppy and a little loose and a little weird
and a punt blocked and nine penalties. And this is
what Tampa is. That's to me, the struggle with Tom.
(10:10):
And when you go you know that, remember that old
I don't even know if it's still in the air.
It was like called the family swap or wife swap
or something. When you go from like a family that
puts their money away and they sit together as a
family and read at night and they're very efficient and
very quiet, and they go to bed early and they
(10:30):
eat their vegetables. And then you go to another family.
It's live pot Ta Tuesday night, What PoTA Wednesday night? What?
Tampa's a little loose. They can't get special teams right,
they're a little wild cocktails earlier, not very buttoned up.
They weren't yesterday. That is Tom's issue, not losing to
(10:51):
the Saints. That's a great team that has a chance
to win a Super Bowl. You were there. They brought
all their pieces back. Say it out loud, what happened
should have happened? Coming up next I watched almost every
snap of Joe Burrow, and I've got my opening thoughts
on Joe Burrow forty five minutes from now. Top of
next hour. Colin was right, Colin was wrong. Jimmy Johnson
(11:14):
on the Show today, Trent Dilfer on the Show today,
Mike Vick this hour on the Show today as well.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Geico get fifteen percent
off motorcycle Insurance RV policies fifteen percent credit on your
(11:35):
car insurance as well. October seventh, though as the day
I got a change to get those advantages. Fifteen percent
off Geico dot com. To learn more. Top of next Hour,
Colin Wright, Colin wrong, Michael Vick in less than ten minutes. So.
I watched Joe Burrow yesterday and I said, going into
the season, I thought he was a B plus prospect.
I thought he was Tony Romo. I think it's about
(11:55):
once every other year. I think we have an a prospect.
Next year's weird. I think we have two or three prospects.
But I thought Burrell was a good player. I think
the comparisons that Brady and Manning are stupid. It's too
much pressure on the kid. I mean, he had one
really good year of college. But I gotta tell you yesterday,
when you consider the circumstances, I thought he was really good.
I thought he was really good. No, ta's no preseason.
(12:16):
The Chargers have the best corners in the league. The
Chargers have two of the best pass rushers, Bosa and Ingram.
You're talking about a young kid, young head coach, below
average offensive line. You got to grade this kid on
the curve. You gotta consider circumstances. My first forty five
second reaction, just what did my eyes say? He's a
(12:40):
little bigger than I thought he would look in the NFL.
He's clearly jacked up his arms and shoulders. He looks
like a Lamar Jackson. You see him and you're like, oh,
he looks a little bigger than I thought. Joe Burrow
put on some upper body weight. He's a little quicker
and more elusive than I thought he would be. He's
clearly trained for this and put a lot of hours in.
I thought he looked really good. He gave himself a
D which I love because he's humble. I thought it
(13:02):
was a B to a B plus performance. That's what
a franchise quarterback looks like. That's what they look like.
It's and I'll tell you something that last drive. These
are against great wide receiver, great corners, great edge rushers.
He'd been hammered on the day. He threw for almost
two hundred yards, he rushed for forty six in a touchdown.
(13:22):
He'd gotten his lunch handed to him. He had a bad, bad,
late fourth quarter turnover. All that could get into his head. Nothing.
They gave him the ball in the last drive. He
marched right down. He was cool, he was calm, he
was poised. His feet were good. He wasn't locked in
on one receiver. Tyrod Taylor, the veteran to me yesterday,
(13:44):
was too often locked in on one receiver. Burrow, the
kid was not. I could sit here today and bang
on him. He had a sixty six quarterback rating and
a terrible late game turnover. I thought he was really good.
I thought he was really good. He's much He's a
much prospect than Baker Mayfield. I believe after watching him yesterday,
He's not as erratic. Although mistake Prono little yesterday. He's
(14:07):
got more ups Maybe I don't know the upside. He
looks better than Darnald, who's still making dumb mistakes. Baker
still feels like the same guy with a fourth coach.
If that's the opening act for Joe Burrow, that is
a good opening act. He never looked nervous. And remember
he won't face the rest of the year corners. That
good that those corners for the Chargers. They got three
(14:29):
guys that can play, three guys that have made a
Pro Bowl. I think two or three you're still in
their prime, So tip of the cap. I thought he
was good. And by the way, I said this before
when I compared him to Tony Romo, Tony Romo is
a minus B plus quarterback. Tony Romo's good player. Y'all
dogged him for year. I swear to guy. When I
(14:50):
was at the other company, all I did was defend
Tony Romo Tony Row. He looked like a Tony Romo.
He can move. He's prone to an occasional big mistake,
but he's kind of a gun slinger. He's athletic, he
moves well. He's got a nice arm, not a great arm.
He got a nice arm. He looks like an athlete.
I mean he reminds me a Romo, and that's a
really good comp Romo. If you go look at Tony
(15:11):
Romo's final stats in his career, he's a strong B
plus or a week game on his quarterback. Cincinnati hadn't
had that in a long time. This is a way
better prospect than Baker, a way better prospect than Andy
Dalton this morning. I think he's a better prospect than
Sam Darnold, who I like, and better than Josh Allen.
He's good. He's a good player. You got a player
in Cincinnati. Joy with the news. No, no turn on
(15:32):
the news. This is the herd line news. I mean
the final drive, he got them down there and put
them in field goal position. If the kicker didn't, he
got bingled. Whatever that was he got bingled. I mean
he had them in a position to send them in
the overtime. We're working you out again against the team
that strength is their defensive front and corners. It was
like he wasn't he wasn't moving up and down the
field on a weak defense. I thought it was impressive.
(15:53):
I'm not gonna Sam surprised because I did think that
Joe Barrow was going to be good, but I thought
it was a great yeah, great first game for him
considering the circumstances. So someone else I was very impressed
with yesterday, Dwayne Haskins. Washington didn't get off to a
great start. They fell down seventeen in the first half
of the Eagles, but at halftime, Coachron Rivera was getting
(16:14):
an IV and Dwayne Haskins took the opportunity to step
up and be a leader. He gave a speech that
his teammate Fabian Morrow said, got everyone riled up and
put the team on his back and definitely worked. Washington
kept Philly scoreless in the second half and rallied to
win twenty seven seventeen in kind of a shocker. Now,
(16:34):
Jason McIntire did come on the show Friday and predict this,
and I was like, Oh, I don't know about that,
but that was really impressed about Washington. Yes, you know
what this is a now Here's the thing has always
been true with Haskins. Great size and when he can
stay in the pocket, got a big, strong frame and
a big arm. When when I saw him Ohio State,
my knock was when he moves. He gets really erratic.
(16:55):
He's not he's not super athletic with his feet, but
he's a big, tall kid with a big arm, and
if you him in a pocket, I'll tell it. He
made some nice throws in this game. This is not
you can say what you want, but Philadelphia is a
real team with a button and they have some good
players in the back end. I thought it was impressive
by him. Well, he was impressive to me. But that defense,
(17:16):
oh god, segments eight times. Now, Look, I don't I
don't want to give too much credit to the Washington
defense because the offensive line was a bit of a disaster. Yesterday.
This was a big Washington and it was a big
day for Ron River. Remember the last four months for Washington,
nothing is gone right. It has been utter chaos for
this franchise. And yesterday it was chaos in the first
(17:39):
half and something mapping at halftime and Washington came out.
For the last four months, it's been noise and calamity
and owner issues, and well, that's why I love that
it was Haskins that happened at halftime. I had a
lot of questions about Haskins coming into this year. Really
wasn't sure if he was going to take the next step,
and I don't want to overreact to week one and
be that person, but you gotta love what you saw
from him yet today seventeen to thirty, one hundred and
(18:01):
seventy eight yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and he was
voted the team captain this season. So he's definitely stepping
into that role. Now, how he's going to develop, we'll see,
but he's got the defense there, so as long as
he can continue taking steps forward. I thought that was
a nice win for them yesterday. Ozza. I am going
to overreact to the Packers though, because that was unbelievable. Yeah,
(18:23):
he looked as good as ever. Aaron Rodgers in the
season opener against the Vikings three hundred and sixty four
yards for touchdowns, a forty three thirty four win, and
him and Davante Adams were on fire, franchise record tying
fourteen catches for one hundred and fifty six yards and
two touchdowns. I do think that Minnesota is better than
they looked yesterday, but that was really impressed about it.
(18:45):
By the way. Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer does not
want Kirk Cousins to throw the ball. Well, yeah, I
mean that stat line for Kirk Cousins is what three
of five? Like they that's an organization and your coach
will tell you what he thinks of your quarterback by attempts.
I mean Mike Zimmer has no interest Kirk Cousins throwing
(19:07):
the football like none. I mean, can you argue that
looking at that performance yesterday and what they asked from him? Yeah,
the book is out on Kirk Cousins. Let's stop. It's
that guy always said this about Andy Dalton, franchise guy capable.
Stop trying to convince me what my eyes are not seeing.
Kirk's fine, really low ceiling. That's that's We can stop
arguing that their team looks different than last year. Obviously,
(19:29):
and again, I don't want to overreact a week one.
I do think Minnesota is still a good team. They
lost a defensive end and they had not pass rush
or her Minnesota is better than this. Yes, green Bay
is probably not quite this good. Minnesota's not this It
will level out throughout the season, but it's still a
great opener for green Bay considering finally, Clippers cannot seem
to close out the Nuggets. There were so much Sports
(19:49):
on yesterday. I didn't watch any of this, Okay, I
caught the fourth quarter. Yeah, but it was on during
the early games, like it's it's tough. But after being
up three one in the series, they're headed to a
game seven with Denver to earn a spot in the
Western Conference Finals. In Game six, the Clippers at a
nineteen point lead at the start of the third, but
Denver outscored them sixty four to thirty five in the
second half to get the one eleven ninety eight win.
(20:12):
The Nuggets are trying to become the first team in
NBA history to rally from a pair of three one
deficits in the same postseason, after obviously doing it with
Utah in the first round. All Right, nobody thinks the
Clippers are the Warriors of the k D and Staff.
Nobody thinks they're MJ's Bulls. Nobody thinks they're the Spurs
dynasty of the Heatles. Can people stop going coll and
what about the Clippers? They're going to a game seven.
(20:34):
Nobody thinks this is a great team. We think it's
occasionally great, but mostly pretty good, wildly inconsistent, developing chemistry.
It is okay to go to a game seven, which
the Clippers will win. It'll be feisty Denver. For the record,
we knew going into this season they're one of the
most talented teams. This is not like they're This is
not a Portland team that's hobbled. It's a healthy Denver
(20:56):
team that's really good, folks. This is not MJ's bull.
You get seven game series in six game series when
you're a pretty good team against a pretty good opponent.
I really don't love that they're up three one, like
close a team out. That part is it is not
confencing to me, Like for what I expected the Clippers
(21:17):
this year, this should not have happens. They're O and
seven and games when they could clinch a trip to
the conference finals. But it's okay to have full series
like this. This is what we want. We want the
most amount of basketball like it's supposed to be game
seven series. We got spoiled with the Warriors sweeping through
because we get spoiled with Lebron sweeping or gentlemen sweeping
(21:39):
teams through all the way to the fays. Mostly, look,
they're supposed to look like that pretty even and we
came into this season with two good stars everywhere. Nobody
had three great stars. So we said it was going
to be a year of probably much more balanced and
it is. Yes, and the Celtics and the Raptors went
to a Game seven. Again. I don't love it from
the Clippers. I do think the Clippers should have closed
them out. But I'm happy with the game seven. And
(22:01):
what's better than a game seven? In sports? Should be
happy about this. We're gonna have two game sevens in
both conferences. Why because we don't have a great team.
If we had a great team, we'd had any five
anybody wanted. All I can hear about for the past
ten years, this runs twig threes. We don't have one.
This is what you get, exactly joy with the news.
(22:24):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping the herdline news.
It is um top of the next hour, thirty minutes away.
Colin right, Colin wrong. Uh, there's so many things. I
have all these notes today and Mondays are tough because
most of my shows I got three hours to talk
and we're looking to fill stuff. Mondays I have to
pair stuff off because I have so many things to
(22:45):
talk about. Um, you just just remember this as everybody
freaks out Jacksonville one yesterday and the forty nine ers lost. Okay,
don't freak out. I thought the one game yesterday that
looked like I thought it would exactly would look like.
I think the Rams are slightly better than the Cowboys,
(23:08):
and I thought the Rams look slightly better in key
spots than Dallas. And I thought Dallas looked pretty good
but slightly inefficient in the big spots. That game looked like.
That's what I think those teams are. But I don't
think Baltimore is gonna steamroll everybody like that. I don't
think Cleveland's gonna be that bad. I don't think the
Jags are gonna win a lot of times. I think
Philip Rivers will make mistakes, but I think the Colts
(23:29):
will be better. If you looked around the NFL yesterday,
there are nine games counting tonight New York Giants. There's
nine games where you have either like a new coach
or a new quarterback. And I said eight of the
nine would lose. So Washington won, and that was like, wow,
that kind of that that kind of shocked me. But
(23:51):
let's be honest about this. Most of those teams lost yesterday,
and I think the Giants will lose to Pittsburgh. So
most of these teams are losing. Michael VICKI is now
joining us. Thirteen years in the NFL, a third of them.
He was a pro bowler. Brought to you by Mercedes
Ben's the Best or Nothing. Michael vick is now joining
me on the phone. So when you watched Dallas last night,
here's my biggest problem, Michael. They've got a running back,
(24:12):
an old line, they've got weapons, and I get a
field goal in the second half. What is missing with
the Dallas Cowboys offense? Uh well, let me retract for
a second. Not only did they get a field going
second half, they got a field goal after a big
turnover by a Woozier, And I think that was the
big turning point in the game. That was the opportunity
(24:33):
to take advantage. But not being able to finish drives
and not being affishent in the red zone. They wasn't
good on third downs. You know, the offense kind of
looked it wasn't too much of a difference from what
we've seen with Jason Garrett last year. And you know,
I was looking for, you know, some different nuances and
I wanted to see, you know, different concepts and you know,
some sort of offensive explosion. But you know, it was
(24:56):
it was kind of you know, I won't say it
was basic, but it was like what we're accustomed to. Stand.
You know, they gotta put it all together. They gotta
find a way to um just you know, put drives together,
finished drives and not stall out. Because against good things
like the Los Angeles Rams, you gotta score points. Three
is not gonna do it, especially if you gotta earn
(25:17):
Donald and you got data rams on the edge. You know,
superstar guys that you gotta beat throughout the course of
the game, and you get those moments, you got to
take advantage of it. Yeah, the Dallas needs to be
more versatile and more multiple, and it was a fairly
simplistic offensive game plan. And I agree with you, they've
got they've got to kind of be more dynamic. There's
(25:39):
just too many great offenses right now in the NFL. So,
Tom Tom Tom Brady's debut, what did you make of it?
I thought it was fair. Obviously, the two turnovers was
crucial points in the game, where the one that Genor
Jenkins just it was deflating. I think that um that
(25:59):
was a swing that Tom just couldn't stick back from Um.
But you know, ultimately it's it's a team game. You know,
it's collective efforts. So you know, we need more out
of Grump, we need more out of out of Mike Evans,
we need Leonifournette to turn up and do his thing. UM,
But I put my trust in Bruce Areas. I know
he's a he's a great study of the game, he's
(26:19):
a problem solver, and him and Tom Brady had worked
throughout the week to make you know, next week right,
So I'm not going to panic on him right now,
but next the next game is very crucial. So go
back to your first start in the NFL. I say
you got a grade. Sometimes in life, you got a
great people on a curve. What are they dealing with,
where are they from? How much support do they have?
(26:42):
I thought Joe Burrow looked pretty strong, Michael, I thought
he looked pretty strong. Your thoughts. I've been impressed with
Joe Brown since he left LSU. UM. You know, I
loved everything he did in college and I wanted to
see how that would relate to the pros. And you know,
yesterday was you know, I think the Cincinnati Bengals fans
have to be excited about what they saying and Joe
(27:04):
because now that's one of the tougher defenses that he's
gonna face all season, especially with Joey Bosa lining up
on the edge. So, um, he was able to you know,
not you know, sustained drives and you know, put it
all together. It is a rookie debut. But you know,
he made some plays at the end of that game
and they should have won that game. But he showed toughness,
(27:27):
he showed poise, He was calm, cool and collective, and
he he put his team in a position to win.
And as a coach, that's all you want. You want
a quarterback who you know understand the game plan, knows
what he's doing. It can go out of executed and
Joe did that on all levels yesterday. So you know,
we can't overreact tom week one. I mean, you well
(27:48):
know this. Sometimes you come in with a bunch of injuries,
sometimes you got new coordinators. You can't overreact to stuff. Um,
listen to Miami Dolphins are a rebuilding team and Ryan
Fitzpatrick struggled. But there are listen, there are some positives.
I mean New England. They ran the ball more. I
mean they just looked like a completely different offense. Uh yeah,
(28:08):
what did Jamaica Cam's debut? I like what Cam did yesterday,
and I knew it was coming. I knew there was
gonna be brunt oriented. Um, you know, he only threw
the ball eighteen times, completed fifteen passes. Uh, that goes
and sorted. It was an expensive passing game. The game
is gonna be won, you know by Cam and the
running backs and everybody else had had to do their
(28:29):
job and just compliment. Um, you know what they were
doing in a run game. And that's Bill Belitex's style
of play. Like if I think if he could play
that type of game consistently throughout the course of the season,
he'll do it. If he can get away with taking
advantage of teams in the run game, he's gonna do it.
And now he got a second running back in the
backstill within Cam, you know, who can take off and
(28:52):
the expo explosive himself. So you know, I expect the
game playing to broaden from here. You know, I know
the competition is gonna get stiffer. So the game plan
got it changed, you know it was the Miami Dolphins.
Three turnovers by Fitzpatrick. He's not gonna happen every week,
so they need to look at this game upcom this
upcoming week versus Russell Wilson is you know, it's gonna
(29:13):
be a bomb burn, it's gonna be a shootout. They
have to take advantage of everything that comes their way.
So it'd be really interesting to see how CAIM reacts
this week then, and how different game plan is last week.
You you've told me your favorite coach of all time
was Andy Reid and m I want to go back
to Thursday Night with Patrick Mahomes. He was really wickedly
(29:36):
efficient and just your thoughts. We knew he was a
gun slinger, but he went really surgical on Thursday Night,
And what was your interpretation of what you saw? Oh man?
Just a guy in year four who who gets it,
who understands the game even more than he did it.
You know, year two and three, Year two won the
MVP and year three wins a super Bowl. Year four
(29:58):
he comes out and looks even better than his debut,
and uh, you know, I just gotta give perhaps to
Andy Man in terms of, uh, you know, finding another
good running back um called Edwards Hilary who stepped in
and he almost looked like a Brian Westbrook. And you
know that's just the catalyst success. You know in International
Football League, when you put a good back, you know,
(30:20):
in the backfield, you can neutralize the defense. And m Patrick,
you know, he exemplified that in every way. You know,
the run game was going in and he just did
his thing in the passing game stowing dots. His precision
is amazing and in his vision, you know, the way
he sees to feel you. I mean, he can make
every dope, but you got to see it before you
throw it. There. He see it before it even happened.
(30:42):
And Andy loves guys with great vision. I'd tell you that.
You know, we had that conversation. Patrick vision is just
on another level. And his anticipation. Yeah, Michael Vick's great
talking to you. By the way, I'm from the Pacific Northwest.
You played in Atlanta. I thought Russell Wilson yesterday, Michael,
I mean, I mean, honest to god, Michael, I just
(31:03):
I don't even know that was flawless. Russell like fine one.
He getting better with time. You know, he's one of
the guys. He's gonna age really well in the National
Football League and he'll playing Pilis forties. He got the
body side, he got the smart man. You know, good
things for Seattle. They can continue to build around Russell. Yeah,
good stuff, all right, Mike, good talking to you. Michael
Vick is joining us. We appreciate that, Michael. He's going
(31:25):
to be hanging out in LA for a few months,
so we'll see more of Michael Vick. Thanks, Bud, appreciate it.
Coming up next. You know, we saw a bunch of
stuff yesterday, and so the question becomes like, um, what
is real and what is not gonna last? Because there's
a lot of stuff I saw yesterday it's not gonna last.
And then there's two or three things I saw and
(31:45):
I'm like, oh, that's that's surprising, or that's gonna stick.
That's a seventeen week platform player performance. And three or
four things jumped out to me and it's really shocking,
and I I don't even think it's arguable at this
point what we're seeing, and it's wildly dynamic, and I
want to touch on that. Coming up next, be sure
(32:07):
to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Nun
Easter ninety Impacific by Raycon dot com slash heard fifty
percent off. They got their new everyday e twenty five
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dot com slash herd. That gets you fifteen percent off.
I don't overreact on Mondays Top of Next Hour, Collin Right,
(32:29):
Colin Roun, don't overreact. But I take what I saw
last year, and I take what I've seen the last year,
and then I take what I saw yesterday, and a
lot of stuff's not gonna stick. Jacksonville one, San Francisco loss.
Don't overreact to stuff, but I gotta tell you, you know,
everybody always talks about their top ten quarterback list top twelve.
(32:50):
I think three guys are separating from the league. I
think Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson are separating
from the league. And I think the fourth best quarterback
depends on the Sunday. Yesterday it was Aaron Rodgers. Sometimes
it's Carson Wentz. I like a lot of quarterbacks in
this league. I don't think there's ever been a time
I liked more quarterbacks, but I'm telling you the guys now,
(33:12):
Lamar Mahomes and Russell Wilson are frightening. Like they can move,
they can run, they can throw their playmakers. I like
Jared Goff, but Sean McVay protects him. I like Jimmy Garoppolo,
but the coach protects him. I like Carson Wentz, but
his highs are highs and his lows are lows. I
like the Shaun Watson, but again, Hiser highs lows can
(33:34):
be really low and he doesn't feel like this group.
I mean, I'm watching Russell Wilson yesterday. That is one
of the greatest performances. I mean, he was flawless and
they got bad offensive line play on the road against
the Pro Bowl quarterback Lamar Jackson. I just kind of
feel like I don't have a top five quarterback list.
(33:54):
I've got a top three and they're separating again. Brady
and Breeze are good when everything is going right. Wentz
into Shawn and Rogers can be spectacular, but Aaron leaves
way too much on the field. He didn't yesterday. Deshaun
doesn't throw a beautiful ball and he has, like Wentz,
(34:14):
some really bad moments. These guys are sick. They're just unbelievable.
You get all the ceiling, very very rarely get the lows.
I mean, they're they're they're playmakers, so you're gonna make
mistakes because you're just maybe yesterday, Lamar took a shot
in the sideline and I'm like, oh, dude, get out
of bounds. But I um a lot of what I
(34:36):
see yesterday doesn't stick. I got a top three quarterback list,
and then four is about six guys, depending on who
they play. Aaron yesterday with spectacular. I don't think he's
gonna look like the rest of the year like that.
But I wouldn't be prized if Lamar has twelve more
Sundays like that, or Mahomes has twelve more Sundays or
Russell's got twelve more Sundays like that. I don't think
Aaron wentz or to Shawn will they feel like they've separated.
(34:58):
I mean, just just say, just are you can't take
your eyes off them. Here's the other thing. So I
picked Baltimore to win the Super Bowl and they look great,
blah blah blah. So you know again they were gonna
win that game. It was the only game this way.
I wouldn't even touch the Jacks Colts game, the only
game I predicted a blowout. I said, come on, you
gotta give me a break on this. Cleveland's got a
new coach. Cleveland's not as good Baltimore. Cleveland beat Baltimore
(35:21):
last year, so Baltimore is not going to overlook Cleveland.
It was a blow out, it wasn't close. Two things
I take away from that game. Number One, Baltimore is fantastic.
They would have blown out a lot of teams in
the NFL yesterday. So let's not bury Cleveland. Okay, the
Baltimore is packed there, you dynamic, physical. They didn't even
(35:42):
run the football particularly well yesterday. They're still dropping. They
could have gone to their third stringers backups by the
third quarter. Baltimore is a in a salary cap era.
That's about as good as a roster can be. They
got deep threats, they got tight ends, they got a
start quarterback, they gotta go to old line. They got
star corners, they got a star pass rusher in a
salary cap league. They got everything. They got everything. But
(36:05):
the second thing, you can keep changing head coaches. Baker
Mayfield's the same guy. Number one. He continues to think
he's way more athletic than he is, tries to run
around he's not number two. He still has no relationship
with o b J. A thirteen targets, ten targets, three catches,
It doesn't click. Baker still wildly inconsistent. His accuracy, which
(36:32):
was a strength in Oklahoma, is all over the map.
He sails the ball way too much. This football team
in Cleveland, you can keep changing the coaches. You got
a limited quarterback, mistake prone, not as accurate as he
should be, not as athletic as he thinks he is.
And they ran the ball very effectively yesterday with Nick
Chubb and Kareem Hunt. They had like a one hundred
(36:53):
and twenty three yards. That's what they are. That is
what they are, and I think buff Flows figured it out.
They like Josh Allen, but they're not led by Josh Allen.
You know most teams with young quarterback. Now now Arizona
is different. They just Tyler go save us. But when
I watched Cleveland, you can keep changing everything, but they
(37:13):
were a mess early, they were a mess late. Ob
J and Baker have no relationship and Baker's got to
get out of this feeling that he's some like athletic guy.
Hyper athletic can move around. Dude, you're you're a guy
that throws well on third and two. Picket stick, get
it done, get it out, get the ball away faster,
don't hold on to it. That's not your game plan.
But I still think Cleveland can go nine and seven.
(37:35):
I'm not bailing because I think Baltimore would have blown
out everybody but Kansas City maybe yesterday, or a Seattle.
They would have rolled everybody yesterday. But you can keep
changing coaches. I see the same Baker. I saw more
potential with Joe Burrow in his first game. He's bigger
than Baker, he throws a better ball than Baker. He's
more athletic than Baker. He feels more poised, he feels
(37:57):
more consistent, more calm. I just look at Cleveland and
I'm like, you know, Baker afterwards on the on the Ravens,
here's what he said. Times a wake up call is
pretty good for everybody. Um, you know, a nice, nice
punch in the mouth, and that's how we should take it.
We should you know, not doell on it. Realize that
(38:17):
we just got beat today. They played better than us.
Look at it and get better, move on and go
play the Bengals. That's all we can do. I don't
think it's a punch in the mouth moment. I think
it's to realize what you are and play to your
strains moment. And by the way, I know what you're
gonna say, what about Sam Darnold. He doesn't have these weapons,
He doesn't have anything close to this. The Jets have
a completely rebuilt offensive line, four new starters, and they're
(38:39):
not high end guys. Ones are rookie and the other
guys are kind of like bounce around the league guys.
There's are not superstar offensive lineman. So you know, I
didn't think it was a punch in the mouth moment.
I thought it was a moment of clarity, which is,
if Baker is going to be thrown at thirty five
times in these games, this is what's gonna look like.
This is what it was gonna lay running around more
than he should, inaccurate more than he's and let's stop
(39:00):
pretending ob j and Baker work. It doesn't work. They've
had a billion practices, they've had a bunch of games.
It doesn't work. This is why I think I think
ob J. I think Baker feels like he's got to
get him the football, and I think it distracts him.
I think it gets him out of his kind of rhythm. O.
B J is a great trade piece. I'd be happy
if he went there. They Cleveland doesn't need another great receiver.
(39:24):
What Cleveland needs to do is just pound the rock.
Throw it on third and two, second and four. That's
what they need because they ran the ball against the
Raven jesterday, Colin right, Colin wrong, Hour two and The
Monday Next Live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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