September 4, 2025 • 41 mins
Colin shares his final NFL predictions with 3 new teams breaking onto the scene in 2025.
Plus, Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to tell Colin a disturbing trend he’s noticed with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh, here we go, it's hour two. It's a Thursday.
NFL season opens tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Baby, we are live. It is The Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Jmac Greg Cosel will be joining us in less than
five minutes, So Jmack, I make my final predictions on
the opening Thursday. I've got one change, a new division winner,
and I'll explain why. But over the course of the offseason,
I make a prediction after coaching hires and free agency,
then after the draft, then I get one kind of
(00:54):
in the middle of preseason, and then here this one.
Are you ready to go fire away? Okay, we start here.
There's my predictions for this year. We start in the AFC,
an easier conference to predict because the top quarterbacks are
so good in the AFC East. I'm going Josh Allen
and the Bills. Patriots' most improved team get in as
a wild card team. Maybe not good enough to win
(01:16):
a playoff game, but coach and rosters much better. Dolphins third,
I'm going with that just because of Tua and an
offensive coach. I think the Jets roster is good. I
don't know what Aaron Glenn is. They just lost their
best or second best offensive lineman. I'm staying put with
that one. AFC North again, I think it's fairly predictable.
Ravens arguably best operation in the sport with Lamar, I'll
(01:38):
go with the quarterback and Joe Burrow next, although like
J Mack, I worry about how they start in their
offensive line. Aaron and the Steelers will be around five
hundred or a game above or below, and the Browns
are in a rebuild. I love their coach in GM.
I like Joe Flacco. Miles Garrett's amazing, but they're four
AFC South. I'm just gonna go with what I know.
Demico Ryans hell of a coach, and I like c. J.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Stroud. Rebuilding the O line worries me. CJ.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Stroud's a gamer. Step back a little last year, but
it wasn't his fault. He couldn't keep wide receivers healthy.
Jaguars second, I'm like j Mack. I like him, but
I never love him. Titans third, Coles don't know what
quarterback they're going to use.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
That's scary.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Their fourth well, they do know what quarterback and it's
not a great one. AFC West, I think it's very difficult.
I think you have four really good teams. I think
the Broncos have the best roster. Kansas City Reid in
Mahomes once again, I don't know a rookie left tackle.
Joe Tooney's gone worries me. Also, wide receiving Corps no Rashi, Rice,
Travis Kelce getting old. I think the Broncos will look
(02:41):
very clearly early in the season like a Super Bowl contender.
Chargers losing Rashawn Slater the left tackle worries me greatly.
Joe alt moves over, but now they've got a right
tackle issue, and the Raiders will be the best fourth
place team in the division. So Bill's Ravens, Texans, Broncos
are the division win. Patriots Bengals Chiefs are wild card teams.
(03:03):
New England Bengals are both new playoff teams NFC. Again,
I think it's pretty Static, Eagles, Commanders, Giants, Cowboys. I
actually have said this, if the if the Giants get
B to B plus quarterback play, They're gonna shock some people.
They're gonna They're gonna go toe to toe with Washington.
But I don't know if Jackson Dart's ready, if Russell
(03:25):
Wilson falters. But I do like the Giants roster. I
love Abdul Carter and their defensive front. It's nothing but
dogs up front. I think in the NFC North again,
we I'm just gonna kind of roll with the quietest offseason.
The Green Bay Packers young still, but I like their
(03:47):
first pick, another wide receiver for Jordan Love. Lions have
two new coordinators, but I love almost everything else about
the organization. Bears, Vikings all know a lot more after
Monday Night, third and fourth, respectively. NFC South is not
a very good division. The Sainteal stink. I'm not sure
the Bucks are as good as a lot of the
(04:07):
NFL execs and better stink. But I trust Baker, I
trust the GM, I trust the roster. Atlanta is weird.
I've spent more money on the Falcons losing bets. I
don't know what Atlanta is I'll just wait till Thanksgiving.
Panthers are better than people think. I'll put them third,
Saints fourth, NFC West. Here's my big change Rams. I'm
(04:27):
going to have them winning the division again. Bottom line
is they won the division last year. Despite starting one
to four, they still won their division. No team played
more rookies last year, and their defense the last month
of the season was second best. With all those rookies,
it was second best scoring defense in the NFL last month.
It'll be better. It's had a great camp Seattle. The
(04:49):
reason I moved them from first to second. They have
the cheapest offense in the NFL. They don't have a
number one receiver, Gray Zabel is a potential impact offensive line,
but their online last year stunk, so I don't think
they have the firepower again. I think Seahawks could win
nine games. I think the Niners could win nine and
(05:10):
Seahawks win the tiebreaker. I don't think there's a big
gap in this division between the Rams, Seahawks, Niners, and Cardinals.
I don't if the Cardinals won eight and the Rams
won ten, that could be the difference. I only have
one new team making the playoffs in the NFC, it's
the Seahawks. I only have three new playoff teams. The
NFL average is closer to five, but I have argued
(05:32):
that number has been going down in recent years. Why
because it's becoming a more quarterback dependent league, and if
you've got a great quarterback or a very good one,
you are more predictably a playoff team. So it used
to be there were six new playoff teams, then five
playoff team. It's getting down to four, and I think
(05:54):
this year it's three. So as the quarterback becomes more
important and offensive coaches have a better relationship with that quarterback,
the league is getting, at least not on a week
to week basis, but on a macro level, a little
easier to predict. And with that Greg Cosel forty six
years NFL films, Right, let's start Tonight's the big one
(06:15):
Philadelphia in Dallas. Sure, Okay, Brian Schottenheimer's offense, you've seen
a lot of it in your forty six years, especially
the last fifteen years. Does it match with Dak Prescott's
skill set?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well, I think they're going to have to have some
kind of meaningful, viable, sustaining run game, you know, I
spent earlier this week watching literally all of Dak Prescott's
throws from last year before he got hurt, and I
was kind of disappointed. There's something wrong with his lower body, Colin,
you know, and this was before he got hurt. He
(06:51):
was very tight hipped, he was very heavy footed. He
threw the ball much better to his left than to
his right. He really he was lifting his feet off
the ground making a lot of throws. He did not
look very good last year. Now with Pickens there, they
have a true boundary X receiver that's single receiver to
the short side of the field, which allows c Dee Lamb,
(07:12):
who's a terrific player, to be what he's best at,
which is kind of a movement motion receiver that can
line up in multiple positions.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
But I don't know.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I think their defense has some significant questions versus this
Eagles offense, which is really really efficient. It would not
surprise me at all tonight if you saw the Eagles
come out, no huddle, tempo and throw the football, because
there's a lot of changes on that Cowboys defense, including
the decoordinator.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
So I want to ask you about Philly.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Last year, Eagles thirty six plus carries per game. After
the bye they ran more and threw less. You said
you think they'll run I think their personnel. I think
they could do anything. I mean, I like their tight ends,
I like everything does their personnel. When you watch Jalen Hurts,
they as a staff on the bye week said we're
(08:04):
going to run more throw less. You probably agree with
that decision.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I mean, I think it fits who they are and
what they are. They've got the best O line in
the league. They have basically the same offense back. The
only true change is at right guard, where Steen played
meaningful snaps last year. Anyway, so they've got the same
group back. They are a run first football team. I
think the fact that they are so good on fourth
down and they go for it on fourth down, literally
(08:33):
when they get to the fifty yard line, they go
for it if it's fourth and fourth or less, I
think that impacts what they do on third down, which
has run the ball more than any team in the
league on third down between four and eight yards. That
really impacts the way defenses have to play them. And
I think that within the context of how they play offense,
(08:54):
Jalen Hurts is highly efficient. You know they do not
turn the football over.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
It hurts.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
The running element that hurts brings both by design within
the context of their run game and as a scrambler
is you cannot overlook that that is so much a
part of their offense and who they are.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
They're very, very difficult to defend.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So I want to go to another game this weekend
and maybe the Marquee game, Baltimore and Buffalo. I think
Baltimore's got the second best roster in the league. That's
just what my eyes tell me, after Philadelphia, and we
always think of Baltimore, Well, they're run heavy, it's Derrick Henry,
it's Lamar. But I think we would both admit Lamar's
gotten better in the pocket. But do you think, especially
(09:36):
when they go on, you know, when they play Buffalo
and these big teams, they've gotten a little They've gotten
a little tight at times with Kansas City, do you
think the essence of the Ravens is like the Eagles,
they are a run team first, or do you feel
differently about because really, if you took Baltimore and Philadelphia
had a lot in common, But do you see a
(09:56):
lot of things in common? You know?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Funny, I watched a lot of Lamar this summer, and
I thought that their offense he threw the ball well.
I thought Monkin did a really good job with their
route concepts and combinations to present really clean throws for Lamar.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, they played in the divisional.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Playoffs last year, these two teams, and it was a
very odd game. As you may remember, Josh Allen threw
for less than one hundred and thirty yards. And in
that game, the Bills dominated on the ground. They controlled
the game running the football, which you would not expect
against the Ravens defense, which is very very good. And
actually what we saw a lot in that game was
(10:35):
the Bills be very aggressive with pressure against the Ravens offense.
Usually games don't work out exactly the same way when
teams meet so close together like that. But the Ravens,
I mean, they're a really good football team, you know.
You know, people get wrapped up and who makes the
Super Bowl and obviously they haven't and they haven't won
an AFC Championship game obviously, but there's it's not a
(10:57):
team with many weaknesses at all.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
You know, last year, Josh Allen only completed about sixty
three percent of his throws, which was twenty fourth in
the league. I don't it doesn't. I've always said the
lines like sixty two percent. He also adds a dynamic physically,
so I don't worry a ton about it.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And now he has James Cook.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But let me ask you, when you look at that
number for all his talent, was it mechanics, footwork or
was it just lack of dependable receiving targets.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Well, I think the one thing they were lacking last year,
which they're hoping they rectified this year with the development
of Keon Coleman and Josh Palmer now being there coming
over from the Chargers, is they really didn't have one
on one winners last year. And I think that that
impacts a quarterback obviously, because when you get man coverage,
you know. I remember having this conversation years ago with
(11:46):
Troy Aikman, and he said, when it's one on one
on the outside, your receivers have to win.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
And they did not really have that. Guy.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Shakiir is an excellent slot receiver, that's who he is.
He's very good at it, but he can't really be
your number one weapon over the course of his season.
They just didn't really have receivers on the edge who
could win one on one and that absolutely impacts your quarterback.
So I don't think that completion percentage number is really
indicative of anything truly important about.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Josh Allen's let's talk Green Bay Detroit. So I think
I certainly felt this way. I loved all their young
receivers and tight ends. But then they go in the
first round and they go after a wide receiver, a
kid from Texas I liked. So my take was, oh,
what is that telling me? They may not like their
receiving cores as much? And I maybe I overvalued all
(12:37):
their young guys Christian Watson can't stay healthy. But I
like their tight ends. I really liked their running back.
What did it tell you when they drafted a wide receiver?
Am I overvaluing all their young receiving talent?
Speaker 4 (12:51):
You know what, Colin, It could be that they had
Golden rated as a top ten player on their board,
and when he was there at whatever number they drafted,
they said, we have to stick to our board. That see,
that's the stuff we don't know. We start reading into
all this. I personally really like Matthew Golden's tape coming
out of Texas. I thought he was an ascending player
as the year progressed in college. When I did him
for the draft, I really really liked him. The other
(13:14):
player in that offense that I think really is a
player to watch this year is the tight end Craft draft.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Is a really good player. He's pretty athletic.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
I mean, we don't necessarily mention him when we talk
about the highly athletic tight ends in the league, but
he's pretty close to that. They're a pretty good offensive team.
Love Is I watched a lot of love as well
this summer. You know, I still think at times his
lower body mechanics and causes him some problems, but there's
no question this kid can play off his back foot
(13:45):
and drive the ball both in the middle of the
field and outside the numbers. I like the fact that
he's an aggressive thrower. They'll be really interesting because of
their defense as well. Now we know they have Micah Parsons.
Last year they had one of the highest stunt percentage
is with their defensive line of any team in the league.
And now that they have Micah Parsons and another year
(14:05):
with linebacker Eddrian Cooper, another player to watch. He was
a great pass rusher as a blitzer at Texas A
and M, and he sort of had to get his
feet wet last year as a rookie. This could be
a really intriguing defense as well.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Okay, so the Lions go out and replace both coordinators.
Philadelphia did that a few years ago, and by week
ten or eleven they were a mess. I am not
a huge fan of replacing a star coordinator with somebody
in the building. I think you have to make a
global search right go everywhere. They didn't. They were comfortable
in the building. When you watched Ben Johnson's wizardry last year,
(14:42):
was it more about personnel or his play calling? Because
it felt like to me, in big spots he was
really top of the class.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I find play callings to be something that's very difficult
to talk about because I always feel like you'd have
to be in the building all week to understand how
they go about putting a game plan together. To me,
when I watch that offense and Ben Johnson, to me,
what stands out is just the spacing of the route concepts,
how it really beautifully defines the reads for the quarterback.
(15:13):
Because the spacing is so good. I mean, football is
still a game because we don't think of it unlike
let's say basketball or hockey, where you can see the
whole field basically all the ice. You can't see the
entire football field. But it's still a game that's played
and can can find space and therefore spacing and balance.
You hear floor balance in basketball all the time, but
(15:34):
that's critical for the passing game, particularly against zone coverage,
and that's where I thought Ben Johnson was an absolute master.
Now I would imagine conceptually they're not going to change
very much at all. Goff understands that offense exceptionally well,
and there may be no quarterback better in football throwing
between the numbers at the intermediate level. So now it
(15:57):
comes down to how the new coordinator calls a game,
and that's impossible to know until we see it, and
even then we might not know because we're not there.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I want to ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So Kansas City and the Chargers play overseas, and we
all know how great Andy Reid is and Patrick Mahomes is,
and we know how good Joe Tooney was, and this
team averaged twenty two points the last two seasons. That's
what they averaged with Andy Reid and Mahomes, and that
leads me to believe this personnel is being elevated and
(16:29):
it's not very good. Now, I would say they have
drafted the defensive side brilliantly. They have missed like every
team in the league, they've missed on wide receivers. But
if you would have told me reading Mahomes and Travis
Kelsey Joe Toney averaged twenty two points the last two years,
I'd be like, what is wrong? My take is the
left tackle and the receiving corps. It feels like they're
(16:51):
bailing water. What does the film say about the Chiefs personnel.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Well, they were very condensed as a pass game. We
know Mahomes can make special plays at any point in
the game. He's just a special player with maybe the
best sense of spatial awareness of any quarterback we've ever seen.
But their left tackle position, which is now a rookie
Josh Simmons from Ohio State. Their left guard is Sue Mattea,
who's not really played left guard.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
He was a tackle in college.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And the Chargers last year caused some problems for them
with their defense.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
I watch both of those games.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
The first game they played a ton of zone because
they did not have Derwin James and they cause problems.
The second game, they had Derwin James and played far
more man because James can match up to Travis Kelsey.
But I would expect in this matchup they will test
the left tackle and the left guard. There'll be a
lot of stunt concepts. They'll put Khalil Mack on the
(17:45):
left tackle. I mean, this is an interesting matchup as
far as the pass rush versus this offensive line.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
All right, Drake New England I think is going to
be a wild card team. I think coaching upgrade three
hundred million in free agency, and I just think Vrabel's
better with personnel than Belichick was in his last six
or seven years. I think they've updated, upgraded virtually everything.
What did you see? Give me something about Drake may
(18:14):
that you really found promising greg on film, and then
something that he absolutely has to work on.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I would say two things that I really noticed on
film and studying in this summer was just innate toughness
in the pocket, and I don't think you can teach that.
I think the guys that are willing to stand and
deliver when there's people around them and they know they're
going to get hit, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Sure you can teach that. He's got that.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
The other thing I'm not sure that you can teach
players is just a natural willingness to throw the ball
into tight windows. They see those throws as viable throws,
and Drake may seize those throws as viable throws. The
one thing I'd love to see him get a little
better at is just I thought his ball placement was
at times a little erratic. Yeah, wouldn't call him scattershof,
(19:00):
but I thought that there were a few too many
layups that he missed that he cannot miss at this level.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Such a you know, the NFL is so funny. You
can do so many things wrong, but if you find
a good young quarterback, it erases a lot of trouble.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
You know. It's like, if Drake.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
May can play like will you and I think he can,
they don't need to have a great receiving corps. I mean,
it's just, I mean, it's just it's so interesting in
this league. I was talking about my predictions the league
has become such a quarterback dependent league. But I also
I was watching the other day there was a list
of the top offensive minds. I think the offensive coaching.
(19:40):
In my opinion throughout the league. I think they're more
smart young offensive coaches that I've ever seen. Does the
film belie that? Does your film think the concepts are
better and smarter?
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Well, here's how I'd answer that.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
I think that the really good There's very few quarterbacks,
even the ones we think are great, because I talked
to coaches.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
That have no flaws in their game at all. There's
very few guys like that.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
So I think what really good offensive coaches do, besides
being able to scheme well designed plays, is understand the
strengths of their quarterback and how to minimize the limitations
or flaws.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
And I think that's absolutely.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Critical for coaches because, as I said, if you speak
to coaches, no coach will tell you, oh, this guy's perfect,
he's got no flaws in his game.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
No coach talks like that.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
And I think that's the absolute key to getting the
most not only out of your quarterback, Colin, but out
of your team. I think the Eagles are maybe the
best example of that. I mean I watched their tape
this summer, and I thought the way they ran their
offense allowing Jalen Hurts to do what he does absolutely,
really well and play to high level efficiency. Was a
(20:50):
phenomenal coaching job, playing to the strengths of the quarterback
and the overall offense and the overall team.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
And I think that's one reason they're so good.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Well, I hope you're as fired up as we are,
and I know you are. Forty six years NFL films.
Can't wait for tonight. Greg is always great, Senia.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Thanks Colin.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, it's uh. I just football is just different.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
I have a smile on my face perpetually from like
Labor Day until February twentieth. Well, maybe that's because I'm
working with you.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
Oh wow, wow, Oh my goodness. Nice coming.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh I know. Listen, this is the optimistic nice column.
You know, it depends on the night. Tonight. I am
home bed early breaking down tape. This is this big night.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
That's the beauty of being out here in California. You
could be to bed at like nine o'clock and watch.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
The entire game.
Speaker 6 (21:46):
Here you go.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
One more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
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Speaker 7 (21:56):
Like, Hey, it's Ben, host of a Fifth Hour with
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Speaker 3 (22:03):
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Speaker 7 (22:06):
I'll tell you it's a spin off of it Ben
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Speaker 3 (22:11):
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Speaker 3 (22:28):
We've got a lot of things going on today.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Week one NFL begins after a dynamic college football weekend
in which Texas and Ohio State highest rented Week one game.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Was it ever?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Seventeen million people topped at eighteen and a half million.
That's like a national Championship rating from a couple of
years ago. That is that is big Boy TV ratings.
Jmack with the News.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
On the News, this is the Herdline News.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
You know he touched on this game earlier. Bengals Browns.
There's some sharp money coming in on Cleveland Colin. I
kind of like them getting points at home. And as
we talked about, the Bengals have started each of the
last three seasons OHO and two. Joe Burrow and Zach
Taylor have really struggled the first couple of weeks the
last few seasons. Burrow's aware of that, and he's ready
for some fireworks in Cleveland.
Speaker 8 (23:21):
The narrative surrounding our team has shifted. I'm not sure
I would say most prove. I would say that we
certainly are trying to go out and win as much
as we can. We're putting in a lot of work
for it.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
It's not a narrative Joe, like you're not winning the
first couple of games, like look at the numbers.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Well, and it does.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I mean, there's a couple of things in Cincinnati that
don't make sense most of the time. Great quarterbacks with
great offensive coaches, and we can't label Zach Taylor that,
thank you, but great quarterbacks with comp on an offensive coaches.
He did get to a super Bowl start. Well, they
don't Alway's end well, but they're a little ahead of schedule, Burrow,
(24:09):
I mean Mahomes and Allen and Lamar and Stafford and
golf and c J. Stroud, Like we tend to think
Jalen hurt start quickly. Why does Joe Burrow' I think
some of it is he's never had a fully healthy camp,
maybe once in four years. I think some of it's health.
And I don't think you like Zach Taylor. I think
Zach Taylor's more than confident. I don't categorize him as special.
(24:31):
I will always defend Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow because
this is the smallest or second smallest scouting department in
the league, and Cincinnati is an antiquated business in a
great league.
Speaker 6 (24:42):
So Colin, if you came out for the opening rant
tomorrow and you're fumbling your words and getting stuff wrong
and it was just shopping for ten minutes, you didn't
prepare well, right, that's safe to say you were ill prepared.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So how would you.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Describe the Bengals the last three years? The first two
weeks of the season, they came out, couldn't block, nobody
was connecting, The defense is getting threaded. You noted they
lost to the Patriots last year?
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Okay, well, Jerrod Mao got fired. The Patriots were awful.
Like it's lack of preparation.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
I don't know that I trust Zach Taylor to draw
fantasy football plays for my daughter's flag football league. Honestly,
I just I have.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Not seen it.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
I know he went to a Super Bowl and we
got a big Bengals fan on staff, But show me
the proof that Zach Taylor's I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I think some of this is we overvalue Cincinnati because
we love three of their players, and they all high
profile pass rusher, quarterback Jamar Chase, and so we just think,
you know, they're really good. I don't think that very
good old line. I don't think they have the back
end of their defense has been weak. I just don't
think their roster's very good. And I think that's the
(25:48):
scouting department. They don't make big moves. They don't they're
they're the opposite of the Eagles. They do not take risk,
they do not draft consistently well. But when you have
a star quarterback, of star receiver and a start our
edge rusher, there's a sense that, man, they got good players.
They have three great players, but the drop off from
those three to the next eight to ten best players,
(26:10):
I think is greater than anybody else in the league's
drop off from their top three players to their next
seven or eight.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
So they did fire their defensive coordinator. He's out, and
now Al Golden's the guy.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
By the way, they love that DC two years ago.
Now they don't like him. Maybe it's the personnel.
Speaker 6 (26:26):
It could be we'll see. Listen, Joe Flacco. We know
he's immobile in the pocket. We know the Steelers and
the and the Ravens are gonna get after him. Are
the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Can they get to him? I don't know where.
Speaker 6 (26:37):
We have to see something different because whatever they've done
the last few years not working early in the season.
Calm and I don't mean to be harsh to the Bengals.
I know they're gonna come out for me. But next up,
let's go to the Patriots. The Mike vrabel Era kicks
off against our ass. This is a spicy game.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Make one Ashton Genty. I cannot wait to watch him.
Speaker 6 (26:56):
Well, Vrabel's a good coach, but overvaluing him, so what
of his The big iyres was bringing back Josh McDaniels
as his OC.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
And former Patriot Brian Hoyer.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Now podcasting will have a huge impact on Drake May's development.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
Josh is going to give you as much information as
he can.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
Hey, remember on this play, we're thinking, if it's man,
we're here, if it's zone, we're here, or hey remember
if the if the front changes, we got.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
To alert out of this.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
He's giving constant information and the amount of benefit that
Drake will have before the ball is snapped on every
single play because of not only the game plan going
into it, but the information that's being repeated to him
before the ball is snapped will do a lot for
him and taking that ownership to the next level.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, I got him at ten wins.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
I kind of want to take the Raiders here. In
the opener, I'm looking for the absolute latest update. Nine
minutes ago. Christian Gonzalez, the star cornerback number him.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
He is here.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
It doesn't look like he's taking the field today. He's
got a hamstring so he may not play.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
We get out of Oregon, who got banged up?
Speaker 6 (28:00):
He's a star now, Maybe it's an injury issue because
remember last year or two years ago he was hurting.
He's very very good. Yeah, he's your league cornerback. You know,
you take him off the field? Can the Raiders? You know,
Smith have some success. I'm a buy on Chip Kelly.
I know you guys are obviously friendly. Yeah, I like
Chip Kelly a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I'm gonna stay away from this game. I think it's
Raiders are passed for me.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
If I can get three and a half, I don't
want to say I'll put a year's salary.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I would very much like the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But listen, that half point is what I'm waiting for
tonight and tomorrow morning for my picks.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Because there's two or three games.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I'm telling you, if I get the Texans and three
and a half, I'm taking Houston.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
What about the over under? Can you believe that's it?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I think it too. I think it should be an under. Yeah,
I don't know how.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
People aren't hitting that. No, what am I missing? The
Rams defense end last season was Elite's gonna be? What's
gonna be different?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
What's the over under? Forty two four? Wow?
Speaker 6 (28:54):
This morning I was like, Wow, that seems a little high.
I think that's gonna be a great game. Final story,
Colin is to Denver. Were your Broncos? I can say
that they agreed to a deal with Nick Benito, star linebacker,
four year, one hundred and twenty million dollars seventy mil
guaranteed for the young linebacker. He's making twenty six and
a half mil per year, tenth highest paid player in
(29:16):
the league. That surprised me, right behind Derek Singley. But Benito, oh,
he was phenomenal last year. Third in the NFL and
sacks and the Denver defense. He was like spearheading it.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Every time I've watched him, I always think he's undersized,
yet he is so athletic and so physical.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
He is one.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I mean, like, you look at Miles Garrett, he didn't
look in TJ.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Watt.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
They don't look like normal human beings, Joey Bosa or
Nick Bosa. I'm just there's something about the ability. Like
Michaeh Parsons to me's a little undersized. Same same with Benito,
Like I always think he's a little slender. Dude gets
after it.
Speaker 6 (29:51):
You look at that chart on the screen highest paid defenders. Mama,
let your kids grow up to be ed drushers. They
are getting paid. Seven of the the top ten are
ed dress.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
As the quarterback becomes more centric to pro football, who
makes the quarterback uncomfortable?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Which makes it crazy that the Cowboys traded Michael Parsons.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I can't get out now. If you are trading a year.
Speaker 6 (30:14):
Ago, we don't need to rehash it, but I Nick.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Benito got paid in Denver.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
Good luck to cam Ward this weekend in Altitude.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Well that's the news.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And thanks for stopping by. Wait for Urban Meyer at
the top of next hour.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Is you know, Urban's had a lot of success with
quarterbacks in his coaching career at go all the way
back to Alex Smith, He's had a lot of success.
I'm interested his take on arch Manning because it was hard,
you know how. Something they old saying is I can't
unhear that or I can't unsee that, And that's that's
kind of where I'm at with arch Manning. I can't
(30:55):
undsee that. That was not good. That was jarringly bad.
So we'll the Urban Myers coming up top of the hour.
Julian Edelman, former Patriot Great, is stopping by two live
in La.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
It's The Herd.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
App Saturday on Baseball Night in America, Jose Althouve and
the Astros fight for the AO West Crown against the Rangers,
or the Giants take on the Cardinals, or it's Twins Royals.
Check local listings for the game in your area Saturday,
sevent eastern on Fox.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
There's so many things we don't know about Week one.
We don't know if JJ McCarthy can play. We don't
know what Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams is going to
look like. We don't know if Trevor Lawrence is finally
gonna give us this season because he's got real pieces now.
Brian Thomas, Travis Hunter, Liam Collin, is Travis Trevor Lawrence
(31:57):
going to finally deliver what we expect? Don't know, I
mean losing your star left tackle. Is Jim Harbaugh's team
take a step back? Or they do they remain a
playoff team. Is Denver as good as we think? I
think just Chicago because of the brand, the bigness of
it is a fascinating, you know, football team. Ben Johnson's
the new coach, Caleb Williams is going in the year two,
(32:21):
and Greg Cosell talked about what Ben Johnson does that
is different on film and that could help Caleb Williams.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
When I watched that offense and Ben Johnson, to me,
what stands out is just the spacing of the route concepts.
How it really beautifully defines the reads for the quarterback
because the spacing is so good.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
Spacing and balance.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
You hear floor balance in basketball all the time, but
that's critical for the passing game, particularly against zone coverage.
And that's where I thought Ben Johnson was an absolute master.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
That's Monday night at home one and a half point
Dogs to the Vikings. I mean, you talk about two offenses.
We don't know what we're going to get. It's Bears
Vikings on Monday. It's the Enigma game, It's the it's
the question mark game. We love the offensive brain power
of the coaches. We like upgrades on the offensive line
for both. We just don't know what we're going to
get from the quarterback. The other thing Cosell talked about,
(33:19):
and you know Greg in the offseason will watch every snap.
He really said there's something wrong with Dak Prescott. That
really jumped out to me. He said, there's something wrong
with Dak Prescott's lower body. So we just had his
second lower body surgery. So that was really alarming if
you're a Cowboy fan, because Greg's not going to just
wing it. He said something on the film doesn't look right.
(33:42):
Dak looks rigid and steff. And then he talked about
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
It fits who they are and what they are. They've
got the best O line in the league. They have
basically the same offense back. The only true change is
at right guard. Within the context of how they play offense,
Jalen Hurts is highly efficient.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
You know, they do not turn the football over and hurts.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
The running element that hurtsprings both by design within the
context of their run game and as a scrambler is
you cannot overlook that.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, didn't it strike you when he said, listen, I
watched every step of Dak and he didn't look the same.
You go back to last year, Dak had eight picks
in eight games. So one of the things we liked
about Dak early. We liked the intangibles. He was a leader,
and we liked that he you know, he didn't make
big mistakes. He didn't have a huge upside in tangibles.
(34:38):
Great didn't make a lot of mistakes. Increasingly, Dak is pressing,
Dak is making more mistakes, and you still get that
lower ceiling than other elite quarterbacks. So that's something to
think about tonight and why most people like Philadelphia Bigs.
So I made my NFL Final NFL predictions about thirty
minutes ago. Let's put him up. Starting with the AFC,
I do have two new playoff teams in the AFC,
(35:00):
Joe Burrow and the Bengals. I think sneaking is a
wild card team, and I don't think that's a revelation,
and I think New England spent so much money in
coaching upgrades. I think the Patriots are a playoff team.
I don't think they're a great team. And I don't
think the Bengals are a great team because I don't
think either roster has enough juice or they don't have
enough elite players. But I think most of the divisions
(35:23):
are fairly predictable in the AFC, where you're Josh Allen's
your Lamar Jackson's your CJ. Strouds, you know your bow
Nicks or Herbert Mahomes feel like playoff teams. In the NFC,
I've only got one new playoff team. I just think
the NFC West is wildcare I think the Seahawks get
in j Mack believes the easiest bet on the board
(35:45):
due to schedule and the greatness of Rock Party is
San Francisco makes it My only problem And this is
why I think this division again. I went with Eagles, Packers, Bucks,
and Rams. I went with the quarterbacks. I think on
Sunday I get big plays from Commanders would win most divisions.
They won't beat Philly Jared Goff. I like a lot Seahawks.
(36:07):
The reason the NFC West is tough because I will
acknowledge San Francisco's got the easiest schedule and brock perty
is very much a B plus quarterback a minus on
certain games. Absolutely, But McCaffrey's coming off injuries, Trent Williams
coming off injuries, George Kittle's getting older, and they're walking
in a wide receiver with fingers crossed. So and it
(36:28):
also hurts their opener. Is that a younger team in
Seattle on the road And I was talking now, who
was Oh, oh, it was interesting. This is why I
like Seattle. In the game, I was vacationing and I had,
you know, a couple of days to hang out with
Steve Khime, the former Arizona GM, and we were just,
you know, just randomly talking about different things. I said,
(36:48):
what was the toughest place to play in all your
years in Arizona? And he goes, Seattle is a nightmare.
He said, It's always windier than you think, it's wetter
than you think. And he goes, the way they built
that stadium, it is loud. It is a rough place
to play. So for years they called you know, they
call it the twelfth Men in Seattle. So he said,
(37:10):
the fans, you know, they like their craft beer in Seattle.
They are liquored up, ready to go, and it's loud.
So against that's the one game that you and I
are on opposite sides.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
I leave.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
I like Seattle to hold servant home and beat San Francisco,
and you like the Niners to win comfortably.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
It just I know, Kyle Shanahan has historically owned Seattle.
So they did lose last year twenty to seventeen. Before that,
Shanahan had won sixth straight against the Seahawks. Now, I
know there's been you know, obviously a lot of upheopal there,
but he usually dominates these guys. I love Shanahan, Meil
scheme up stuff. Even with pearce Al and Jennings as
(37:48):
his top two receivers, they would have been three to
four last year in Week one because i Ukandivo would
have been there. I don't have a lot of concern
for san Fran in the spot. Okay, I forget the
lines for a second. I'll give you the teams and
just pop the winner. Don't get it, get out of
the line space. Dallas at Philly Eagles, Casey Chargers overseas.
(38:11):
I would go Casey.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Giants at Washington.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
So the hesitation, I mean you got you go on
see the Giants. I'll say Washington wins a close one.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
They won.
Speaker 6 (38:24):
I think both games are less than seven. Last year,
both were close, and the Giants wood Argue are better
Kart Carter Russell Wilson's in upgrade, right, They're better than
they were last year.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yeah, so you're saying Washington, I'll.
Speaker 6 (38:35):
Say Washington in a close one.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
That's a tough one.
Speaker 6 (38:38):
Tampa at Atlanta, Atlanta, I'm I'm pop committed to Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Sinci at Cleveland.
Speaker 6 (38:46):
Again, the hesitation, I mean, it's tough for me. To
envisit Joe Flacco beating Burrow. I think too many people
are mentioning for those early seasons struggles. So I'll go
Bengals nineteen seventeen or some crazy score.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Like Okay, seventy nine percent of the fans think the
bet of the week is Jacksonville. So Carolina at Jacksonville.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
Yeah, I got Jaggs, I think comfortably. I think Liam
Cohen is going to surprise you. I know you won't
ever talk Jacksonville early in the show, but I think
Monday you're gonna be like, take a.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Look at Trevor Lawrence and Travis Hunter. I like Jacks
Steelers at the Jets.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Jets, by the way, if for no other reason, I
have one of my rules of betting is in a
low scoring game, take points. This thing has like seventeen thirteen,
twenty seven? Is the over under on this thing?
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:36):
I think it's What is the over under on this time?
Speaker 4 (39:38):
How many?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
I think it's thirty eight or thirty nine?
Speaker 6 (39:40):
Yeah, So tonight Dak and Jalen Hurts combined preseason staffed zero.
I'm surprised for Dak coming off last year, but Aaron
Rodgers hasn't sniffed the field, and all of a sudden,
Aaron Glenn blitz happy look at his Detroit numbers, blitzed
a ton. If he does that with the Jets, I
think Roger's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
In real trouble. Yeah. I like the Jets. Miami at
the Colts.
Speaker 6 (40:03):
Forty one forty shootout, flip a coin on who wins it.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
I don't you know we haven't mentioned this. Let's just
stop here, Shane style. I like the Colts roster, we
don't like quarterback. Is it shocking if the Colts at
home hold you? I never trust now Miami, I don't
trust in cold whether it's a dome, would you be shocked?
You know they're gonna honor perhaps Jim or say, it'll
be very very emotional. Shane Stike in a great offensive
(40:27):
coach offseason, noisy offseason. Tyreek Hill's not a captain. How
about this for an upset? I don't know what the
points speret is now, Prime Bolts are favored, the culture favored.
Speaker 6 (40:38):
This feels like the kind of game where the narrative
will be, hey man, how did you lose this game?
He's on the hot seat. McDaniel, They're gonna look at
the firing.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
I never looked at this game. I don't know what
I'm getting with either. I didn't even This is a
game that I never got. Just shot in games I
just take. I'm not betting him. I don't know enough.
That's interesting. Okay, one more, I'm telling you Houston at
the Rams.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
So who do you like?
Speaker 6 (41:08):
Sidewise in that one?
Speaker 3 (41:10):
I think it's an under.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I generally take the offensive coach in the opener, but
I got I got real questions about Stafford and the
left tackle. If it goes to three and a half,
I'm taking Texans. HM.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
I listen to your Super Bowl winner.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I'll tell you one of my favorite bets is Texans
Rams under under.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
I think it's a twenty three to twenty game, low
scoring game. Jackson's O line has three or four new starters.
RAMS defensive front is nasty, and I don't trust the
Rams left tackle. He's good blood clots, hasn't practiced much.
Great
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh, here we go, it's hour two. It's a Thursday.
NFL season opens tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Baby, we are live. It is The Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Jmac Greg Cosel will be joining us in less than
five minutes, So Jmack, I make my final predictions on
the opening Thursday. I've got one change, a new division winner,
and I'll explain why. But over the course of the offseason,
I make a prediction after coaching hires and free agency,
then after the draft, then I get one kind of
(00:54):
in the middle of preseason, and then here this one.
Are you ready to go fire away? Okay, we start here.
There's my predictions for this year. We start in the AFC,
an easier conference to predict because the top quarterbacks are
so good in the AFC East. I'm going Josh Allen
and the Bills. Patriots' most improved team get in as
a wild card team. Maybe not good enough to win
(01:16):
a playoff game, but coach and rosters much better. Dolphins third,
I'm going with that just because of Tua and an
offensive coach. I think the Jets roster is good. I
don't know what Aaron Glenn is. They just lost their
best or second best offensive lineman. I'm staying put with
that one. AFC North again, I think it's fairly predictable.
Ravens arguably best operation in the sport with Lamar, I'll
(01:38):
go with the quarterback and Joe Burrow next, although like
J Mack, I worry about how they start in their
offensive line. Aaron and the Steelers will be around five
hundred or a game above or below, and the Browns
are in a rebuild. I love their coach in GM.
I like Joe Flacco. Miles Garrett's amazing, but they're four
AFC South. I'm just gonna go with what I know.
Demico Ryans hell of a coach, and I like c. J.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Stroud. Rebuilding the O line worries me. CJ.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Stroud's a gamer. Step back a little last year, but
it wasn't his fault. He couldn't keep wide receivers healthy.
Jaguars second, I'm like j Mack. I like him, but
I never love him. Titans third, Coles don't know what
quarterback they're going to use.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
That's scary.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Their fourth well, they do know what quarterback and it's
not a great one. AFC West, I think it's very difficult.
I think you have four really good teams. I think
the Broncos have the best roster. Kansas City Reid in
Mahomes once again, I don't know a rookie left tackle.
Joe Tooney's gone worries me. Also, wide receiving Corps no Rashi, Rice,
Travis Kelce getting old. I think the Broncos will look
(02:41):
very clearly early in the season like a Super Bowl contender.
Chargers losing Rashawn Slater the left tackle worries me greatly.
Joe alt moves over, but now they've got a right
tackle issue, and the Raiders will be the best fourth
place team in the division. So Bill's Ravens, Texans, Broncos
are the division win. Patriots Bengals Chiefs are wild card teams.
(03:03):
New England Bengals are both new playoff teams NFC. Again,
I think it's pretty Static, Eagles, Commanders, Giants, Cowboys. I
actually have said this, if the if the Giants get
B to B plus quarterback play, They're gonna shock some people.
They're gonna They're gonna go toe to toe with Washington.
But I don't know if Jackson Dart's ready, if Russell
(03:25):
Wilson falters. But I do like the Giants roster. I
love Abdul Carter and their defensive front. It's nothing but
dogs up front. I think in the NFC North again,
we I'm just gonna kind of roll with the quietest offseason.
The Green Bay Packers young still, but I like their
(03:47):
first pick, another wide receiver for Jordan Love. Lions have
two new coordinators, but I love almost everything else about
the organization. Bears, Vikings all know a lot more after
Monday Night, third and fourth, respectively. NFC South is not
a very good division. The Sainteal stink. I'm not sure
the Bucks are as good as a lot of the
(04:07):
NFL execs and better stink. But I trust Baker, I
trust the GM, I trust the roster. Atlanta is weird.
I've spent more money on the Falcons losing bets. I
don't know what Atlanta is I'll just wait till Thanksgiving.
Panthers are better than people think. I'll put them third,
Saints fourth, NFC West. Here's my big change Rams. I'm
(04:27):
going to have them winning the division again. Bottom line
is they won the division last year. Despite starting one
to four, they still won their division. No team played
more rookies last year, and their defense the last month
of the season was second best. With all those rookies,
it was second best scoring defense in the NFL last month.
It'll be better. It's had a great camp Seattle. The
(04:49):
reason I moved them from first to second. They have
the cheapest offense in the NFL. They don't have a
number one receiver, Gray Zabel is a potential impact offensive line,
but their online last year stunk, so I don't think
they have the firepower again. I think Seahawks could win
nine games. I think the Niners could win nine and
(05:10):
Seahawks win the tiebreaker. I don't think there's a big
gap in this division between the Rams, Seahawks, Niners, and Cardinals.
I don't if the Cardinals won eight and the Rams
won ten, that could be the difference. I only have
one new team making the playoffs in the NFC, it's
the Seahawks. I only have three new playoff teams. The
NFL average is closer to five, but I have argued
(05:32):
that number has been going down in recent years. Why
because it's becoming a more quarterback dependent league, and if
you've got a great quarterback or a very good one,
you are more predictably a playoff team. So it used
to be there were six new playoff teams, then five
playoff team. It's getting down to four, and I think
(05:54):
this year it's three. So as the quarterback becomes more
important and offensive coaches have a better relationship with that quarterback,
the league is getting, at least not on a week
to week basis, but on a macro level, a little
easier to predict. And with that Greg Cosel forty six
years NFL films, Right, let's start Tonight's the big one
(06:15):
Philadelphia in Dallas. Sure, Okay, Brian Schottenheimer's offense, you've seen
a lot of it in your forty six years, especially
the last fifteen years. Does it match with Dak Prescott's
skill set?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well, I think they're going to have to have some
kind of meaningful, viable, sustaining run game, you know, I
spent earlier this week watching literally all of Dak Prescott's
throws from last year before he got hurt, and I
was kind of disappointed. There's something wrong with his lower body, Colin,
you know, and this was before he got hurt. He
(06:51):
was very tight hipped, he was very heavy footed. He
threw the ball much better to his left than to
his right. He really he was lifting his feet off
the ground making a lot of throws. He did not
look very good last year. Now with Pickens there, they
have a true boundary X receiver that's single receiver to
the short side of the field, which allows c Dee Lamb,
(07:12):
who's a terrific player, to be what he's best at,
which is kind of a movement motion receiver that can
line up in multiple positions.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
But I don't know.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I think their defense has some significant questions versus this
Eagles offense, which is really really efficient. It would not
surprise me at all tonight if you saw the Eagles
come out, no huddle, tempo and throw the football, because
there's a lot of changes on that Cowboys defense, including
the decoordinator.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
So I want to ask you about Philly.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Last year, Eagles thirty six plus carries per game. After
the bye they ran more and threw less. You said
you think they'll run I think their personnel. I think
they could do anything. I mean, I like their tight ends,
I like everything does their personnel. When you watch Jalen Hurts,
they as a staff on the bye week said we're
(08:04):
going to run more throw less. You probably agree with
that decision.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I mean, I think it fits who they are and
what they are. They've got the best O line in
the league. They have basically the same offense back. The
only true change is at right guard, where Steen played
meaningful snaps last year. Anyway, so they've got the same
group back. They are a run first football team. I
think the fact that they are so good on fourth
down and they go for it on fourth down, literally
(08:33):
when they get to the fifty yard line, they go
for it if it's fourth and fourth or less, I
think that impacts what they do on third down, which
has run the ball more than any team in the
league on third down between four and eight yards. That
really impacts the way defenses have to play them. And
I think that within the context of how they play offense,
(08:54):
Jalen Hurts is highly efficient. You know they do not
turn the football over.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
It hurts.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
The running element that hurts brings both by design within
the context of their run game and as a scrambler
is you cannot overlook that that is so much a
part of their offense and who they are.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
They're very, very difficult to defend.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So I want to go to another game this weekend
and maybe the Marquee game, Baltimore and Buffalo. I think
Baltimore's got the second best roster in the league. That's
just what my eyes tell me, after Philadelphia, and we
always think of Baltimore, Well, they're run heavy, it's Derrick Henry,
it's Lamar. But I think we would both admit Lamar's
gotten better in the pocket. But do you think, especially
(09:36):
when they go on, you know, when they play Buffalo
and these big teams, they've gotten a little They've gotten
a little tight at times with Kansas City, do you
think the essence of the Ravens is like the Eagles,
they are a run team first, or do you feel
differently about because really, if you took Baltimore and Philadelphia
had a lot in common, But do you see a
(09:56):
lot of things in common? You know?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Funny, I watched a lot of Lamar this summer, and
I thought that their offense he threw the ball well.
I thought Monkin did a really good job with their
route concepts and combinations to present really clean throws for Lamar.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, they played in the divisional.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Playoffs last year, these two teams, and it was a
very odd game. As you may remember, Josh Allen threw
for less than one hundred and thirty yards. And in
that game, the Bills dominated on the ground. They controlled
the game running the football, which you would not expect
against the Ravens defense, which is very very good. And
actually what we saw a lot in that game was
(10:35):
the Bills be very aggressive with pressure against the Ravens offense.
Usually games don't work out exactly the same way when
teams meet so close together like that. But the Ravens,
I mean, they're a really good football team, you know.
You know, people get wrapped up and who makes the
Super Bowl and obviously they haven't and they haven't won
an AFC Championship game obviously, but there's it's not a
(10:57):
team with many weaknesses at all.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
You know, last year, Josh Allen only completed about sixty
three percent of his throws, which was twenty fourth in
the league. I don't it doesn't. I've always said the
lines like sixty two percent. He also adds a dynamic physically,
so I don't worry a ton about it.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And now he has James Cook.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But let me ask you, when you look at that
number for all his talent, was it mechanics, footwork or
was it just lack of dependable receiving targets.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Well, I think the one thing they were lacking last year,
which they're hoping they rectified this year with the development
of Keon Coleman and Josh Palmer now being there coming
over from the Chargers, is they really didn't have one
on one winners last year. And I think that that
impacts a quarterback obviously, because when you get man coverage,
you know. I remember having this conversation years ago with
(11:46):
Troy Aikman, and he said, when it's one on one
on the outside, your receivers have to win.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
And they did not really have that. Guy.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Shakiir is an excellent slot receiver, that's who he is.
He's very good at it, but he can't really be
your number one weapon over the course of his season.
They just didn't really have receivers on the edge who
could win one on one and that absolutely impacts your quarterback.
So I don't think that completion percentage number is really
indicative of anything truly important about.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Josh Allen's let's talk Green Bay Detroit. So I think
I certainly felt this way. I loved all their young
receivers and tight ends. But then they go in the
first round and they go after a wide receiver, a
kid from Texas I liked. So my take was, oh,
what is that telling me? They may not like their
receiving cores as much? And I maybe I overvalued all
(12:37):
their young guys Christian Watson can't stay healthy. But I
like their tight ends. I really liked their running back.
What did it tell you when they drafted a wide receiver?
Am I overvaluing all their young receiving talent?
Speaker 4 (12:51):
You know what, Colin, It could be that they had
Golden rated as a top ten player on their board,
and when he was there at whatever number they drafted,
they said, we have to stick to our board. That see,
that's the stuff we don't know. We start reading into
all this. I personally really like Matthew Golden's tape coming
out of Texas. I thought he was an ascending player
as the year progressed in college. When I did him
for the draft, I really really liked him. The other
(13:14):
player in that offense that I think really is a
player to watch this year is the tight end Craft draft.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Is a really good player. He's pretty athletic.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
I mean, we don't necessarily mention him when we talk
about the highly athletic tight ends in the league, but
he's pretty close to that. They're a pretty good offensive team.
Love Is I watched a lot of love as well
this summer. You know, I still think at times his
lower body mechanics and causes him some problems, but there's
no question this kid can play off his back foot
(13:45):
and drive the ball both in the middle of the
field and outside the numbers. I like the fact that
he's an aggressive thrower. They'll be really interesting because of
their defense as well. Now we know they have Micah Parsons.
Last year they had one of the highest stunt percentage
is with their defensive line of any team in the league.
And now that they have Micah Parsons and another year
(14:05):
with linebacker Eddrian Cooper, another player to watch. He was
a great pass rusher as a blitzer at Texas A
and M, and he sort of had to get his
feet wet last year as a rookie. This could be
a really intriguing defense as well.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Okay, so the Lions go out and replace both coordinators.
Philadelphia did that a few years ago, and by week
ten or eleven they were a mess. I am not
a huge fan of replacing a star coordinator with somebody
in the building. I think you have to make a
global search right go everywhere. They didn't. They were comfortable
in the building. When you watched Ben Johnson's wizardry last year,
(14:42):
was it more about personnel or his play calling? Because
it felt like to me, in big spots he was
really top of the class.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I find play callings to be something that's very difficult
to talk about because I always feel like you'd have
to be in the building all week to understand how
they go about putting a game plan together. To me,
when I watch that offense and Ben Johnson, to me,
what stands out is just the spacing of the route concepts,
how it really beautifully defines the reads for the quarterback.
(15:13):
Because the spacing is so good. I mean, football is
still a game because we don't think of it unlike
let's say basketball or hockey, where you can see the
whole field basically all the ice. You can't see the
entire football field. But it's still a game that's played
and can can find space and therefore spacing and balance.
You hear floor balance in basketball all the time, but
(15:34):
that's critical for the passing game, particularly against zone coverage,
and that's where I thought Ben Johnson was an absolute master.
Now I would imagine conceptually they're not going to change
very much at all. Goff understands that offense exceptionally well,
and there may be no quarterback better in football throwing
between the numbers at the intermediate level. So now it
(15:57):
comes down to how the new coordinator calls a game,
and that's impossible to know until we see it, and
even then we might not know because we're not there.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I want to ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So Kansas City and the Chargers play overseas, and we
all know how great Andy Reid is and Patrick Mahomes is,
and we know how good Joe Tooney was, and this
team averaged twenty two points the last two seasons. That's
what they averaged with Andy Reid and Mahomes, and that
leads me to believe this personnel is being elevated and
(16:29):
it's not very good. Now, I would say they have
drafted the defensive side brilliantly. They have missed like every
team in the league, they've missed on wide receivers. But
if you would have told me reading Mahomes and Travis
Kelsey Joe Toney averaged twenty two points the last two years,
I'd be like, what is wrong? My take is the
left tackle and the receiving corps. It feels like they're
(16:51):
bailing water. What does the film say about the Chiefs personnel.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Well, they were very condensed as a pass game. We
know Mahomes can make special plays at any point in
the game. He's just a special player with maybe the
best sense of spatial awareness of any quarterback we've ever seen.
But their left tackle position, which is now a rookie
Josh Simmons from Ohio State. Their left guard is Sue Mattea,
who's not really played left guard.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
He was a tackle in college.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And the Chargers last year caused some problems for them
with their defense.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
I watch both of those games.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
The first game they played a ton of zone because
they did not have Derwin James and they cause problems.
The second game, they had Derwin James and played far
more man because James can match up to Travis Kelsey.
But I would expect in this matchup they will test
the left tackle and the left guard. There'll be a
lot of stunt concepts. They'll put Khalil Mack on the
(17:45):
left tackle. I mean, this is an interesting matchup as
far as the pass rush versus this offensive line.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
All right, Drake New England I think is going to
be a wild card team. I think coaching upgrade three
hundred million in free agency, and I just think Vrabel's
better with personnel than Belichick was in his last six
or seven years. I think they've updated, upgraded virtually everything.
What did you see? Give me something about Drake may
(18:14):
that you really found promising greg on film, and then
something that he absolutely has to work on.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I would say two things that I really noticed on
film and studying in this summer was just innate toughness
in the pocket, and I don't think you can teach that.
I think the guys that are willing to stand and
deliver when there's people around them and they know they're
going to get hit, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Sure you can teach that. He's got that.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
The other thing I'm not sure that you can teach
players is just a natural willingness to throw the ball
into tight windows. They see those throws as viable throws,
and Drake may seize those throws as viable throws. The
one thing I'd love to see him get a little
better at is just I thought his ball placement was
at times a little erratic. Yeah, wouldn't call him scattershof,
(19:00):
but I thought that there were a few too many
layups that he missed that he cannot miss at this level.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Such a you know, the NFL is so funny. You
can do so many things wrong, but if you find
a good young quarterback, it erases a lot of trouble.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
You know. It's like, if Drake.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
May can play like will you and I think he can,
they don't need to have a great receiving corps. I mean,
it's just, I mean, it's just it's so interesting in
this league. I was talking about my predictions the league
has become such a quarterback dependent league. But I also
I was watching the other day there was a list
of the top offensive minds. I think the offensive coaching.
(19:40):
In my opinion throughout the league. I think they're more
smart young offensive coaches that I've ever seen. Does the
film belie that? Does your film think the concepts are
better and smarter?
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Well, here's how I'd answer that.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
I think that the really good There's very few quarterbacks,
even the ones we think are great, because I talked
to coaches.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
That have no flaws in their game at all. There's
very few guys like that.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
So I think what really good offensive coaches do, besides
being able to scheme well designed plays, is understand the
strengths of their quarterback and how to minimize the limitations
or flaws.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
And I think that's absolutely.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Critical for coaches because, as I said, if you speak
to coaches, no coach will tell you, oh, this guy's perfect,
he's got no flaws in his game.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
No coach talks like that.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
And I think that's the absolute key to getting the
most not only out of your quarterback, Colin, but out
of your team. I think the Eagles are maybe the
best example of that. I mean I watched their tape
this summer, and I thought the way they ran their
offense allowing Jalen Hurts to do what he does absolutely,
really well and play to high level efficiency. Was a
(20:50):
phenomenal coaching job, playing to the strengths of the quarterback
and the overall offense and the overall team.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
And I think that's one reason they're so good.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Well, I hope you're as fired up as we are,
and I know you are. Forty six years NFL films.
Can't wait for tonight. Greg is always great, Senia.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Thanks Colin.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, it's uh. I just football is just different.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
I have a smile on my face perpetually from like
Labor Day until February twentieth. Well, maybe that's because I'm
working with you.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
Oh wow, wow, Oh my goodness. Nice coming.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh I know. Listen, this is the optimistic nice column.
You know, it depends on the night. Tonight. I am
home bed early breaking down tape. This is this big night.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
That's the beauty of being out here in California. You
could be to bed at like nine o'clock and watch.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
The entire game.
Speaker 6 (21:46):
Here you go.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
One more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
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Speaker 7 (21:56):
Like, Hey, it's Ben, host of a Fifth Hour with
Ben Man. Would mean a lot to have you joined
us on our weekly auditory journey.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
You're asking, what in God's name is the Fifth Hour?
Speaker 7 (22:06):
I'll tell you it's a spin off of it Ben
Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Why should you listen?
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Picture if you will a world will? We chat with
captains of industry in media, sports and more every week
explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen
to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller or the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
We've got a lot of things going on today.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Week one NFL begins after a dynamic college football weekend
in which Texas and Ohio State highest rented Week one game.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Was it ever?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Seventeen million people topped at eighteen and a half million.
That's like a national Championship rating from a couple of
years ago. That is that is big Boy TV ratings.
Jmack with the News.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
On the News, this is the Herdline News.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
You know he touched on this game earlier. Bengals Browns.
There's some sharp money coming in on Cleveland Colin. I
kind of like them getting points at home. And as
we talked about, the Bengals have started each of the
last three seasons OHO and two. Joe Burrow and Zach
Taylor have really struggled the first couple of weeks the
last few seasons. Burrow's aware of that, and he's ready
for some fireworks in Cleveland.
Speaker 8 (23:21):
The narrative surrounding our team has shifted. I'm not sure
I would say most prove. I would say that we
certainly are trying to go out and win as much
as we can. We're putting in a lot of work
for it.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
It's not a narrative Joe, like you're not winning the
first couple of games, like look at the numbers.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Well, and it does.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I mean, there's a couple of things in Cincinnati that
don't make sense most of the time. Great quarterbacks with
great offensive coaches, and we can't label Zach Taylor that,
thank you, but great quarterbacks with comp on an offensive coaches.
He did get to a super Bowl start. Well, they
don't Alway's end well, but they're a little ahead of schedule, Burrow,
(24:09):
I mean Mahomes and Allen and Lamar and Stafford and
golf and c J. Stroud, Like we tend to think
Jalen hurt start quickly. Why does Joe Burrow' I think
some of it is he's never had a fully healthy camp,
maybe once in four years. I think some of it's health.
And I don't think you like Zach Taylor. I think
Zach Taylor's more than confident. I don't categorize him as special.
(24:31):
I will always defend Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow because
this is the smallest or second smallest scouting department in
the league, and Cincinnati is an antiquated business in a
great league.
Speaker 6 (24:42):
So Colin, if you came out for the opening rant
tomorrow and you're fumbling your words and getting stuff wrong
and it was just shopping for ten minutes, you didn't
prepare well, right, that's safe to say you were ill prepared.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So how would you.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Describe the Bengals the last three years? The first two
weeks of the season, they came out, couldn't block, nobody
was connecting, The defense is getting threaded. You noted they
lost to the Patriots last year?
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Okay, well, Jerrod Mao got fired. The Patriots were awful.
Like it's lack of preparation.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
I don't know that I trust Zach Taylor to draw
fantasy football plays for my daughter's flag football league. Honestly,
I just I have.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Not seen it.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
I know he went to a Super Bowl and we
got a big Bengals fan on staff, But show me
the proof that Zach Taylor's I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I think some of this is we overvalue Cincinnati because
we love three of their players, and they all high
profile pass rusher, quarterback Jamar Chase, and so we just think,
you know, they're really good. I don't think that very
good old line. I don't think they have the back
end of their defense has been weak. I just don't
think their roster's very good. And I think that's the
(25:48):
scouting department. They don't make big moves. They don't they're
they're the opposite of the Eagles. They do not take risk,
they do not draft consistently well. But when you have
a star quarterback, of star receiver and a start our
edge rusher, there's a sense that, man, they got good players.
They have three great players, but the drop off from
those three to the next eight to ten best players,
(26:10):
I think is greater than anybody else in the league's
drop off from their top three players to their next
seven or eight.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
So they did fire their defensive coordinator. He's out, and
now Al Golden's the guy.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
By the way, they love that DC two years ago.
Now they don't like him. Maybe it's the personnel.
Speaker 6 (26:26):
It could be we'll see. Listen, Joe Flacco. We know
he's immobile in the pocket. We know the Steelers and
the and the Ravens are gonna get after him. Are
the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Can they get to him? I don't know where.
Speaker 6 (26:37):
We have to see something different because whatever they've done
the last few years not working early in the season.
Calm and I don't mean to be harsh to the Bengals.
I know they're gonna come out for me. But next up,
let's go to the Patriots. The Mike vrabel Era kicks
off against our ass. This is a spicy game.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Make one Ashton Genty. I cannot wait to watch him.
Speaker 6 (26:56):
Well, Vrabel's a good coach, but overvaluing him, so what
of his The big iyres was bringing back Josh McDaniels
as his OC.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
And former Patriot Brian Hoyer.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Now podcasting will have a huge impact on Drake May's development.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
Josh is going to give you as much information as
he can.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
Hey, remember on this play, we're thinking, if it's man,
we're here, if it's zone, we're here, or hey remember
if the if the front changes, we got.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
To alert out of this.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
He's giving constant information and the amount of benefit that
Drake will have before the ball is snapped on every
single play because of not only the game plan going
into it, but the information that's being repeated to him
before the ball is snapped will do a lot for
him and taking that ownership to the next level.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, I got him at ten wins.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
I kind of want to take the Raiders here. In
the opener, I'm looking for the absolute latest update. Nine
minutes ago. Christian Gonzalez, the star cornerback number him.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
He is here.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
It doesn't look like he's taking the field today. He's
got a hamstring so he may not play.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
We get out of Oregon, who got banged up?
Speaker 6 (28:00):
He's a star now, Maybe it's an injury issue because
remember last year or two years ago he was hurting.
He's very very good. Yeah, he's your league cornerback. You know,
you take him off the field? Can the Raiders? You know,
Smith have some success. I'm a buy on Chip Kelly.
I know you guys are obviously friendly. Yeah, I like
Chip Kelly a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I'm gonna stay away from this game. I think it's
Raiders are passed for me.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
If I can get three and a half, I don't
want to say I'll put a year's salary.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I would very much like the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But listen, that half point is what I'm waiting for
tonight and tomorrow morning for my picks.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Because there's two or three games.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I'm telling you, if I get the Texans and three
and a half, I'm taking Houston.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
What about the over under? Can you believe that's it?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I think it too. I think it should be an under. Yeah,
I don't know how.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
People aren't hitting that. No, what am I missing? The
Rams defense end last season was Elite's gonna be? What's
gonna be different?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
What's the over under? Forty two four? Wow?
Speaker 6 (28:54):
This morning I was like, Wow, that seems a little high.
I think that's gonna be a great game. Final story,
Colin is to Denver. Were your Broncos? I can say
that they agreed to a deal with Nick Benito, star linebacker,
four year, one hundred and twenty million dollars seventy mil
guaranteed for the young linebacker. He's making twenty six and
a half mil per year, tenth highest paid player in
(29:16):
the league. That surprised me, right behind Derek Singley. But Benito, oh,
he was phenomenal last year. Third in the NFL and
sacks and the Denver defense. He was like spearheading it.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Every time I've watched him, I always think he's undersized,
yet he is so athletic and so physical.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
He is one.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I mean, like, you look at Miles Garrett, he didn't
look in TJ.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Watt.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
They don't look like normal human beings, Joey Bosa or
Nick Bosa. I'm just there's something about the ability. Like
Michaeh Parsons to me's a little undersized. Same same with Benito,
Like I always think he's a little slender. Dude gets
after it.
Speaker 6 (29:51):
You look at that chart on the screen highest paid defenders. Mama,
let your kids grow up to be ed drushers. They
are getting paid. Seven of the the top ten are
ed dress.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
As the quarterback becomes more centric to pro football, who
makes the quarterback uncomfortable?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Which makes it crazy that the Cowboys traded Michael Parsons.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I can't get out now. If you are trading a year.
Speaker 6 (30:14):
Ago, we don't need to rehash it, but I Nick.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Benito got paid in Denver.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
Good luck to cam Ward this weekend in Altitude.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Well that's the news.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And thanks for stopping by. Wait for Urban Meyer at
the top of next hour.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Is you know, Urban's had a lot of success with
quarterbacks in his coaching career at go all the way
back to Alex Smith, He's had a lot of success.
I'm interested his take on arch Manning because it was hard,
you know how. Something they old saying is I can't
unhear that or I can't unsee that, And that's that's
kind of where I'm at with arch Manning. I can't
(30:55):
undsee that. That was not good. That was jarringly bad.
So we'll the Urban Myers coming up top of the hour.
Julian Edelman, former Patriot Great, is stopping by two live
in La.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
It's The Herd.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
App Saturday on Baseball Night in America, Jose Althouve and
the Astros fight for the AO West Crown against the Rangers,
or the Giants take on the Cardinals, or it's Twins Royals.
Check local listings for the game in your area Saturday,
sevent eastern on Fox.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
There's so many things we don't know about Week one.
We don't know if JJ McCarthy can play. We don't
know what Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams is going to
look like. We don't know if Trevor Lawrence is finally
gonna give us this season because he's got real pieces now.
Brian Thomas, Travis Hunter, Liam Collin, is Travis Trevor Lawrence
(31:57):
going to finally deliver what we expect? Don't know, I
mean losing your star left tackle. Is Jim Harbaugh's team
take a step back? Or they do they remain a
playoff team. Is Denver as good as we think? I
think just Chicago because of the brand, the bigness of
it is a fascinating, you know, football team. Ben Johnson's
the new coach, Caleb Williams is going in the year two,
(32:21):
and Greg Cosell talked about what Ben Johnson does that
is different on film and that could help Caleb Williams.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
When I watched that offense and Ben Johnson, to me,
what stands out is just the spacing of the route concepts.
How it really beautifully defines the reads for the quarterback
because the spacing is so good.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
Spacing and balance.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
You hear floor balance in basketball all the time, but
that's critical for the passing game, particularly against zone coverage.
And that's where I thought Ben Johnson was an absolute master.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
That's Monday night at home one and a half point
Dogs to the Vikings. I mean, you talk about two offenses.
We don't know what we're going to get. It's Bears
Vikings on Monday. It's the Enigma game, It's the it's
the question mark game. We love the offensive brain power
of the coaches. We like upgrades on the offensive line
for both. We just don't know what we're going to
get from the quarterback. The other thing Cosell talked about,
(33:19):
and you know Greg in the offseason will watch every snap.
He really said there's something wrong with Dak Prescott. That
really jumped out to me. He said, there's something wrong
with Dak Prescott's lower body. So we just had his
second lower body surgery. So that was really alarming if
you're a Cowboy fan, because Greg's not going to just
wing it. He said something on the film doesn't look right.
(33:42):
Dak looks rigid and steff. And then he talked about
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
It fits who they are and what they are. They've
got the best O line in the league. They have
basically the same offense back. The only true change is
at right guard. Within the context of how they play offense,
Jalen Hurts is highly efficient.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
You know, they do not turn the football over and hurts.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
The running element that hurtsprings both by design within the
context of their run game and as a scrambler is
you cannot overlook that.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, didn't it strike you when he said, listen, I
watched every step of Dak and he didn't look the same.
You go back to last year, Dak had eight picks
in eight games. So one of the things we liked
about Dak early. We liked the intangibles. He was a leader,
and we liked that he you know, he didn't make
big mistakes. He didn't have a huge upside in tangibles.
(34:38):
Great didn't make a lot of mistakes. Increasingly, Dak is pressing,
Dak is making more mistakes, and you still get that
lower ceiling than other elite quarterbacks. So that's something to
think about tonight and why most people like Philadelphia Bigs.
So I made my NFL Final NFL predictions about thirty
minutes ago. Let's put him up. Starting with the AFC,
I do have two new playoff teams in the AFC,
(35:00):
Joe Burrow and the Bengals. I think sneaking is a
wild card team, and I don't think that's a revelation,
and I think New England spent so much money in
coaching upgrades. I think the Patriots are a playoff team.
I don't think they're a great team. And I don't
think the Bengals are a great team because I don't
think either roster has enough juice or they don't have
enough elite players. But I think most of the divisions
(35:23):
are fairly predictable in the AFC, where you're Josh Allen's
your Lamar Jackson's your CJ. Strouds, you know your bow
Nicks or Herbert Mahomes feel like playoff teams. In the NFC,
I've only got one new playoff team. I just think
the NFC West is wildcare I think the Seahawks get
in j Mack believes the easiest bet on the board
(35:45):
due to schedule and the greatness of Rock Party is
San Francisco makes it My only problem And this is
why I think this division again. I went with Eagles, Packers, Bucks,
and Rams. I went with the quarterbacks. I think on
Sunday I get big plays from Commanders would win most divisions.
They won't beat Philly Jared Goff. I like a lot Seahawks.
(36:07):
The reason the NFC West is tough because I will
acknowledge San Francisco's got the easiest schedule and brock perty
is very much a B plus quarterback a minus on
certain games. Absolutely, But McCaffrey's coming off injuries, Trent Williams
coming off injuries, George Kittle's getting older, and they're walking
in a wide receiver with fingers crossed. So and it
(36:28):
also hurts their opener. Is that a younger team in
Seattle on the road And I was talking now, who
was Oh, oh, it was interesting. This is why I
like Seattle. In the game, I was vacationing and I had,
you know, a couple of days to hang out with
Steve Khime, the former Arizona GM, and we were just,
you know, just randomly talking about different things. I said,
(36:48):
what was the toughest place to play in all your
years in Arizona? And he goes, Seattle is a nightmare.
He said, It's always windier than you think, it's wetter
than you think. And he goes, the way they built
that stadium, it is loud. It is a rough place
to play. So for years they called you know, they
call it the twelfth Men in Seattle. So he said,
(37:10):
the fans, you know, they like their craft beer in Seattle.
They are liquored up, ready to go, and it's loud.
So against that's the one game that you and I
are on opposite sides.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
I leave.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
I like Seattle to hold servant home and beat San Francisco,
and you like the Niners to win comfortably.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
It just I know, Kyle Shanahan has historically owned Seattle.
So they did lose last year twenty to seventeen. Before that,
Shanahan had won sixth straight against the Seahawks. Now, I
know there's been you know, obviously a lot of upheopal there,
but he usually dominates these guys. I love Shanahan, Meil
scheme up stuff. Even with pearce Al and Jennings as
(37:48):
his top two receivers, they would have been three to
four last year in Week one because i Ukandivo would
have been there. I don't have a lot of concern
for san Fran in the spot. Okay, I forget the
lines for a second. I'll give you the teams and
just pop the winner. Don't get it, get out of
the line space. Dallas at Philly Eagles, Casey Chargers overseas.
(38:11):
I would go Casey.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Giants at Washington.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
So the hesitation, I mean you got you go on
see the Giants. I'll say Washington wins a close one.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
They won.
Speaker 6 (38:24):
I think both games are less than seven. Last year,
both were close, and the Giants wood Argue are better
Kart Carter Russell Wilson's in upgrade, right, They're better than
they were last year.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yeah, so you're saying Washington, I'll.
Speaker 6 (38:35):
Say Washington in a close one.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
That's a tough one.
Speaker 6 (38:38):
Tampa at Atlanta, Atlanta, I'm I'm pop committed to Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Sinci at Cleveland.
Speaker 6 (38:46):
Again, the hesitation, I mean, it's tough for me. To
envisit Joe Flacco beating Burrow. I think too many people
are mentioning for those early seasons struggles. So I'll go
Bengals nineteen seventeen or some crazy score.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Like Okay, seventy nine percent of the fans think the
bet of the week is Jacksonville. So Carolina at Jacksonville.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
Yeah, I got Jaggs, I think comfortably. I think Liam
Cohen is going to surprise you. I know you won't
ever talk Jacksonville early in the show, but I think
Monday you're gonna be like, take a.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Look at Trevor Lawrence and Travis Hunter. I like Jacks
Steelers at the Jets.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Jets, by the way, if for no other reason, I
have one of my rules of betting is in a
low scoring game, take points. This thing has like seventeen thirteen,
twenty seven? Is the over under on this thing?
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:36):
I think it's What is the over under on this time?
Speaker 4 (39:38):
How many?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
I think it's thirty eight or thirty nine?
Speaker 6 (39:40):
Yeah, So tonight Dak and Jalen Hurts combined preseason staffed zero.
I'm surprised for Dak coming off last year, but Aaron
Rodgers hasn't sniffed the field, and all of a sudden,
Aaron Glenn blitz happy look at his Detroit numbers, blitzed
a ton. If he does that with the Jets, I
think Roger's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
In real trouble. Yeah. I like the Jets. Miami at
the Colts.
Speaker 6 (40:03):
Forty one forty shootout, flip a coin on who wins it.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
I don't you know we haven't mentioned this. Let's just
stop here, Shane style. I like the Colts roster, we
don't like quarterback. Is it shocking if the Colts at
home hold you? I never trust now Miami, I don't
trust in cold whether it's a dome, would you be shocked?
You know they're gonna honor perhaps Jim or say, it'll
be very very emotional. Shane Stike in a great offensive
(40:27):
coach offseason, noisy offseason. Tyreek Hill's not a captain. How
about this for an upset? I don't know what the
points speret is now, Prime Bolts are favored, the culture favored.
Speaker 6 (40:38):
This feels like the kind of game where the narrative
will be, hey man, how did you lose this game?
He's on the hot seat. McDaniel, They're gonna look at
the firing.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
I never looked at this game. I don't know what
I'm getting with either. I didn't even This is a
game that I never got. Just shot in games I
just take. I'm not betting him. I don't know enough.
That's interesting. Okay, one more, I'm telling you Houston at
the Rams.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
So who do you like?
Speaker 6 (41:08):
Sidewise in that one?
Speaker 3 (41:10):
I think it's an under.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I generally take the offensive coach in the opener, but
I got I got real questions about Stafford and the
left tackle. If it goes to three and a half,
I'm taking Texans. HM.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
I listen to your Super Bowl winner.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I'll tell you one of my favorite bets is Texans
Rams under under.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
I think it's a twenty three to twenty game, low
scoring game. Jackson's O line has three or four new starters.
RAMS defensive front is nasty, and I don't trust the
Rams left tackle. He's good blood clots, hasn't practiced much.
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