Colin is joined by Greg Cosell of NFL Films for a deep dive into the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive struggles and why the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense hasn’t looked like the Patrick Mahomes–led machine we’re used to seeing
He talks Cowboys Reporter Matt Mosley about Dallas' season so far and why Jerry Jones is smiling from ear to ear
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we go. Lions and the Cowboys tonight. I like Dallas.
I like their direction. Offense is on fire, playing with
a ton of confidence. I think one of the things
when you look around the NFL right now is that
the best quarterback doesn't necessarily lead the division. The best
(00:51):
coach often leads the division. Mike Vrabel is the best coach.
Drake may is not as good as Josh Allen, He's good,
leads his division. Ben Johnson leads his division. Sean McVay
leads his division. I mean, and we've said before, quarterback
is more valuable than coaching. That's always been understood. But
(01:15):
I think in Detroit you have a situation where you
lost a brilliant coordinator, Ben Johnson, who's become a so
far a brilliant head coach, and I think all the
problems stemmed. It is nothing against the person that replaced him.
Detroit still scores points, but not as many, and they're
not as powerful with many of the same players. So
(01:36):
they were great in fact, defined Detroit was on third
down and fourth down. Now they're bad on third down
with a lot of the same players. So Dan Campbell
on what he's seeing with the Cowboys right now.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
They're hot right now, they're playing really good football. They
got a lot of confidence. They're a rugged team. You know,
they are built off the old line D line, but
they got to explosiveness on the perimeter and Dak's playing
at a high level man. So look, we know we
got our hands full, but we're up to the challenge.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
The scary thing about Dallas is they're two guards. Over
the last several years, they've taken high draft picks with
interior linemen. They're both outstanding. So their interior O line there.
They got a little problem at right tackle, but that
Dallas O line. Remember that that's what carried Dak early
in his career. Once again, Dak ten years later. They
(02:33):
this old line has a chance to be really something.
They're running the football now with conviction. With that Greg
Cosel forty six years, NFL Films always joined us on Thursday.
What's been more impressive to you about the Cowboys? The offense,
Greg or the defense?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I would think the defense, Colin, because look, as you
know what, the first five six weeks, people are laughing
at their defense, and now you know they made those trades.
Obviously they got Kenny Clark before that season, but the
ind season trades they have made been really impressive. And
the trio of d tackles is as good a trio as.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Any in the league.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
And as you probably noticed, three weeks ago, the rookie
corner Revel from East Carolina started to play, and then
this past week on Thanksgiving, he played pretty much every snap.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
And now what.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
They've done, and I think you'll continue to see this tonight,
is now they've played Revel and Bridges, who's got a
lot of length on the outside, and they've moved Bland
to the slot where he's better. Bland is not a
very good outside corner, so now they moved him into
the slot where he first really made his heay in
the league. And they're much better on the back end.
(03:42):
But with what they've done up front, the returner of
overshown the trading for Logan Wilson. Suddenly this defense, well
it's not top five in the league, but it's a
good enough defense to win games.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
All right. So a game that's a little under the radar,
although Josh Allen games are never truly under the radar.
Bills play the Bengals and here's Joe Burrow. Yeah, and
my take is Cincinnati and Burrow are going to be
the number one spoiler in the end, and it may
not make the playoffs. But what did you see with
Burrow's first start? Because the numbers tell me he was
(04:16):
pretty good.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yeah, Burrow's always been a guy.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
First of all, he's so good pre snap and then
getting into the post snap operation phase. He's just one
of those guys. He's like a computer chip. He just
sees it. It's innate, it's in his DNA. And he's always
been a guy. Now, granted, he's got good receivers, we
understand that, but he's always been a guy that understands
the NFL that if it's one on one, you've got
(04:40):
to throw the football, and that if that doesn't work,
that means you don't need another quarterback. It means you
need new receivers. But he's got receivers, so he's going
to push it down the field. They'll be one on
ones against these Bills corners and we'll see.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
How that plays out. On the other side.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
The Bills, to me, are one of the most fascinating
studies on offense in this league. They've got the most
physically gifted quarterback in the league. I don't know the
reason why they choose not to throw the ball. Maybe
they don't like their receivers, but with the most physically
gifted quarterback in the league, they are not a passing team.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
They don't throw the ball down the field.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
In fact, they don't want to throw it a whole
lot in terms of volume unless they're forced to. But
that's not the way they choose to play. And I
give Aaron Kromer. They're all line coach who's been doing this.
You probably know Aaron.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
He's been doing this.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
For twenty twenty five years. Absolutely one of the best
in the league. Their run game is so good, it's
so multiple's specific to the opponent. I mean, last week
against the Steelers, Cook and Davis had.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Forty one runs combined.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Colin they did not pull an offensive lineman one time,
so it was all zone.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
It was all zone based.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yet we've seen them have that run game where they
have the counter run game with Hawes and Gilliam the
fullback and been successful through the year doing that. So
they are very specific to the opponent in how they
feel is the best way to attack.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
But this is a running football team and.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
They only really rely on Josh Allen when they think
they need to.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Okay, another game. It's basically the season for the Kansas
City Chiefs the Houston Texans. Let's start with Houston. So
I prefer offensive coaches, But if you're gonna go defense,
go young Mike McDonald to me, go Ryans. I remember
before Demiko got the job, people in the Niners organization
were saying, We're never going to keep this guy. He's
(06:31):
just too stright, he's too bright. Well, so I watch
Houston's defense. It's the best in the league. Is it schemes?
Is it coaching? Because they make every quarterback struggle It's
like they're playing with an extra man. What is it
about their defense? Is it just better personnel or coaching?
Speaker 4 (06:46):
It's both because obviously, if you look at the personnel,
they're really good at all three levels, and based on
my film study, I would argue that Kaln Bullock is
the best post safety in the league this season in
his second year in the league.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Out of USC.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
You're probably very famil them being you know, from USC,
really good football player, really good long, smart, good, good athlete.
But obviously we know about Hunter and Anderson. They're really
good inside too. No one talks about what they put
out there on the inside at the detackle position. But
the one thing about Tamiko Ryans is he's very technical,
(07:20):
so in specific situations he will bring pressure and they're
very good with their concepts. Now, based on the rest
of the league, they're not a high percentage pressure defense,
but they're very schematic and tactical with when when they
bring pressure, and they're very very good at it. And
they stunt, and they've got guys who can stunt, really
good athletes. So this is a really difficult defense to
(07:43):
play against. You and I are talking on a Thursday.
I have no idea what the status is. We know
Simmons the left tackle went on IR. I don't know
if Tray Smith the guard's going to play. We don't
know if Joan Taylor's going to play. So imagine if
you have all these backups on your offensive line and
now you've got that defensive line that you've got to
play against.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
By the way, what is the identity of the Chiefs
offense today? What is it?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
I would say it's Patrick Mahomes being special. And I'm
not trying to be sarcastic. I think the more you
watch and I watch, I think I've watched every Mahomes
game in the league since he's been in the league.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
It almost seems to me watching his tape Colin.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
That more and more he's become an improvisational stud as
opposed to a pocket technician. Now that's not to say
he's not capable of playing from the pocket, of course
he is.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
He's extremely gifted.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
But it seems the more I watch, the more it's
become a case of him getting outside of play design,
making incredible plays. That's what he did last week when
he almost brought them back to victory, you know, against
the Cowboys.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
It seems there's more and more of that now.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
He's so good at it that they can kind of survive,
although obviously they're six and six this year. I think
this is a game where he's going to move around
a lot, but I don't think they have a true identity.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
And the way I think you're using the word.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Raven Steelers, I mean it kind of feels again kind
of this is it for Pittsburgh. Is the Steelers offense broken?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I'm not sure Steelers an offense or two words that
go together very much these days. They're a tough offense
to watch. I mean, you talk about, you know, identity,
I don't know what they are other than the fact
that they line up a lot with.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
The big people.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
They play with two tight ends, they play with three
tight ends. I think they'd like to run the football,
but that's been very up and down. You don't know
from week to week if they're going to have any
kind of sustaining run game.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
I'm not sure what the past game is.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
They really don't work the middle of the field much
at all, which is not a function of the quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers can obviously still throw the football sometimes I
feel watching their tape that their number one receivers becoming
Darnell Washington at three hundred and eleven pounds. So it's
it's I'm not sure sure what they are on offense,
and I don't know if right now I feel like
(10:04):
watching their tape that you can hang your hat on
anything and say, hey, this is what they bring to
the table every single week.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I want to talk about a team that we've kind
of forgotten about once they lost their tackles. But we've
talked about the Chiefs so much, we've talked about Denver
that quietly. This defense with the Chargers. They're eight and four,
they're at home. I'm absolutely a live shot to beat Philadelphia.
I don't even know how they run the ball with
(10:31):
this offensive line. I have no idea. It's not good,
right But it's mostly been a defensive story with Jesse
Minter again, I'll ask you the question I did with Houston.
Is it coaching or scheme with a Chargers defense? It's
number two or three in the league right now.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Yeah, it's both.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
But I think one of the things that stands out
when you watch their defense, and they have a lot
of players people may not be aware of. They don't
know their names, they're not household names. But they've got
a lot of pieces that can line up in different
positions and they're very multi positional, multi dimensional. Look we
know about Derwin James, he's the name everybody knows. Not
a lot of people probably know about Tar Heeb still
(11:09):
a corner who plays outside in their base, moves inside
in their sub defenses, and by the way, is very
in the dime really because they play nickel all the time.
It's that big nickel with Drwin James. So in their
dime he plays inside and he's a major part of.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Their pressure packages.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Tuoy Polot, he's a guy that plays both outside and inside.
A really good player. I'm sure not a lot of
people are aware of him. Diane Henley really good linebacker.
Another guy that lines up in multiple positions within their
different defensive structures, so they have a lot of movable
chess pieces within their defense. And Jesse Minter obviously is
(11:47):
coaching really well, because when you ask guys to have
a lot of different responsibilities based on different personnel, that
means you're teaching really really well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah. Well, I want to talk about Jackson Dart for
a second, and so I watch him sirst opposed with
Drake May. Drake May does everything well. Drake May was
a little reckless his first year, spend a lot of
time in the blue tent. He doesn't anymore, he cleaned
it up. No. I watch Jackson Dart, and the Giants
are so desperate at quarterback. They've been so bad for
so many years. They're just clinging to anything that work.
(12:17):
They cling to Tommy DeVito a couple of years ago.
I watched Jackson. I watch Jackson Dart, and I think
he's a bit of a splash player. He's memorable, he's confident.
I is he a guy that can throw forty two
times a game? What is the film say, not the media,
not the fan? What is the film say on Jackson Dart?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Well, the first thing I want to say is we're
not going to define his whole career about what we've
seen this year.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
So I want people to understand that.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So right now, Jackson Dart is a quarterback that is
not seeing things as clearly as you need to.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And when you're a quarterback that has mobility.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Colin, and you don't see things as clearly as you
need to on a consistent fasis, what do you do?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
You run?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
And that's what he does and he's very good at it.
But he can't take the kind of hits we're looking
at now. He's spent almost every one of his games
maybe with just one or two exceptions in the blue ten.
And obviously he missed a couple of weeks dude to
being in the concussion protocol. So ideally, as he plays more,
he starts to see things with more clarity, gets a
(13:19):
better picture pre snap that translates to post snap. He
becomes more of a post snap operator and therefore can
drop in the pocket, see it and throw the football.
Because you can't play like this on a consistent basis.
It's not sustainable. And he's not big, by the way,
so it's not as if that he can you know,
the body is it can handle all this. So we'll
(13:42):
see how it plays out. But like I said, I'm
not defining his whole career. He's a rookie on a
team that's not very good, so he's it's just how
it's playing out this year.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Okay, another young guy, Shador Sanders. I can't go to
a segment. Yeah second start you know again, what's the
film saying?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, Chador was not very good this week, And I
think the way I always look at it when I
watch young guys, I feel the same way about cam
Ward is they are still playing a little.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Bit out of college. Speed.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
You have to get back in the pocket. You've got
to see it, you've got to deliver the football. This week,
he didn't see things the way he needed to. He
left a lot of throws on the field by not
turning it loose. When the design of the route concept
was clean, it was there. If he threw the ball
this week when he should have, Jerry Judy would have
had one hundred and seventy five receiving yards. And that
(14:34):
doesn't even include that play, which was actually a second
reaction and adjustment.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Play that we just saw.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
But for the most part this week, the processing just
was was a little slow.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Now again, he needs more reps.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
This is not a condemnation or a referendum on his
entire career and what it's going to be Colin. He
needs a lot of reps. He needs to play to
the speed of the NFL game and right now he's
not doing that. And there's one thing that is very
coach that he had this issue in college and it
flared up again this week. He has a tendency when
he moves to hold the ball with one hand. You
(15:08):
cannot do that in the NFL. That can be coached
and cleaned.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Up Okay, the best game of the weekend Bears Packers.
So let's start with the Bears. I love it. It's
so old school Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson would run at
fifty five times. I mean, is it now? First of all,
when he got there, he went and got Drew Dolman
and Joe Tooney and Jonah Jackson, so it was very
clear what he wanted to do. Established for a young quarterback,
(15:32):
a big time run game. Is it a beautiful thing
to watch when you look at film?
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Well, this week it was beautiful.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
They ran outside zone is their predominant run against the Eagles,
and the Eagles they played it the wrong way. And
they know that you can't play outside zone by playing
laterally and just sliding down the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
There has to be some kind of vertical knock pack.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Now, you don't want to shoot gaps, but there has
to be some kind of vertical knockback, and the Eagles
didn't do that. You know, I've got the second best
running game in the NFL, and a lot of people
probably aren't aware of that because all you want to
talk about is Caleb Williams. That's what most people want
to talk about. But their run game has been really solid.
The Menungae kid has been really good. He's a physical, sustaining,
(16:14):
hard runner, and when you compare him and combine him
with Swift, you've got a really nice run game. And
the Old Lion is playing really, really well, and what
he does really well. It's almost the old Joe Gibbs
philosophy colin of using motion to change run support. Most
people don't think of motion as being a factor in
the run game, but Joe Gibbs did it, you know,
(16:36):
years and years ago with the Redskins, where you use
motion and it dictates run support and changes it in
your favor. And that's one thing that Ben Jonson has
such a good feel for.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay, listen, I like Jordan Love. I had my questions
out of Utah State, but I said, if I didn't
say his name and I just said, there's a tall
kid that's athletic with a big arm, takes risks and
doesn't throw a lot of picks, everybody would go, oh,
that's great. I think he's really talented. I think sometimes
there's just it looks to me like a franchise quarterback.
(17:07):
Good arm moves, Yeah, nice kid, coachable can ad lib
can be on script or off. What is your favorite
quality on film of the Packers young quarterback.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
I would say there's a comfort with which he plays,
which is not an next to no point, but there's
a comfort with which he plays. And I would say
that what has really stood out this year and he's
gotten better at his ball placement, because they are phenomenal
on third down Colin, they're the best third down conversion
offense in the league. And on third and seven plus,
(17:40):
which for most teams is pretty much it's time to punt,
they convert more than forty three percent on third and
seven plus. That is remarkable, it's almost unheard of. But
his ball location has gotten more consistent, more precise year
after year. And you combine that with an aggressive mindset,
which I believe is a essential for a quarterback in
(18:01):
this league. He's an aggressive mindset thrower, and now that
he's more accurate and more precise with his ball location,
he wins.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
On third down. And but again, you.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Know, we've talked about coaching on the defensive side, coaching
on the offensive side. I think it's a really good
mix with Jordan Love and Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
We know Matlaflor likes to run the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
But the other thing that stands out is they do
some really good things in the red zone. You know,
I'm not a believer in the red zone. I actually I
heard Ben Johnson talk about this. I'm not a believer
in the red zone of just throwing it up and
hoping your receiver catches the ball. I'm much more of
a believer in schematics in the red zone. And we
saw that last week, and that's actually going to be
the play we show because I think that that's so
(18:43):
critical to be a will score touchdowns in the red
zone and not just relying on guys going up and
making a play, which is which is a maybe yes,
maybe no deal. So this was last week against Detroit,
and I actually love this play in it it's really
so simple. You know, sometimes the really cool things are
so simple when you really look at them.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
So here's love. He's in the gun.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Now what we're starting with here, We're going to start
with a two by two formation, meaning that there's two
receivers up top to the wide side of the field,
and there's two receivers to the boundary side of the formation.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Now, what's going to happen.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Is the two key receivers here are Watson and Dobbs,
and we'll see that as we continue with the play. Now,
Dobbs will go in motion and the corner will follow.
Now you're playing man down here if you're a defense,
because there's not a lot of room.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
You're not playing zone, so you're playing man.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
So Dobbs is now stacked behind Watson and the corners
they switched their matchup because of the motion. So you
know what you have now is the corner that was
on Dobbs is now matched to Watson and Dobbs is
on the outside.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
So this is really some very simple but very cool stuff.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
What you're going to see is Watson is going to
angle his stem to the outside. Okay, so they're going
to do what we call a switch release, going to
angle his stem outside, and Dobbs is going to then
angle his stem inside. But because the corners now have
to switch due to this switch release concept, what happens
is Dobbs ends up running now his out quick outcut
(20:15):
against a corner that's inside of him. Because of everything
they've done, the motion, the stack, the switch release, So
what happens is is he just has the leverage on him,
so when he breaks to the outside, Colin, it becomes
pitching catch.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
It's just really beautiful stuff.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
It looks so easy, but you know, this is just
so beautiful when you watch it. And to me, this
is what red zone, particularly low red zone offense meaning
ten yards in has to be about, not just throwing
it up to receivers, but this packer offense.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
And you're right about Jordan Love.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
He definitely looks like a franchise quarterback. He's so physically
talented and I think mentally he's getting better and better
with each each week.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, great stuff. Greg Cosel, forty six years NFL Films.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Thanks Greg, Thanks Colin, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
What's interesting to me, folks about Jordan Love And you
see this a lot. So he had a really good
year in college the year before he came out, and
then the year he came out, it wasn't as good
a year because he lost coaches and a lot of
people bailed on him. But you had to go back
and look at the film from the previous year, and
it does show that we all know this bo Nix
(21:24):
is benefiting from Sean Payton and Caleb Williams is benefiting
from Ben Johnson. Well, that works in college as well.
You know, when Sark was a college coordinator, but he
was good enough to be a coach at Texas. It
was nice having Lane Kiffen and Sark as coordinators when
they're both excellent head coaches. So this coaching stuff matters
(21:47):
everybody in Green Bay. I hope you understand. You do
understand that Green Bay's a weller in operation. But I
don't get the critics of Jordan Love. I think he's
an incredibly special player, arm, movement, size, and again this
every time you put a mic in front of him,
says the right thing. I mean again, he never blows
(22:07):
up a locker room. There's no passive aggressive. You can
tell he cares about stuff beyond himself. It just again,
that stuff matters for quarterback. I don't care about other positions.
Every time you talk to Jordan Love. And by the way,
Caleb's gotten very good at this. Caleb Williams. Chicago's media
is very aggressive. Jalen Hurts, hyper aggressive Philly media. Jalen
(22:31):
Hurts brings the heat down. Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, It's
so much a part of this is keep the thing
the thing, don't inflame situations. But Jordan is really special.
Good kid.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
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Speaker 3 (22:55):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
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Speaker 6 (23:00):
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Speaker 1 (23:10):
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Speaker 4 (23:22):
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Speaker 1 (23:26):
We just had a very polarizing political talking topic. If
you did a fast food All Star team, We've come
to the conclusion, Jamax, you'd have Chick fil A, spicy sandwich,
McDonald's fries, the Wendy Smoothie cane sauces. Oh okay, frosty.
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Friend, my daughter got me into raising canes lately.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I never said it is great. The sauces are the best.
And then we went back and forth best burger in
and out.
Speaker 7 (23:59):
What I want to get attacked in Los Angeles. But
that's way way off, bro. Come on, their patties are
so small. How could that be the best burger when
the patties thin? No way, I would go five guys.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Not a bad call. That's the kind of stuff we discuss.
Speaker 7 (24:16):
Discuss during the break. I'm here grinding away on gambling lines.
You're talking about hamburgers and fries. Okay, I see how
you roll.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Nobody beats the Golden Arches for fraud.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
Oh nobody.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I stopped by there on a regular basis in the
summer when I need salt. I just stopped by. I
get a mat and just eat them in the car.
Drive arounds. Great, yeah, j Mack with a news No, no.
Speaker 7 (24:40):
This is the herd line news when I need salt.
I like that line. I'm gonna start using that. Let's
get started with Penn State Colin. Not great, not great
at all. James Franklin was fired six weeks ago and
they still don't have a hire. Here's where it gets dicey.
There are reports that claim they've lost over twenty recruits
from the recruited class. James Franklin went to Virginia Tech.
(25:01):
Eleven of those recruits followed him there to the Hokies. Currently,
they only have two players committed to the class.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
No coach. Well, I don't like firing coaches mid season.
I didn't like firing James Franklin. This is not about
being right. But they were thirteen and three or something
like that last year. He had a bad stretch. Go
ahead and criticize him, but you know what, he got
the last laugh. Because Penn State in the nil era,
you can overcome a disastrous recruiting class. But it's not
(25:31):
good when Ohio State now is the best program in
the country. Oregon USC just finished with the number one class.
So it's a bad, bad look and it's a cautionary tale,
be very even in the NFL. I don't like firing midseason.
Like I like what Miami did. Our GM's not the
right guy. We're gonna let two in Mike McDaniel play out,
(25:51):
and I think Mike's a really smart guy and a
good offensive coach. You start firing coaches all of a sudden,
the assistant comes in. One wins a couple of games,
and everybody wants to assistant. You really think the assistant
at Old Miss is going to be as good as Lane.
Keffin like, I'd be very very careful about this stuff.
It's a tough one.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
I'll just say this Penn State could turn it around easily.
And yesterday Klatt made a good point. Maybe they're fishing
after somebody who's still playing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think that has to be the I don't think
it's Kailin de Boor.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
I tried to do my homework on that. It seems
like I just don't see that happening. That would be
an unbelievable height.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Ryan Dable open up the piggy bank.
Speaker 7 (26:26):
I think you, Brian Dable will be a home run.
Now listen, this Mike Tomlin stuff feels like nonsense. But
Mike Tomlin would crush it at Penn Stake if he
wanted to go that route.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
By the way, I know that Old Miss Lane left
Old Miss, so I don't want to lump that in there.
But my take is everybody you know it just you
gotta be careful. And for the record, the reason guys
like Lane left Tennessee after one year and everybody freaked
out is because these programs they have no mercy when
they want to get rid of you. Well, guess what,
(26:57):
Sometimes the coach is going to get rid of you.
And so when you see Lane kippin Leavin early. Lane's theory,
I believe has always been I've been watching my colleagues
and peers get fired in season, get dumped after decent
season forever. I'm gonna dictate terms. So James Franklin, basically,
when they when you fire a guy like that, you
(27:17):
are telling every good coach they'll can you after a
three game losing streak. Be very careful. No loyalty. There's
no loyalty out there.
Speaker 7 (27:24):
I mean, I'm loyal to you, but there's not loyalty
anywhere else. All right, let's move on to Ben Johnson.
Colin listen, I know he's your guy. We got to
talk about them every show, but this week is a
tough one. They got Matt Lafleur and Jordan Love. There
was some smack talk in the offseason. Jordan Love said
he heard the noise that Ben Johnson was marking, but he's.
Speaker 8 (27:44):
Not listening, not worried about those things that are said.
You know, it's another game, obviously. You know the Bear's
match up where I was trying to win that game.
They're number one in the NFC, so obviously we haven't
played them yet, the only team in the NFC North
we haven't seen so and uh, you know, two games
in three weeks, so it would be a great matchup.
Speaker 9 (28:04):
You know, they're a good team.
Speaker 8 (28:05):
And like we've always said, you know, it's that that
one of no mentality.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
You just handle business this week.
Speaker 7 (28:10):
All business for Jordan Love you see that. No smiles,
no jokes.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
My kind of guy. Yep, no silliness.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
You flip flop on that yet or you go in
Packers or Bears.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Just gonna saving to watch the game with great interest.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Oh wow, it's not blazon five. Oh man, that's disappointing.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You're a bitch. Thursday Thursday, my god old chicken.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
Huh huh, all right, final story, Colin, let's go to
uh man. Mike Tomlin. So yesterday Ben Roethlisberger, Okay, yeah,
I had his chime in on on Mike Tomlin senta
it should be over. Well today it's five time pro
bowler James Harrison. Remember James Harrison obviously spent ten years
with Tomlin. Now he's been a critic of his former
coach and here's uh, here's Harrison going off on the
(28:56):
Steelers after that disaster against the Bills. I had never
been a person that thought coach Tomy was a great coach.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
I thought he was a good coach.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
A good coach gets you to play to your potential.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, I think Tomlin is a good coach.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
I think by the time out good coach. He's a
Hall of Fame coach.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Locke correct, No, I don't want to say that. What
Thomas not a Hall of Famer? He doesn't want a
playoff game in eight years? Okay, Well, he had a
career before that. I'm just saying recently.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
And he's also young. He's got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
First of all, did not that many coaches make the
Hall of Fame. There's a really good coaches not in
the Hall of Fame. Look it up.
Speaker 7 (29:43):
That would be a start. I think Tomlin's I mean,
he's unbelievable. He's at a rough stretch.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Is Mike Shanahan in the Hall of Fame as a coach?
He's not.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
It's weird.
Speaker 7 (29:57):
Everybody's slandering Tomlin. Now the I'm slendering he is. It's
over James Harrison. He's not a great.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Coach mac if I go eight years and don't compete
in certain levels in any business. Eight years without a
playoff win, now one. In fact, it's nine years since
he went to the playoffs and won a game and
scored a touchdown. Like Ian, Greg Cosel came on the
air twenty minutes ago. I asked him about the Steelers offense.
(30:24):
He's like, you don't know. This is a guy that's
an expert watching film. He's like, yeah, I don't even
know what I'm watching.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Is that Tom Lein or is that Arthur Smith? The
offensive guyan Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
The president of Fox Sports. Eventually, if somebody watched our
broadcast and said I don't know what they're doing, well,
it's not my responsibility, right, I have to do my show.
If a team, if you talk about a team and
you say to yourself, y'all, I don't even know what
I'm watching. Eventually, a head coach a Jimmy Johnson, A
(30:55):
Sean Payton. Andy Reid is responsible for the defense. He
hires a coreator, but he has to be responsible for
the day to day play and execution and production of
all his entire special teams. Offense, defense, Mike Shanahan's not
a Hall of Famer. I mean, didn't make the cut
for twenty twenty six, got a couple of Super Bowls.
(31:16):
His son's a great coach. Shanahan basically helped create a
run system that has still today is the most copied
run system in the league. So this iety of the
coaches just, hey, they made a couple of Super Bowls. Hey,
and not a lot of coaches make the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 7 (31:33):
So you know, this roster is not great. Tomlin, ain't
the GM. They tried to draft a quarterback, Kenny Pickett,
that was a flop, so then they went for Aaron
Rodgers disaster. All this is on Tomlin?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
What about the GM? Is the GM catching no heat?
Nobody's trading Pickens, nobody's saying it's all on him. But
the highest paid guy in the building, this quarterback. You
know who the second highest paid guy is oftentimes either
a pass rush or a head coach. You're the boss, yeah,
you know, you're the year.
Speaker 7 (31:58):
Do you know the boss has to fire lieutenants before
he gets.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
How many Oh, Caesar, are we going to go through?
How many running backs? Receivers? A quarterbacks?
Speaker 7 (32:07):
GMS? Okay, all right, so you're ready, you're done with Tomlin,
it's over.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
I think he'd get hired in a heartbeat somewhere else.
I would defend him getting hired, and you know, wherever Miami.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Maybe it just got stale in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Right, But first of all, you know, I mean, I
just I'm watching the same team for seven years. All
I know is Colin.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
You want to run him out, that's fine. I need
a plan. I need a concrete plan because you're seeing
what's happened to Penn State. Can you imagine if that
happened to the Steelers in the NFL, one of the
blue bloods.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
It's not gonna happen in the NFL. Your calendar is different.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Well, I'm just saying no, I mean you you better
have a plan to hire a coach. You go from
Mike Tomlin to I don't know, We're you gonna get
Ryan Dable.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I'd be good with it.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
We could hire I don't think he's gonna want to
work with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's for Schwerin's done. He's not gonna work with Aaron.
Speaker 7 (32:56):
The Dable's going there with no quarterback. I'd go to
Penn State.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Good quarter back draft. You want a playoff game with
Daniel Jones, you just spot Boy Jay and C consultings
falling apart here on our own business Chapter nine, you know, oh,
chapter eleven, whatever it's called. Jmack with the News.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app well.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
He is the host of the Doomsday Podcast, a Cowboy
Dallas Cowboy Podcast Cowboys play at to night cover in
the NFL for twenty four years. He's a friend. Matt
Moseley is joining us, and he's joining us live good
days in Dallas. It is amazing between the George Pickens deal,
the Quinn Williams move, the Mica trade. Suddenly the whole
world owes Jerry Jones an apology. You cover him. I
(33:51):
see you whenever there's games and Jerry's talking, I see
Matt Moseley, the intrepid journalist covering him as Jerry Jerry.
He's on a streak. He is hot. Is he soaking
in it right now?
Speaker 6 (34:06):
He very much is. And usually when you see me.
It's this right, That's what I'm kind of behind him.
I like, that's my preferred state. Your producers, you know,
want me to go ahead and take these offs, so
I do that to honor them. But yeah, Jerry is
feeling great about things, and boy he is now openly
(34:26):
talking about the playoffs and it's been an amazing run
for him.
Speaker 9 (34:32):
And I think this Quinn Williams saying, you.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
Know, it's amazing that Micah is having the kind of
season he is, and if the Cowboys had continued down
the path they were going, that would be the overriding story.
Look at this guy blowing up. He's incredible. And yet
nobody in conversation around the Cowboys is saying anything about
Micah because of the trades that Jerry has made. Now.
(34:54):
I heard y'all talking about Mike Tomlin earlier and whether
he's Hall of Fame worthy and all of that, But boy,
Jerry put one on the Steelers, is what it appears,
and that's now looking like one of the better trades
of the past five years. Who knows what Pickens will
be able to do, but Pickens has like literally stepped
in across from CD Lamb, one of the great receivers
(35:16):
in the NFL, and Pickens is at least this season,
clearly the best receiver on the team.
Speaker 9 (35:21):
And he's rehabbed whatever image issues he had.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
And now that's what Jerry has to do is find
a way to resign this guy.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Hey, listen, nobody thought Brian Chottenheimer was a strong hire.
How do you explain his success? Because I'm on the
group that thought and nobody else was after him. What
do you think the secret sauce has been with Schottenheimer?
Dak's playing better than he's ever played.
Speaker 6 (35:44):
Now each day he wakes up and he plays that
one and done clip that you were saying just to
motivate himself. Look at him striding out there. You know
he's way better with the media than Mike. That doesn't
totally matter you're not winning or losing. But boy, when
they got on that street and the Marshawn Neeland tragedy,
(36:06):
the way he handled that. I watched Jason Garrett handle
a tragedy one time, and that was one of Garrett's
finest moments.
Speaker 9 (36:14):
Yeah, this was.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
An unbelievable moment for Shottenheimer because it showed his leadership.
Dak was a great leader too, but Schottenheimer kind of
drove everything. He's handled it beautifully. And watch out for
a team that seems to be playing for something.
Speaker 9 (36:31):
Bigger than itself.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
Yeah, and I think some of that's going on with
these Dallas Cowboys right now in trying to honor their
fallen teammates.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
You and I have both said Dak Prescott's iq EQ toughness,
resilience and tangibles have always been a plus plus right
out of Mississippi State. I always thought he had an
average arm. You know. I loved all the leadership. I
didn't know how talented he was. I think he's having
the best season I've ever seen. I don't know what
(37:00):
it is me. I don't know what the stats say.
What do you make of what we're watching.
Speaker 6 (37:07):
I see a marriage between a new head coach we
were just talking about and this player that has taken off,
and I feel like they feed off each other. He
relates better to him, and I think that was already
the case even when McCarthy was still here. So I
think that's playing a role, and I just think he
just feels And again, you have an incredible duo. I
(37:30):
thought it was great that Pickens took off when CD
was out and Pickens proved that he could kind of
do it on his own. I think back also, you
know when he has a relationship with a tight end
that that with Ferguson, that's been a beautiful thing.
Speaker 9 (37:45):
But I think he's just I mean, the maturity.
Speaker 6 (37:48):
Is there, it's always been there. But the play and
how comfortable he is, and also just the maturity of
even when they get down. Now they can't do that tonight.
They need to not get off one of those poor stars.
But even when they were down to the Eagles, even
when they were down forty one to nothing, the team
responds to him. He rallies the team, and he's just
(38:09):
he's in a great place. And in December, by the way,
twenty one and eight with about a.
Speaker 9 (38:15):
Ninety seven QBR in his career.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
We think because the Cowboys are bad in the playoffs,
right that, oh man, he's not good at this time
of year. He's actually really good in December. And I
hear people saying, boy, this is a playoff game tonight.
Speaker 7 (38:30):
Now.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
I don't know if that's good for the Cowboys. The
Cowboys should play that part of it down. But the
Cowboys have been in desperation mode going back three or
four weeks now, and they seem to be performing really
well in that mode.
Speaker 9 (38:41):
And if they win tonight, then we can have.
Speaker 6 (38:43):
A serious discussion about the playoffs because it goes up
there around oh like forty one to forty five percent
according to all the simulations.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Okay, I got a minute left. Texas Longhorns probably don't
make the playoff. Do you think they'll alter their schedule
and start calling up weaker teams or was that kind
of a threat that Texas is big and they'll keep
scheduling big teams.
Speaker 6 (39:12):
Well, they got to play these things out and that'll
last through like twenty twenty seven. They'll honor those contracts.
But you're already seeing teams start to pull out of
these games moving forward, So I think they will respond
to that. You know, I would just say, before we
get too caught up in all of that, maybe don't
go to ot. I mean, they had a kind of
(39:35):
a miracle to come back and beat Mississippi State. Is
that a good Missippi State team? It's not Kentucky. They
had to come back and they had to pull that
one out in overtime, So give them credit for pulling
the games out.
Speaker 9 (39:48):
But I would say they.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
Played pretty poorly in about half their games this year.
So this is not a year some incredible Longhorned team
is getting left on the sideline. They've had some great wins.
They've had some great wins and one of the and
they do well in rivalry games, give them that. I
mean they put down the great Aggies. Yeah, and they
(40:12):
had the other one against Oklahoma, But this is not
one of the great Longhorn teams of all time.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Love your honesty, Matt Moseley, Cowboy Insider, listen to the
Doomsday podcast. All right, buddy, you can put the glasses
back on. I certainly appreciate that. I know your future
is so bright. You got to wear those shades the
way it is with Matt Mosley coming up next hour,
Bruce Felman not in a good mood with the state
of college football. It's the Herds.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we go. Lions and the Cowboys tonight. I like Dallas.
I like their direction. Offense is on fire, playing with
a ton of confidence. I think one of the things
when you look around the NFL right now is that
the best quarterback doesn't necessarily lead the division. The best
(00:51):
coach often leads the division. Mike Vrabel is the best coach.
Drake may is not as good as Josh Allen, He's good,
leads his division. Ben Johnson leads his division. Sean McVay
leads his division. I mean, and we've said before, quarterback
is more valuable than coaching. That's always been understood. But
(01:15):
I think in Detroit you have a situation where you
lost a brilliant coordinator, Ben Johnson, who's become a so
far a brilliant head coach, and I think all the
problems stemmed. It is nothing against the person that replaced him.
Detroit still scores points, but not as many, and they're
not as powerful with many of the same players. So
(01:36):
they were great in fact, defined Detroit was on third
down and fourth down. Now they're bad on third down
with a lot of the same players. So Dan Campbell
on what he's seeing with the Cowboys right now.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
They're hot right now, they're playing really good football. They
got a lot of confidence. They're a rugged team. You know,
they are built off the old line D line, but
they got to explosiveness on the perimeter and Dak's playing
at a high level man. So look, we know we
got our hands full, but we're up to the challenge.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
The scary thing about Dallas is they're two guards. Over
the last several years, they've taken high draft picks with
interior linemen. They're both outstanding. So their interior O line there.
They got a little problem at right tackle, but that
Dallas O line. Remember that that's what carried Dak early
in his career. Once again, Dak ten years later. They
(02:33):
this old line has a chance to be really something.
They're running the football now with conviction. With that Greg
Cosel forty six years, NFL Films always joined us on Thursday.
What's been more impressive to you about the Cowboys? The offense,
Greg or the defense?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I would think the defense, Colin, because look, as you
know what, the first five six weeks, people are laughing
at their defense, and now you know they made those trades.
Obviously they got Kenny Clark before that season, but the
ind season trades they have made been really impressive. And
the trio of d tackles is as good a trio as.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Any in the league.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
And as you probably noticed, three weeks ago, the rookie
corner Revel from East Carolina started to play, and then
this past week on Thanksgiving, he played pretty much every snap.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
And now what.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
They've done, and I think you'll continue to see this tonight,
is now they've played Revel and Bridges, who's got a
lot of length on the outside, and they've moved Bland
to the slot where he's better. Bland is not a
very good outside corner, so now they moved him into
the slot where he first really made his heay in
the league. And they're much better on the back end.
(03:42):
But with what they've done up front, the returner of
overshown the trading for Logan Wilson. Suddenly this defense, well
it's not top five in the league, but it's a
good enough defense to win games.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
All right. So a game that's a little under the radar,
although Josh Allen games are never truly under the radar.
Bills play the Bengals and here's Joe Burrow. Yeah, and
my take is Cincinnati and Burrow are going to be
the number one spoiler in the end, and it may
not make the playoffs. But what did you see with
Burrow's first start? Because the numbers tell me he was
(04:16):
pretty good.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yeah, Burrow's always been a guy.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
First of all, he's so good pre snap and then
getting into the post snap operation phase. He's just one
of those guys. He's like a computer chip. He just
sees it. It's innate, it's in his DNA. And he's always
been a guy. Now, granted, he's got good receivers, we
understand that, but he's always been a guy that understands
the NFL that if it's one on one, you've got
(04:40):
to throw the football, and that if that doesn't work,
that means you don't need another quarterback. It means you
need new receivers. But he's got receivers, so he's going
to push it down the field. They'll be one on
ones against these Bills corners and we'll see.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
How that plays out. On the other side.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
The Bills, to me, are one of the most fascinating
studies on offense in this league. They've got the most
physically gifted quarterback in the league. I don't know the
reason why they choose not to throw the ball. Maybe
they don't like their receivers, but with the most physically
gifted quarterback in the league, they are not a passing team.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
They don't throw the ball down the field.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
In fact, they don't want to throw it a whole
lot in terms of volume unless they're forced to. But
that's not the way they choose to play. And I
give Aaron Kromer. They're all line coach who's been doing this.
You probably know Aaron.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
He's been doing this.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
For twenty twenty five years. Absolutely one of the best
in the league. Their run game is so good, it's
so multiple's specific to the opponent. I mean, last week
against the Steelers, Cook and Davis had.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Forty one runs combined.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Colin they did not pull an offensive lineman one time,
so it was all zone.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
It was all zone based.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yet we've seen them have that run game where they
have the counter run game with Hawes and Gilliam the
fullback and been successful through the year doing that. So
they are very specific to the opponent in how they
feel is the best way to attack.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
But this is a running football team and.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
They only really rely on Josh Allen when they think
they need to.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Okay, another game. It's basically the season for the Kansas
City Chiefs the Houston Texans. Let's start with Houston. So
I prefer offensive coaches, But if you're gonna go defense,
go young Mike McDonald to me, go Ryans. I remember
before Demiko got the job, people in the Niners organization
were saying, We're never going to keep this guy. He's
(06:31):
just too stright, he's too bright. Well, so I watch
Houston's defense. It's the best in the league. Is it schemes?
Is it coaching? Because they make every quarterback struggle It's
like they're playing with an extra man. What is it
about their defense? Is it just better personnel or coaching?
Speaker 4 (06:46):
It's both because obviously, if you look at the personnel,
they're really good at all three levels, and based on
my film study, I would argue that Kaln Bullock is
the best post safety in the league this season in
his second year in the league.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Out of USC.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
You're probably very famil them being you know, from USC,
really good football player, really good long, smart, good, good athlete.
But obviously we know about Hunter and Anderson. They're really
good inside too. No one talks about what they put
out there on the inside at the detackle position. But
the one thing about Tamiko Ryans is he's very technical,
(07:20):
so in specific situations he will bring pressure and they're
very good with their concepts. Now, based on the rest
of the league, they're not a high percentage pressure defense,
but they're very schematic and tactical with when when they
bring pressure, and they're very very good at it. And
they stunt, and they've got guys who can stunt, really
good athletes. So this is a really difficult defense to
(07:43):
play against. You and I are talking on a Thursday.
I have no idea what the status is. We know
Simmons the left tackle went on IR. I don't know
if Tray Smith the guard's going to play. We don't
know if Joan Taylor's going to play. So imagine if
you have all these backups on your offensive line and
now you've got that defensive line that you've got to
play against.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
By the way, what is the identity of the Chiefs
offense today? What is it?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
I would say it's Patrick Mahomes being special. And I'm
not trying to be sarcastic. I think the more you
watch and I watch, I think I've watched every Mahomes
game in the league since he's been in the league.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
It almost seems to me watching his tape Colin.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
That more and more he's become an improvisational stud as
opposed to a pocket technician. Now that's not to say
he's not capable of playing from the pocket, of course
he is.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
He's extremely gifted.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
But it seems the more I watch, the more it's
become a case of him getting outside of play design,
making incredible plays. That's what he did last week when
he almost brought them back to victory, you know, against
the Cowboys.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
It seems there's more and more of that now.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
He's so good at it that they can kind of survive,
although obviously they're six and six this year. I think
this is a game where he's going to move around
a lot, but I don't think they have a true identity.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
And the way I think you're using the word.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Raven Steelers, I mean it kind of feels again kind
of this is it for Pittsburgh. Is the Steelers offense broken?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I'm not sure Steelers an offense or two words that
go together very much these days. They're a tough offense
to watch. I mean, you talk about, you know, identity,
I don't know what they are other than the fact
that they line up a lot with.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
The big people.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
They play with two tight ends, they play with three
tight ends. I think they'd like to run the football,
but that's been very up and down. You don't know
from week to week if they're going to have any
kind of sustaining run game.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
I'm not sure what the past game is.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
They really don't work the middle of the field much
at all, which is not a function of the quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers can obviously still throw the football sometimes I
feel watching their tape that their number one receivers becoming
Darnell Washington at three hundred and eleven pounds. So it's
it's I'm not sure sure what they are on offense,
and I don't know if right now I feel like
(10:04):
watching their tape that you can hang your hat on
anything and say, hey, this is what they bring to
the table every single week.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I want to talk about a team that we've kind
of forgotten about once they lost their tackles. But we've
talked about the Chiefs so much, we've talked about Denver
that quietly. This defense with the Chargers. They're eight and four,
they're at home. I'm absolutely a live shot to beat Philadelphia.
I don't even know how they run the ball with
(10:31):
this offensive line. I have no idea. It's not good,
right But it's mostly been a defensive story with Jesse
Minter again, I'll ask you the question I did with Houston.
Is it coaching or scheme with a Chargers defense? It's
number two or three in the league right now.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Yeah, it's both.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
But I think one of the things that stands out
when you watch their defense, and they have a lot
of players people may not be aware of. They don't
know their names, they're not household names. But they've got
a lot of pieces that can line up in different
positions and they're very multi positional, multi dimensional. Look we
know about Derwin James, he's the name everybody knows. Not
a lot of people probably know about Tar Heeb still
(11:09):
a corner who plays outside in their base, moves inside
in their sub defenses, and by the way, is very
in the dime really because they play nickel all the time.
It's that big nickel with Drwin James. So in their
dime he plays inside and he's a major part of.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Their pressure packages.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Tuoy Polot, he's a guy that plays both outside and inside.
A really good player. I'm sure not a lot of
people are aware of him. Diane Henley really good linebacker.
Another guy that lines up in multiple positions within their
different defensive structures, so they have a lot of movable
chess pieces within their defense. And Jesse Minter obviously is
(11:47):
coaching really well, because when you ask guys to have
a lot of different responsibilities based on different personnel, that
means you're teaching really really well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah. Well, I want to talk about Jackson Dart for
a second, and so I watch him sirst opposed with
Drake May. Drake May does everything well. Drake May was
a little reckless his first year, spend a lot of
time in the blue tent. He doesn't anymore, he cleaned
it up. No. I watch Jackson Dart, and the Giants
are so desperate at quarterback. They've been so bad for
so many years. They're just clinging to anything that work.
(12:17):
They cling to Tommy DeVito a couple of years ago.
I watched Jackson. I watch Jackson Dart, and I think
he's a bit of a splash player. He's memorable, he's confident.
I is he a guy that can throw forty two
times a game? What is the film say, not the media,
not the fan? What is the film say on Jackson Dart?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Well, the first thing I want to say is we're
not going to define his whole career about what we've
seen this year.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
So I want people to understand that.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So right now, Jackson Dart is a quarterback that is
not seeing things as clearly as you need to.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And when you're a quarterback that has mobility.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Colin, and you don't see things as clearly as you
need to on a consistent fasis, what do you do?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
You run?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
And that's what he does and he's very good at it.
But he can't take the kind of hits we're looking
at now. He's spent almost every one of his games
maybe with just one or two exceptions in the blue ten.
And obviously he missed a couple of weeks dude to
being in the concussion protocol. So ideally, as he plays more,
he starts to see things with more clarity, gets a
(13:19):
better picture pre snap that translates to post snap. He
becomes more of a post snap operator and therefore can
drop in the pocket, see it and throw the football.
Because you can't play like this on a consistent basis.
It's not sustainable. And he's not big, by the way,
so it's not as if that he can you know,
the body is it can handle all this. So we'll
(13:42):
see how it plays out. But like I said, I'm
not defining his whole career. He's a rookie on a
team that's not very good, so he's it's just how
it's playing out this year.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Okay, another young guy, Shador Sanders. I can't go to
a segment. Yeah second start you know again, what's the
film saying?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, Chador was not very good this week, And I
think the way I always look at it when I
watch young guys, I feel the same way about cam
Ward is they are still playing a little.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Bit out of college. Speed.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
You have to get back in the pocket. You've got
to see it, you've got to deliver the football. This week,
he didn't see things the way he needed to. He
left a lot of throws on the field by not
turning it loose. When the design of the route concept
was clean, it was there. If he threw the ball
this week when he should have, Jerry Judy would have
had one hundred and seventy five receiving yards. And that
(14:34):
doesn't even include that play, which was actually a second
reaction and adjustment.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Play that we just saw.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
But for the most part this week, the processing just
was was a little slow.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Now again, he needs more reps.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
This is not a condemnation or a referendum on his
entire career and what it's going to be Colin. He
needs a lot of reps. He needs to play to
the speed of the NFL game and right now he's
not doing that. And there's one thing that is very
coach that he had this issue in college and it
flared up again this week. He has a tendency when
he moves to hold the ball with one hand. You
(15:08):
cannot do that in the NFL. That can be coached
and cleaned.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Up Okay, the best game of the weekend Bears Packers.
So let's start with the Bears. I love it. It's
so old school Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson would run at
fifty five times. I mean, is it now? First of all,
when he got there, he went and got Drew Dolman
and Joe Tooney and Jonah Jackson, so it was very
clear what he wanted to do. Established for a young quarterback,
(15:32):
a big time run game. Is it a beautiful thing
to watch when you look at film?
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Well, this week it was beautiful.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
They ran outside zone is their predominant run against the Eagles,
and the Eagles they played it the wrong way. And
they know that you can't play outside zone by playing
laterally and just sliding down the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
There has to be some kind of vertical knock pack.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Now, you don't want to shoot gaps, but there has
to be some kind of vertical knockback, and the Eagles
didn't do that. You know, I've got the second best
running game in the NFL, and a lot of people
probably aren't aware of that because all you want to
talk about is Caleb Williams. That's what most people want
to talk about. But their run game has been really solid.
The Menungae kid has been really good. He's a physical, sustaining,
(16:14):
hard runner, and when you compare him and combine him
with Swift, you've got a really nice run game. And
the Old Lion is playing really, really well, and what
he does really well. It's almost the old Joe Gibbs
philosophy colin of using motion to change run support. Most
people don't think of motion as being a factor in
the run game, but Joe Gibbs did it, you know,
(16:36):
years and years ago with the Redskins, where you use
motion and it dictates run support and changes it in
your favor. And that's one thing that Ben Jonson has
such a good feel for.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay, listen, I like Jordan Love. I had my questions
out of Utah State, but I said, if I didn't
say his name and I just said, there's a tall
kid that's athletic with a big arm, takes risks and
doesn't throw a lot of picks, everybody would go, oh,
that's great. I think he's really talented. I think sometimes
there's just it looks to me like a franchise quarterback.
(17:07):
Good arm moves, Yeah, nice kid, coachable can ad lib
can be on script or off. What is your favorite
quality on film of the Packers young quarterback.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
I would say there's a comfort with which he plays,
which is not an next to no point, but there's
a comfort with which he plays. And I would say
that what has really stood out this year and he's
gotten better at his ball placement, because they are phenomenal
on third down Colin, they're the best third down conversion
offense in the league. And on third and seven plus,
(17:40):
which for most teams is pretty much it's time to punt,
they convert more than forty three percent on third and
seven plus. That is remarkable, it's almost unheard of. But
his ball location has gotten more consistent, more precise year
after year. And you combine that with an aggressive mindset,
which I believe is a essential for a quarterback in
(18:01):
this league. He's an aggressive mindset thrower, and now that
he's more accurate and more precise with his ball location,
he wins.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
On third down. And but again, you.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Know, we've talked about coaching on the defensive side, coaching
on the offensive side. I think it's a really good
mix with Jordan Love and Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
We know Matlaflor likes to run the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
But the other thing that stands out is they do
some really good things in the red zone. You know,
I'm not a believer in the red zone. I actually I
heard Ben Johnson talk about this. I'm not a believer
in the red zone of just throwing it up and
hoping your receiver catches the ball. I'm much more of
a believer in schematics in the red zone. And we
saw that last week, and that's actually going to be
the play we show because I think that that's so
(18:43):
critical to be a will score touchdowns in the red
zone and not just relying on guys going up and
making a play, which is which is a maybe yes,
maybe no deal. So this was last week against Detroit,
and I actually love this play in it it's really
so simple. You know, sometimes the really cool things are
so simple when you really look at them.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
So here's love. He's in the gun.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Now what we're starting with here, We're going to start
with a two by two formation, meaning that there's two
receivers up top to the wide side of the field,
and there's two receivers to the boundary side of the formation.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Now, what's going to happen.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Is the two key receivers here are Watson and Dobbs,
and we'll see that as we continue with the play. Now,
Dobbs will go in motion and the corner will follow.
Now you're playing man down here if you're a defense,
because there's not a lot of room.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
You're not playing zone, so you're playing man.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
So Dobbs is now stacked behind Watson and the corners
they switched their matchup because of the motion. So you
know what you have now is the corner that was
on Dobbs is now matched to Watson and Dobbs is
on the outside.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
So this is really some very simple but very cool stuff.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
What you're going to see is Watson is going to
angle his stem to the outside. Okay, so they're going
to do what we call a switch release, going to
angle his stem outside, and Dobbs is going to then
angle his stem inside. But because the corners now have
to switch due to this switch release concept, what happens
is Dobbs ends up running now his out quick outcut
(20:15):
against a corner that's inside of him. Because of everything
they've done, the motion, the stack, the switch release, So
what happens is is he just has the leverage on him,
so when he breaks to the outside, Colin, it becomes
pitching catch.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
It's just really beautiful stuff.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
It looks so easy, but you know, this is just
so beautiful when you watch it. And to me, this
is what red zone, particularly low red zone offense meaning
ten yards in has to be about, not just throwing
it up to receivers, but this packer offense.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
And you're right about Jordan Love.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
He definitely looks like a franchise quarterback. He's so physically
talented and I think mentally he's getting better and better
with each each week.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, great stuff. Greg Cosel, forty six years NFL Films.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Thanks Greg, Thanks Colin, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
What's interesting to me, folks about Jordan Love And you
see this a lot. So he had a really good
year in college the year before he came out, and
then the year he came out, it wasn't as good
a year because he lost coaches and a lot of
people bailed on him. But you had to go back
and look at the film from the previous year, and
it does show that we all know this bo Nix
(21:24):
is benefiting from Sean Payton and Caleb Williams is benefiting
from Ben Johnson. Well, that works in college as well.
You know, when Sark was a college coordinator, but he
was good enough to be a coach at Texas. It
was nice having Lane Kiffen and Sark as coordinators when
they're both excellent head coaches. So this coaching stuff matters
(21:47):
everybody in Green Bay. I hope you understand. You do
understand that Green Bay's a weller in operation. But I
don't get the critics of Jordan Love. I think he's
an incredibly special player, arm, movement, size, and again this
every time you put a mic in front of him,
says the right thing. I mean again, he never blows
(22:07):
up a locker room. There's no passive aggressive. You can
tell he cares about stuff beyond himself. It just again,
that stuff matters for quarterback. I don't care about other positions.
Every time you talk to Jordan Love. And by the way,
Caleb's gotten very good at this. Caleb Williams. Chicago's media
is very aggressive. Jalen Hurts, hyper aggressive Philly media. Jalen
(22:31):
Hurts brings the heat down. Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, It's
so much a part of this is keep the thing
the thing, don't inflame situations. But Jordan is really special.
Good kid.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
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Speaker 3 (22:55):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Way.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we are
excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
That's Right. You can now watch The Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day. All you gotta do search Odd
Couple FSR on YouTube. Again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Check us out on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
We just had a very polarizing political talking topic. If
you did a fast food All Star team, We've come
to the conclusion, Jamax, you'd have Chick fil A, spicy sandwich,
McDonald's fries, the Wendy Smoothie cane sauces. Oh okay, frosty.
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Friend, my daughter got me into raising canes lately.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I never said it is great. The sauces are the best.
And then we went back and forth best burger in
and out.
Speaker 7 (23:59):
What I want to get attacked in Los Angeles. But
that's way way off, bro. Come on, their patties are
so small. How could that be the best burger when
the patties thin? No way, I would go five guys.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Not a bad call. That's the kind of stuff we discuss.
Speaker 7 (24:16):
Discuss during the break. I'm here grinding away on gambling lines.
You're talking about hamburgers and fries. Okay, I see how
you roll.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Nobody beats the Golden Arches for fraud.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
Oh nobody.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I stopped by there on a regular basis in the
summer when I need salt. I just stopped by. I
get a mat and just eat them in the car.
Drive arounds. Great, yeah, j Mack with a news No, no.
Speaker 7 (24:40):
This is the herd line news when I need salt.
I like that line. I'm gonna start using that. Let's
get started with Penn State Colin. Not great, not great
at all. James Franklin was fired six weeks ago and
they still don't have a hire. Here's where it gets dicey.
There are reports that claim they've lost over twenty recruits
from the recruited class. James Franklin went to Virginia Tech.
(25:01):
Eleven of those recruits followed him there to the Hokies. Currently,
they only have two players committed to the class.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
No coach. Well, I don't like firing coaches mid season.
I didn't like firing James Franklin. This is not about
being right. But they were thirteen and three or something
like that last year. He had a bad stretch. Go
ahead and criticize him, but you know what, he got
the last laugh. Because Penn State in the nil era,
you can overcome a disastrous recruiting class. But it's not
(25:31):
good when Ohio State now is the best program in
the country. Oregon USC just finished with the number one class.
So it's a bad, bad look and it's a cautionary tale,
be very even in the NFL. I don't like firing midseason.
Like I like what Miami did. Our GM's not the
right guy. We're gonna let two in Mike McDaniel play out,
(25:51):
and I think Mike's a really smart guy and a
good offensive coach. You start firing coaches all of a sudden,
the assistant comes in. One wins a couple of games,
and everybody wants to assistant. You really think the assistant
at Old Miss is going to be as good as Lane.
Keffin like, I'd be very very careful about this stuff.
It's a tough one.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
I'll just say this Penn State could turn it around easily.
And yesterday Klatt made a good point. Maybe they're fishing
after somebody who's still playing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think that has to be the I don't think
it's Kailin de Boor.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
I tried to do my homework on that. It seems
like I just don't see that happening. That would be
an unbelievable height.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Ryan Dable open up the piggy bank.
Speaker 7 (26:26):
I think you, Brian Dable will be a home run.
Now listen, this Mike Tomlin stuff feels like nonsense. But
Mike Tomlin would crush it at Penn Stake if he
wanted to go that route.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
By the way, I know that Old Miss Lane left
Old Miss, so I don't want to lump that in there.
But my take is everybody you know it just you
gotta be careful. And for the record, the reason guys
like Lane left Tennessee after one year and everybody freaked
out is because these programs they have no mercy when
they want to get rid of you. Well, guess what,
(26:57):
Sometimes the coach is going to get rid of you.
And so when you see Lane kippin Leavin early. Lane's theory,
I believe has always been I've been watching my colleagues
and peers get fired in season, get dumped after decent
season forever. I'm gonna dictate terms. So James Franklin, basically,
when they when you fire a guy like that, you
(27:17):
are telling every good coach they'll can you after a
three game losing streak. Be very careful. No loyalty. There's
no loyalty out there.
Speaker 7 (27:24):
I mean, I'm loyal to you, but there's not loyalty
anywhere else. All right, let's move on to Ben Johnson.
Colin listen, I know he's your guy. We got to
talk about them every show, but this week is a
tough one. They got Matt Lafleur and Jordan Love. There
was some smack talk in the offseason. Jordan Love said
he heard the noise that Ben Johnson was marking, but he's.
Speaker 8 (27:44):
Not listening, not worried about those things that are said.
You know, it's another game, obviously. You know the Bear's
match up where I was trying to win that game.
They're number one in the NFC, so obviously we haven't
played them yet, the only team in the NFC North
we haven't seen so and uh, you know, two games
in three weeks, so it would be a great matchup.
Speaker 9 (28:04):
You know, they're a good team.
Speaker 8 (28:05):
And like we've always said, you know, it's that that
one of no mentality.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
You just handle business this week.
Speaker 7 (28:10):
All business for Jordan Love you see that. No smiles,
no jokes.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
My kind of guy. Yep, no silliness.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
You flip flop on that yet or you go in
Packers or Bears.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Just gonna saving to watch the game with great interest.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Oh wow, it's not blazon five. Oh man, that's disappointing.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You're a bitch. Thursday Thursday, my god old chicken.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
Huh huh, all right, final story, Colin, let's go to
uh man. Mike Tomlin. So yesterday Ben Roethlisberger, Okay, yeah,
I had his chime in on on Mike Tomlin senta
it should be over. Well today it's five time pro
bowler James Harrison. Remember James Harrison obviously spent ten years
with Tomlin. Now he's been a critic of his former
coach and here's uh, here's Harrison going off on the
(28:56):
Steelers after that disaster against the Bills. I had never
been a person that thought coach Tomy was a great coach.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
I thought he was a good coach.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
A good coach gets you to play to your potential.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, I think Tomlin is a good coach.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
I think by the time out good coach. He's a
Hall of Fame coach.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Locke correct, No, I don't want to say that. What
Thomas not a Hall of Famer? He doesn't want a
playoff game in eight years? Okay, Well, he had a
career before that. I'm just saying recently.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
And he's also young. He's got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
First of all, did not that many coaches make the
Hall of Fame. There's a really good coaches not in
the Hall of Fame. Look it up.
Speaker 7 (29:43):
That would be a start. I think Tomlin's I mean,
he's unbelievable. He's at a rough stretch.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Is Mike Shanahan in the Hall of Fame as a coach?
He's not.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
It's weird.
Speaker 7 (29:57):
Everybody's slandering Tomlin. Now the I'm slendering he is. It's
over James Harrison. He's not a great.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Coach mac if I go eight years and don't compete
in certain levels in any business. Eight years without a
playoff win, now one. In fact, it's nine years since
he went to the playoffs and won a game and
scored a touchdown. Like Ian, Greg Cosel came on the
air twenty minutes ago. I asked him about the Steelers offense.
(30:24):
He's like, you don't know. This is a guy that's
an expert watching film. He's like, yeah, I don't even
know what I'm watching.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Is that Tom Lein or is that Arthur Smith? The
offensive guyan Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
The president of Fox Sports. Eventually, if somebody watched our
broadcast and said I don't know what they're doing, well,
it's not my responsibility, right, I have to do my show.
If a team, if you talk about a team and
you say to yourself, y'all, I don't even know what
I'm watching. Eventually, a head coach a Jimmy Johnson, A
(30:55):
Sean Payton. Andy Reid is responsible for the defense. He
hires a coreator, but he has to be responsible for
the day to day play and execution and production of
all his entire special teams. Offense, defense, Mike Shanahan's not
a Hall of Famer. I mean, didn't make the cut
for twenty twenty six, got a couple of Super Bowls.
(31:16):
His son's a great coach. Shanahan basically helped create a
run system that has still today is the most copied
run system in the league. So this iety of the
coaches just, hey, they made a couple of Super Bowls. Hey,
and not a lot of coaches make the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 7 (31:33):
So you know, this roster is not great. Tomlin, ain't
the GM. They tried to draft a quarterback, Kenny Pickett,
that was a flop, so then they went for Aaron
Rodgers disaster. All this is on Tomlin?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
What about the GM? Is the GM catching no heat?
Nobody's trading Pickens, nobody's saying it's all on him. But
the highest paid guy in the building, this quarterback. You
know who the second highest paid guy is oftentimes either
a pass rush or a head coach. You're the boss, yeah,
you know, you're the year.
Speaker 7 (31:58):
Do you know the boss has to fire lieutenants before
he gets.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
How many Oh, Caesar, are we going to go through?
How many running backs? Receivers? A quarterbacks?
Speaker 7 (32:07):
GMS? Okay, all right, so you're ready, you're done with Tomlin,
it's over.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
I think he'd get hired in a heartbeat somewhere else.
I would defend him getting hired, and you know, wherever Miami.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Maybe it just got stale in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Right, But first of all, you know, I mean, I
just I'm watching the same team for seven years. All
I know is Colin.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
You want to run him out, that's fine. I need
a plan. I need a concrete plan because you're seeing
what's happened to Penn State. Can you imagine if that
happened to the Steelers in the NFL, one of the
blue bloods.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
It's not gonna happen in the NFL. Your calendar is different.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Well, I'm just saying no, I mean you you better
have a plan to hire a coach. You go from
Mike Tomlin to I don't know, We're you gonna get
Ryan Dable.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I'd be good with it.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
We could hire I don't think he's gonna want to
work with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's for Schwerin's done. He's not gonna work with Aaron.
Speaker 7 (32:56):
The Dable's going there with no quarterback. I'd go to
Penn State.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Good quarter back draft. You want a playoff game with
Daniel Jones, you just spot Boy Jay and C consultings
falling apart here on our own business Chapter nine, you know, oh,
chapter eleven, whatever it's called. Jmack with the News.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app well.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
He is the host of the Doomsday Podcast, a Cowboy
Dallas Cowboy Podcast Cowboys play at to night cover in
the NFL for twenty four years. He's a friend. Matt
Moseley is joining us, and he's joining us live good
days in Dallas. It is amazing between the George Pickens deal,
the Quinn Williams move, the Mica trade. Suddenly the whole
world owes Jerry Jones an apology. You cover him. I
(33:51):
see you whenever there's games and Jerry's talking, I see
Matt Moseley, the intrepid journalist covering him as Jerry Jerry.
He's on a streak. He is hot. Is he soaking
in it right now?
Speaker 6 (34:06):
He very much is. And usually when you see me.
It's this right, That's what I'm kind of behind him.
I like, that's my preferred state. Your producers, you know,
want me to go ahead and take these offs, so
I do that to honor them. But yeah, Jerry is
feeling great about things, and boy he is now openly
(34:26):
talking about the playoffs and it's been an amazing run
for him.
Speaker 9 (34:32):
And I think this Quinn Williams saying, you.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
Know, it's amazing that Micah is having the kind of
season he is, and if the Cowboys had continued down
the path they were going, that would be the overriding story.
Look at this guy blowing up. He's incredible. And yet
nobody in conversation around the Cowboys is saying anything about
Micah because of the trades that Jerry has made. Now.
(34:54):
I heard y'all talking about Mike Tomlin earlier and whether
he's Hall of Fame worthy and all of that, But boy,
Jerry put one on the Steelers, is what it appears,
and that's now looking like one of the better trades
of the past five years. Who knows what Pickens will
be able to do, but Pickens has like literally stepped
in across from CD Lamb, one of the great receivers
(35:16):
in the NFL, and Pickens is at least this season,
clearly the best receiver on the team.
Speaker 9 (35:21):
And he's rehabbed whatever image issues he had.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
And now that's what Jerry has to do is find
a way to resign this guy.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Hey, listen, nobody thought Brian Chottenheimer was a strong hire.
How do you explain his success? Because I'm on the
group that thought and nobody else was after him. What
do you think the secret sauce has been with Schottenheimer?
Dak's playing better than he's ever played.
Speaker 6 (35:44):
Now each day he wakes up and he plays that
one and done clip that you were saying just to
motivate himself. Look at him striding out there. You know
he's way better with the media than Mike. That doesn't
totally matter you're not winning or losing. But boy, when
they got on that street and the Marshawn Neeland tragedy,
(36:06):
the way he handled that. I watched Jason Garrett handle
a tragedy one time, and that was one of Garrett's
finest moments.
Speaker 9 (36:14):
Yeah, this was.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
An unbelievable moment for Shottenheimer because it showed his leadership.
Dak was a great leader too, but Schottenheimer kind of
drove everything. He's handled it beautifully. And watch out for
a team that seems to be playing for something.
Speaker 9 (36:31):
Bigger than itself.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
Yeah, and I think some of that's going on with
these Dallas Cowboys right now in trying to honor their
fallen teammates.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
You and I have both said Dak Prescott's iq EQ toughness,
resilience and tangibles have always been a plus plus right
out of Mississippi State. I always thought he had an
average arm. You know. I loved all the leadership. I
didn't know how talented he was. I think he's having
the best season I've ever seen. I don't know what
(37:00):
it is me. I don't know what the stats say.
What do you make of what we're watching.
Speaker 6 (37:07):
I see a marriage between a new head coach we
were just talking about and this player that has taken off,
and I feel like they feed off each other. He
relates better to him, and I think that was already
the case even when McCarthy was still here. So I
think that's playing a role, and I just think he
just feels And again, you have an incredible duo. I
(37:30):
thought it was great that Pickens took off when CD
was out and Pickens proved that he could kind of
do it on his own. I think back also, you
know when he has a relationship with a tight end
that that with Ferguson, that's been a beautiful thing.
Speaker 9 (37:45):
But I think he's just I mean, the maturity.
Speaker 6 (37:48):
Is there, it's always been there. But the play and
how comfortable he is, and also just the maturity of
even when they get down. Now they can't do that tonight.
They need to not get off one of those poor stars.
But even when they were down to the Eagles, even
when they were down forty one to nothing, the team
responds to him. He rallies the team, and he's just
(38:09):
he's in a great place. And in December, by the way,
twenty one and eight with about a.
Speaker 9 (38:15):
Ninety seven QBR in his career.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
We think because the Cowboys are bad in the playoffs,
right that, oh man, he's not good at this time
of year. He's actually really good in December. And I
hear people saying, boy, this is a playoff game tonight.
Speaker 7 (38:30):
Now.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
I don't know if that's good for the Cowboys. The
Cowboys should play that part of it down. But the
Cowboys have been in desperation mode going back three or
four weeks now, and they seem to be performing really
well in that mode.
Speaker 9 (38:41):
And if they win tonight, then we can have.
Speaker 6 (38:43):
A serious discussion about the playoffs because it goes up
there around oh like forty one to forty five percent
according to all the simulations.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Okay, I got a minute left. Texas Longhorns probably don't
make the playoff. Do you think they'll alter their schedule
and start calling up weaker teams or was that kind
of a threat that Texas is big and they'll keep
scheduling big teams.
Speaker 6 (39:12):
Well, they got to play these things out and that'll
last through like twenty twenty seven. They'll honor those contracts.
But you're already seeing teams start to pull out of
these games moving forward, So I think they will respond
to that. You know, I would just say, before we
get too caught up in all of that, maybe don't
go to ot. I mean, they had a kind of
(39:35):
a miracle to come back and beat Mississippi State. Is
that a good Missippi State team? It's not Kentucky. They
had to come back and they had to pull that
one out in overtime, So give them credit for pulling
the games out.
Speaker 9 (39:48):
But I would say they.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
Played pretty poorly in about half their games this year.
So this is not a year some incredible Longhorned team
is getting left on the sideline. They've had some great wins.
They've had some great wins and one of the and
they do well in rivalry games, give them that. I
mean they put down the great Aggies. Yeah, and they
(40:12):
had the other one against Oklahoma, But this is not
one of the great Longhorn teams of all time.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Love your honesty, Matt Moseley, Cowboy Insider, listen to the
Doomsday podcast. All right, buddy, you can put the glasses
back on. I certainly appreciate that. I know your future
is so bright. You got to wear those shades the
way it is with Matt Mosley coming up next hour,
Bruce Felman not in a good mood with the state
of college football. It's the Herds.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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