August 11, 2026 • 42 mins
Nick Wright from First Things First joins the show to tell Colin why the NBA is sending a clear message that LeBron James still remains the face of the league.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio 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 (00:26):
It's great to have you in. It's the second hour
of the show. Best part about the storms in Chicago.
Thirty minutes they fly through town and we had a
whopper today. It's great to be in, Nick writes a
couple of minutes away, John Middlecoff, filling in.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know, I'm thinking about this. The world changes.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
You gotta pay attention tech sports life changes very quickly.
Remember when the metaverse the metaverse wouldn't change the world.
It quickly pivoted to, yeah, we're pulling the plug on
that puppy. We lost eighty nine billion dollars and one
night long ago, streaming will change the world. Well, Netflix
(01:07):
has been profitable, everybody else is hemorrhaging money. And it
was announced today that Netflix and Disney because to be
and roco ad roku ads supported, not streamer ad supported
platforms are threatening Netflix and Disney. So now Netflix and
Disney are like, yeah, we're gonna do that ad supported thing.
(01:31):
Those guys are doing ads. When streamers started, they made
fun of ads. Here's how college football's changed. Five years
ago thereabouts. Brian Kelly leaves Notre Dame and there is
a sense Notre Dame got a little bit of a ceiling.
Your roster's only going to be so good five and
he goes to LSU. No ceiling, no ceiling there, and
(01:53):
Brian Kelly's won everywhere. Five years later, the SEC looks
like it has a financial ceiling with the end and
Notre Dame maybe the best team in the country. Josh Pate,
who's from Georgia, I asked him about how good do
you think Notre Dame is today?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
If they played in the SEC? I think I'd picked
them to win the SEC this year. And I say that. Well,
I say that cause it'll stir some people up where
I'm from, but I also say it because people are
going to mistakenly look at their schedule and discount them.
This is a team that can stand up against any
schedule in the country this year. That's no guarantee, but
this is an extremely good team, certainly in my lifetime.
(02:34):
I don't know when you would have ever looked over
a coming five year period and felt better about the
future of Notre Dame football than you do twenty twenty
six through twenty thirty one. And I never thought i'd
say that.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yep, either to die.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I thought, you know, they had multiple coaches, Ty Willingham,
Bob Davey, Charlie Wise, and you're like, the Lou Holtzier
is over and here we go. I really do think
they have a chance to play for the national championship.
They may have the best quarter back CJ. Carr in
the country, and there's a lot of good ones. So
I mean, just the world changes. I mean, was it
(03:07):
not three months ago where you hurl heard from all
these tech narcissists, AI, oh, it's gonna take over the world.
Thirty births at unemployment. I have read Wall Street Journal,
the Economist, multiple opinions. It's like, no, actually, there's gonna
be a job expansion over the next two years. It's
(03:29):
gonna be it's gonna be lower unemployment. I mean, just
you just got to hold on for the ride, man,
You got to enjoy the ride. And with that, Nick right, Cahos.
First things first is joining us live, So I uh
do it?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Okay? Colin?
Speaker 5 (03:45):
After a decade in sunny southern California, you don't have
a lot of experience with the old tornado warnings, do
you me? Midwestern native? I grew up in school, A
little alarm goes off, Hide under the desk like you
did his little kid when they were practicing for the
nuclear fallout. I don't think it would have worked, but yeah,
we did that for tornadoes all the time. Away from
(04:07):
doors and windows, get low, don't worry, It'll pass. I'm
glad you survived it, Colin good. I'm glad you dealt
with it just fine.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
My knees did not buckle. I saw warnings and lights flashing.
I'm not leaving the building, you know what?
Speaker 5 (04:20):
You just oh, yeah, well you're you know, remember during
the pandemic when what did they call the folks that
still had to go to work? You were not an
indispensable employee.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I mean I can't think of the right words.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
So you're essential, thank you exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I mean even in times of crisis, we need America's honesty.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Broker, like you got to be on the air, so.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
You have an obligation to stay. I'm glad you did,
and I'm glad everyone's okay.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So I went to the Bears practice. You know what
a nerd I am for this stuff. I just walked out.
I went to the Bears practice for two hours. I'm
going to the game Saturday. And I watched Caleb boy,
who's lost thirteen pounds, and I said, studies indicate that
women and men, especially women, will make a decision on
a guy in about eight minutes, like marriage or no. Not,
no chance, I'm kissing him this guy, I'm not snuggling.
(05:12):
I'm getting rid of this eight minutes. For women, guys,
it's sooner. And my argument is I can go watch
a practice for two hours and I can absolutely make
a judgment. It was so crisp. Caleb was so fast
because he's thinner. The quality of efficiency wide receivers. I
watched that offense and I'm like, oh god, that's a
great that's not a good offense. That is an all
(05:34):
time offense. And people are firing back at whoa, whoa, whoa.
And I'm like, if you watch two hours of anything,
it could be a play. You would know ten minutes
in this play it's no good or it's great. So
my take is I watched the Bears and I'm like, oh,
this is different. This is really elite stuff.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
Your thoughts so I think, you know, I obviously haven't
been there, I haven't seen it in person. That goes
in line with what I would hope and kind of
what I would expect, because I do think the Bears
are going to have to have an elite offense because
I think some of the other what we consider kind
(06:16):
of luck based stuff is going to regress back to
the mean a bit. I don't think they're going to
be perfect in the final two minutes of games the
way they were a large part of last year. Defensively,
last year they lived off turnover margin that usually comes
down a bit. So if that's gonna happen, how are
(06:36):
they still going to be a double digit win team
potentially win the division. It has to be because Caleb
in year three, but year two of Ben Johnson takes
another leap. Ben Johnson in his second year as a
head coach, he takes, you know, he moves a step
up and it is a truly elite offense. The reason
(06:57):
I think there is good logic behind believing that will
happen is Caleb. Year one had had a bunch of flaws,
but the two most glaring were they couldn't really get
to the line of scrimmage and get the operation downright,
and he took some of the most garish, awful sacks imaginable.
(07:20):
Year two, the sacks went from sixty eight to twenty four,
and or the operational line of scrimmage was clean.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So that's what he focused on.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
If year two to three he focused on, all right,
I don't have to have seventy percent completions, but can
I have sixty four percent? Can I be league average?
Can I hit the layups? Then all of a sudden,
the offense gets that much better, And I just I
would rather my quarterback have If his weaknesses are going
(07:52):
to be glaring, I'd rather it be something that I
think is fixable, like easy pass accuracy, than something you
just can't develop, like athleticism or arm strength and the
things Caleb has in spades. So I listen, I think
there is real reason for real optimism about your new
hometown Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Okay, so I'm going to give you so last segment
I said, I don't care about the bottom of the league.
I'm going to predict the first and second place team
in it in every division. Let's I want you to start.
I'm going to start with the AFC. A some of
this stuff is easy and you can react to it.
(08:33):
So I went Bill's Patriots Ravens Bengals. I do think
Cincinnati made a defensive front commitment the last year. I
think it'll pay off. Texans Colts. Remember, not all these
second place teams or playoff teams. I don't know if
Indias of course, Chargers Chiefs. I know where you're going
with this, but I would say.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I don't know where I'm going, well kind of, but
it just let's start with the AFC.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Bill's Patriots' is Bengals, Texans cult Chargers chief any major disagreement.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Bill's Patriots totally agree. Ravens Bengals. I think I agree,
but I also don't know that. I think the Bengals
get a playoff spot out of that, and so I
but I think Pittsburgh is going to take a small
step back, and I think Cleveland is worlds away. So
(09:25):
I agree there. I vehemently disagree with the South.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I think the Jags.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
We're talking about Ben Johnson in year two, Liam Cohen
in year two, Trevor coming off arguably the best year
of his career. Now, they won thirteen games last year.
I don't think they're necessarily going to do that, but
I think that I would have Jaggs Texans before, so
I would have the Colts and third and the Jags
all the way up. And then we get to the
(09:52):
most interesting one, which is there's a lot of interest here, Colin.
First one before I get to my the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
It's sad to see.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
What's happened with you in your beloved Denver Broncos.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I can't believe it.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
I can't believe after you last year, to your credit,
believed in them. They got the one seed. Your guys
Sean Payton proved everyone wrong, nobody more so than me.
But you know now they're just to the wastement of history.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
They trailed. This is almost hard to wrap your brain around.
They trailed in fifteen games last year and won fourteen.
If they maintained sixty percent of that, which is probably
not going to happen. They they the average if you
trail fifteen times is you win four games. They won fourteen.
(10:48):
The numbers tell me they are going to regress somewhat
sharply in win total.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
So I listen, I tend to agree with you. I'm
just and I'm surprised and impressed. Five and so now
it's my favorite part of the calendar, which is the
best part of the calendar every year for the Chargers
August before the games have been played, because every August
the Chargers are juggernaut, and in every January we find
(11:16):
out how they've got to do more to support Justin Herbert.
Something happens when the games are actually played where they
go from juggernaut on both sides of the ball to
one man show, poor Justin Herbert, and we are right
where we're.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Supposed to be.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I just want to put a prediction out there, Okay,
because we have already seen you know, the Justin Herbert
story is starring a coach that just doesn't know what
he's doing. Can you imagine these wacky fourth downs the
Justin Herbert story where well, actually that defense, while it
has Joey Bosen, Derwin James and other good lines, you
(11:53):
know that defense isn't good enough. And then last year
we saw the premiere of Justin Herbert, who's a man
Without Joe Alt. This year will be the debut of
Quinton Johnston, Lad McConkie.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Just not enough weapons.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Even Mike McDaniel couldn't do it. So like I like
the preseason optimism, I appreciate that you at least have
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
On the graphic.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I'm going to go ahead and have the scorching hot
take that the Chargers are going to be who the
Chargers have been my entire life, which is a better
team on paper than they are on the field. I
would put the Chiefs at the top of the division,
but overall not a huge disagreement on the AFC.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Okay, so I think the NFC the West feels pretty secure.
Seahawks Rams are the best two teams. San Francisco's old
brittle and Arizona's not there. So I go Eagles Giants again.
I need Molik Neighbors. I need Scataboo, Jackson Dart out
of the blue tent, Andrew Thomas, who I like at
left tackle but misses too many. I need four offensive
(13:00):
guys to mostly play. But I do think the culture
and the defensive line talent's pretty damn good. Eagles Giants, Lions,
who I think have the best roster in their division,
and I think they've upgraded at OC Lions, Bears, Saints.
Most underrated team in the league, the Saints, there's a
chance they are, I really thought. I think they really
(13:21):
attack their offense very smartly. That's what they miss, some
speed on the perimeter, and then ram Seahawks fire away.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Listen to the NFC East. I don't know what to
do with Dallas. I don't I know they'll be better,
I don't know what to.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
Do with them.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
So let's start there, because I am I am surprised
you have the Giants ahead of the Cowboys. The Eagles
are I think we might agree on this. I think
the Eagles are the only team in the league that
it would not shock me if they have the best
record in football, and it would not shock me if
(13:56):
at Thanksgiving we think they're firing the coach.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I think they have.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
Their variance is seven wins to fourteen wins, and they
might be the only team I feel that way about.
So they're a hard one to handicap. But you colin
you for as long, forget as I've known you a decade.
But I feel like I've known you for twenty five years.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I've listened.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
One thing you have been consistent about from when you
were on the radio in Portland is you want you
hold your quarterbacks to a different standard. I even heard
a rumor once upon a time you even care about
how they wear their baseball caps, even though they're not
baseball players. Yeah, and you're gonna attach your wagon to
Jackson Dart over Dak Prescott, Dak Prescott, the bastion of
(14:41):
adult professionalism, all of it. You're gonna you're you got
the Giants. I know hardball's good. The first week of
the season, when Jackson dart Is diving head first to
gain six yards on third and fourteen, you're gonna rip
your hair out here.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Say what am I doing?
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Dax's is super National throwing dimes, So that one's odd
to me. NFC North brutal, just brutally, top top to bottom.
I think that's fine. The South, I'm partial to Baker.
I also I'm not all that interest. Sorry Saints fans,
I'm not that interested in that division. I want to
drop about the West for a moment. I think I
(15:19):
understand why the Rams are the favorite. I get why
they're the favorite. They deserve to be the favorite, even
if they don't bring back Aaron Donald. I think the
most important thing for the rest of the NFC as
a whole is that Seattle wins the division again. And
I say that only because I think if the Rams
are forced to go outdoors in the postseason, they are
(15:43):
incredibly beatable. And I think that if they get to
be at home in climate controlled fast tracks en route
to the Super Bowl, it's going to be hard to
beat them, barring an injury. So I think the Seattle
Los Angeles battle for the division, which last year might
have decided Super Bowl as well, might be the most
important thing in the NFC. But I don't take huge
(16:05):
issue with how you have it, except I just think
the Cowboys got to be better than the Giants now.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
The Dak Jackson Dart take is one of your best.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
That really, I won't sleep well the night I'm after.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
You all sleep well. You won't sleep well, I mean you.
It's one thing to have Skataboo as a running back,
be a little, you know, a little eccentric.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You don't like quarterbacks like that at all at all? No,
I don't like it like at all. Okay, So I
want to end with this.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
The most impressive thing about Lebron is in his resume,
or the fact that he was twenty one, six and
seven and the healthiest guy in the Lakers last year.
It's not that that he's done more for a longer
period than anybody now, eclipsing a Russell or a careeb
That's not it. The most impressive part is the NBA
(16:58):
waited for him to sign the Sixers. He will open
against the Knicks. He is Christmas Day against the Lakers,
not Aunt, not Wemby, not the Knicks, not the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
In year twenty, I forget he is the Rolling Stones,
He's Paul McCartney. It's like, no, he's still the most
interesting person on stage. I saw the schedule at the
day and I'm like, you gotta.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Be kidding me.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
By the way, those will be the two highest regular
season games in the league, absolutely guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Right, So it is again.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
People can disagree with whether this is the right strategy
or not, but they can't disagree with what the NBA
has told us.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
The NBA has told us.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
While we debate all the time about the face of
the league, it's been this guy for almost a quarter century,
every single year, certainly for the last twenty. The fact
that on the opening night of the season, they could
have put Lebron on Opening Night had it be about
Jalen Brown against the Celtics. You know what I mean,
(18:03):
sixer Celtics could have been Opening Night. No, we want
to what is going to make the Knicks first home
game dropping the banner feel biggest? Probably should have Lebron there,
You know, we probably should have Lebron there Christmas Day?
Christmas Day? Is that when we should do the finals rematch? Yes,
(18:25):
Nicks first Christmas Day? All right, it's gonna be the
five pm, three third game, marquee game, right, yeah, no's
we're gonna go ahead and put that in the morning
when people are still opening presence. Why what's bigger than that?
Speaker 7 (18:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Lebron's return to LA is only game there.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
That's probably the biggest game of the day. All right, what.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
About the Lakers who've played Opening Night every year since
Bron got there? Yeah, we don't have room for him
this year on Opening Night. Sorry, we got room for
the Pistons, but the Lakers. Sorry, Nobron, we're not gonna
be there. He has, right or wrong, carried the interest
(19:08):
of this league, not single handedly, but more so than
any player, not just since Jordan, but including Jordan, and
done it for a longer period of time than imaginable.
And credit by the way to Steph, because Steph's team
also got a Christmas Day game, and of the ten
teams playing on Christmas, they're the only team that's probably
(19:30):
going to be bad. And that's just because Steph still
has that much draw on, that much star quality. But
the league tells us every chance they get the most
interesting person playing basketball also happens to be the oldest,
also happens to be the greatest ever play it, and
it's Lebron.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I mean, think about this, Lakers get Luca. Everybody loves Luca.
NBA is like non Nick Sixers.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Nick six I mean they it's unbelievable, and that they
didn't that they are priority on Christmas. They could have
had Lebron on Christmas. They they are prioritizing Lebron's game
back against the Lakers rather than Jalen Brown's game first
in Boston.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
That's not on the schedule.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
The Sixers at Celtics. It was an obvious Christmas game
They're like, yeah, I think we'd rather see Lebron with
his one game in Los Angeles of the season.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
We're gonna do that instead.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
It's remarkable Nick Wright, funny stuff today. First things first,
good seeing you buddy, as always.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Great to see us.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Stay safe in the windy city, my friend, My goodness.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes, I had a very very windy stay safe in
Chicago today. The storms fly through, but I you know,
I knew it was occasionally cold here. But you know,
it's an eventful weather calendar, to say the least.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
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 6 (21:02):
Stu Gott's here.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow, and
I have brought it here to iHeart. I'm also doing
a live radio show from three to five pm Eastern
because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
It's called Stu Gotson Company Live, which is available in
podcast form right when the show finishes. Every single day.
(21:24):
Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of
phone calls.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I love you guys.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
Your show.
Speaker 8 (21:28):
It's one of my favorites, a lot of interact shit
guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some
of the things that you can expect from Stu Gottson
Company and Steve Gotson Company Live. So listen to Stu
Gotson Company Live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate
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(21:50):
livelihood depends on it. Do it today and you can
check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Joel Klatt Last Hour, I just saw a quote one
of the Big ten coaches anonymously said USC Lincoln Riley
doesn't use Jaden myava right, and Lincoln Riley won't change.
First of all, I don't know who said that. Watch
the games. I watched Jadon Mayav at UNLV raw wild inaccurate.
(22:29):
He was a talented mess. I was actually surprised they
offered him a scholarship at UNLV. He was talented, but
I mean a lot of interceptions, just unstructured off platform.
He was all over the map. He goes to USC,
doesn't start his first year all the games right. Last
(22:49):
year is first full season starting. The kid was first
in passing yards in the Big Ten, and there were
good quarterbacks, good offenses, second in big pass plays, plays, instructure,
very accurate, appears to be a really heady kid, makes
a lot. I mean I watched them live twice on TV,
(23:11):
seven other times, eight other times. Makes really good decisions.
He didn't at UNLV. And by the way, you don't
have to think Lincoln Riley's a great culture coach that's
yet to be proven, right like that, that's a fair argument.
Do they have that late game toughness to win on
the road, that's a fair criticism. But when Lincoln Riley
took over the offense, this team had thirty five legitimate
(23:34):
Division IE players USC players. I mean, it was a
Fresno State roster.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
It was bad.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
The previous staff couldn't recruit. He took that program over.
From that day until today, they are first in the
country in passing offense, third down percentage, red zone offense.
And they've done it without a lot of NFL running
backs and offensive linemen. They've been doing it with like
they're just now just now getting an offensive line that
(24:04):
has Sunday players. So you know, this idea that he's
not using Jade and Miava right. I watched Jaden mayavat
UNLV because I used to live in Vegas, so I
still pay attention to UNLV football. I've watched him at USC.
I've never seen a player that I didn't I didn't
think was good enough to play in the Pac twelve
at a high level too. I absolutely think he should
be the second or third quarterback taken. I think he's
(24:26):
that good. I think he's really good. He's really grown up.
Bad decisions to good ones. Didn't like him thrown over
the middle of the field the first year at US
seat Now, I mean, I went to that Illinois game
last year. The knock on him was he scored too quickly.
He is really a good player. Here was Lincoln recently
on his quarterback.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Our starting quarterback.
Speaker 7 (24:48):
You know, he's certainly established himself as a leader on
our football team as one of the best quarterbacks in
the country. Of all the guys that I've been fortunate
enough to coach, I don't know that I've had any
that have him proved from day one, you know, to
this point as much as Jaden has. And it's been
fun to see him grow as a player. It's been
fun to see him grow as a leader and really,
(25:09):
I think, start to embrace what it means to be
the starting quarterback at USC.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I've never seen a quarterback that was out of control
to what he is in two years. Well, who gets
credit for that? The kid does, obviously, so does the coach.
Right now, four starting quarterbacks in the NFL had Lincoln Riley.
This will be your fifth. He is something else. John
Middlecoff with The News, No News, this is the herdline News.
(25:37):
I told, I literally told when I saw Lincoln Riley
two years ago, I'm like, I watched Jayden at UNLV
good luck.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I'm like, I don't know, he's got a good arm,
but I don't know. And a year and a half later, I'm.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Like, Wow, Lincoln has a good cabo tan going there.
And the quarterbacks, I mean, part of it is, you know,
from kleb Da Kayler to Jalen Hurt, I mean Baker Mayfield.
This guy was in a different universe than all those
guys coming out of high school clearly, So I see
what he's saying about the improvement. Speaking of im improvement
(26:09):
and speaking of former Lincoln Riley quarterbacks, Kyler Murray colin
August eleventh that this isn't you know a week before
the first game's kicking off, This is August eleventh, officially
named the starting quarterback. I think it's safe to say
anyone with a functional brain knew the moment he was signed.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
He was the starting quarterback.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
And I saw our buddy Albert Breer tweeted out that
Kevin O'Connell had to look his veteran players, and he
has a lot of high priced veteran players, especially on
that offense.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yes, and they didn't think the other guy.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
They had to go with the person that everyone on
the team thinks is the better player. We have recent examples.
The Colts did this last year with Daniel Jones. The
Niners did this with Brock Purdy and Trey Lance, veteran players.
You know, I listen former scout here, but sometimes your
best scouts are the guys on the field. They know
what's going on, and especially veteran players, and when they
(27:11):
turn on a guy, this is a pretty good spot
for Kyler Murray is not.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Let's look at the Viking schedule. If our guys can
call it up. Minnesota is really interesting because we love
the staff, we love the left tackle, the receiving corps,
their tight end space. I mean, it's a really I mean,
they open it home with Green Bay, you're gonna know
after two weeks home with Green Bay at Chicago, you're
(27:36):
gonna get a real sense of who they are early.
And then they've got some winnable games here Tampa, Miami Saints,
they get the Colts at home. They they have a
couple of these go either way games at home, so
I think you're gonna have I think there's the chance
if they can win that opener at home against Green Bay.
I think it's a very interesting team. That division is
(27:59):
so good offensively, John, it really is. Every one of
these offenses can be special.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
I know you're high on this player, connection with the coach.
If I wanted to go glass half empty, could I
say that he's been banged up several times over the
course of the last hire years, even last year essentially
bench the second half of the season.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
You go, oh, it's the Cardinals.
Speaker 6 (28:24):
Well, part of the reason you're so big on the
Lions is because they stole their OC Drew Petsing, which
everyone thinks really good. He won with Jacoby Brisette, who
threw twenty three touchdowns, Now the team wasn't very good,
but the quarterback play in the offense was good.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's you see the clips when he's at practice.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
It's just a math problem.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
He's five to nine.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
The guys in front of him are six five. It's
hard to see.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
No, that's why it's not going to be a fourteen
win Sam Darnold Vikings, I think it's nine to ten
win team. I do think there are I think Russell
Wilson got a lot of smaller guys drafted, like the
Johnny Manziels and guys that like Kyler Murray. I think
you know it's followed the leader. It's a very copycat league.
But I do think it's a smaller quarterback. His elusiveness,
(29:09):
his accuracy, some of it's baseball.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And I also there.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Is something we've seen things happen John like when the
environment's bad. It any workplace for sure, and after about
five or six years you can go either way. I'm
gonna player, I'm gonna sit it like I'm gonna practice hard.
I'm gonna roll my eyes because we're on a five
game losing streak. I think getting out of Arizona sort
(29:33):
of changes the calculus of the person a little bit,
So I think he'll be as good as he can be.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
And I do think the conversation is gonna shift whenever,
whenever Kevin O'Connell talks whether best today or tomorrow, is
are you comfortable making JJ McCarthy your backup? Because if
he's not, they have Carson Wentz on the roster. Is
JJ McCarthy on this team by.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
The start at next week?
Speaker 6 (29:54):
I mean, I think he could be if they're not
comfortable with making him as the backup and they want
to get Wentz continued, I think you could see JJ
McCarthy get traded because you don't want him to get
hurt in a preseason game and be stuck with a
guy that you aren't even going to have your back.
It's kind of like you know in basketball or baseball,
where the trade deadline's coming up and they hold the
guy out because they're like, we can't afford this guy
to roll an ankle or to get banged up. That
(30:17):
is something I'm keeping a big time eye on Overill's
forty eight Hours.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
And my take on JJ McCarthy was, Oh, was at Michigan,
they never really relied on him to initiate the offense.
It was a run game O line head coach defensive
Remember the Penn State game when Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Gets suspense in the second half.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
So it's like, I like my college quarterbacks to have
to initiate three hundred yards of offense and it's not
all on JJ McCarthy. If I had that Michigan roster
with fifteen NFL guys, I would run and Blake Corum
in that O line, I would have run the football.
But I don't think his Michigan experience prepared him for
the NFL. And I you know, I've said this if
(30:59):
it was just about I mean, like CJ. Stroud's one
of the few Ohio State quarterbacks in the league. Why
they all they get four and five star guys because
it's easier to play quarterback at Ohio State because you
have such especially now with the recruiting at wide receiver
and offensive line, there is some value. I mean there
at one point we had five quarterbacks in the league
from cal in North Carolina State. There is value that
(31:22):
your college experience is filled with crisis and humbling and
getting banged around and Drew Brees at Purdue, you know
you have to win by track meet, so I just
think Michigan was a It's a little like Matt Lioner
when he was at SC. It was a lot of
handing off to Reggie Bush and throwing with a lead.
It doesn't really prepare you for the league.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Totally agree, Sean Payton.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
You guys surprise all of us this offseason saying that
he's given up play calling and he's given it to
the new hot shot, Davis Webb. In a sit down interview,
Peyton spoke how he's still going to be very involved
in the offense because he saw something. But he saw
something in Web and he didn't want to hold the
offense back.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Here's Peyton.
Speaker 9 (32:05):
It was more about, man, I don't want to be
the one stop in progress.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
If that's the case.
Speaker 9 (32:11):
You remember drivers said when it was in high school
and you had the steering wheel but the but the
teacher had to break and they were right next to you.
This is before they went online. So I'll be next
to him and if there's something we need, he's not
gonna fail. Like he's gonna be great at it, and
I'm gonna make sure he is.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I don't I think it's hard.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Actually, when you've been great at something like play design
and play calling to give it up. There's gonna be
moments for Sean's like, that's not what I want to call.
But I think that's much hard. Like Demiko Ryans if
you said, hey, Demiko, give up, you know, they just
just walk around, just make sure everything like no, Dimiko's
brilliant defense. Mike McDonald's like that. You're just like every
(32:56):
decision in a game is the right one. Reportedly, so,
I think it's I think it's an interesting kind of
subplot to the bow Knicks growth.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
I think, you know, talking to people in the NFL,
they think that is going to be There are some
jobs where the team's so bad, like Munkin or halfway
down in Miami, where there's not really pressure on you.
This might be the most pressure pack job, including head
coaches in the league. You got the guy standing right
next to you. The offense is his baby. Bo Nix
(33:26):
was his hand picked player. You're young, you know it'd
be one thing if you know you're fifty years old,
you've been with him for twenty years. Part of the
reason they had to do this too, Let's be real,
he was gonna get a chance to call plays last year,
even if he didn't get a head coaching job, right,
So Sean Payton memory fired one of his best friends
who was on the staff. I they're just a lot
(33:47):
of eyeballs on this franchise. It's a marquee brand in
the league. They're the returning number one overall seed division champs.
That's it's just a tough gig to get your first off.
That's a coordinator spot and the guy hanging over your shoulder.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
And look get their first eight weeks. I mean it's
Arizona and a bunch of really tough playoff level elite
quarterback teams.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
It is a rough schedule.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Can I ask you a question?
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Last year their offense was all over the map and
a lot of games, if you watch them, it was
like what is going on? Then they'd flip a switch
with like seven minutes remaining. Can he afford as the
play caller? You know, it's one thing of Sean Payton.
I think that thing gets ripped back and he starts
calling the plays in the middle of a game. It'll
be like Dan Campbell with the glasses on, give me
(34:32):
that thing. So I good luck Davis, last, but out
least your guy. Joe Klatt he put out his preseason
top twenty five, and I saw him saying at the
Big Ten media days that you know his love and
how impressed he is with this roster at Oregon has
them number one overall. You and I are West Coast
(34:55):
football people. It's the best Oregon roster ever. I would
say that, which you know when you look at this list.
It's a lot of programs that have won national championships,
and even Indiana before two years ago, worst program ever.
They just won the national championship and didn't lose a game.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
So his top five is closer to mine. I think
Notre Dame has a really good shot to play for
the Natty. I think Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami. But
this is the best Oregon roster. His looks like mine.
Now he has Texas seven. I think Texas I think
that schedules too much. I do think they have a
(35:31):
great pass rusher who will be one of the first
non quarterbacks probably drafted in the next year. I think
he's a I think he's a junior sophomore. I think
Texas is good, but I think there's a ton of
pressure on arch I think the schedule is absolutely ridiculous.
So he his first SEC team is Georgia, And now
I don't think Georgia offensively. I think they're kind of pedestrian.
(35:53):
That's my take with Stocked.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Gunner Stock didn't you.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, they're just okay good defensively, not like they used
to be. But his is very much in line. I
think Oklahoma's a bit underrated. His is very much in
line where I'm at.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
I think some of these preseason top twenty fives can
be difficult. With the transfer portal. You got a lot
of moving parts. You never know exactly how it'll mesh.
My one main issue is if let's just take Ohio State,
Notre Dame in Oregon, if any three of those programs,
or you could put Miami in this too, had just
won the national championship, they returned their coach, return to
(36:30):
other players, got a hotshot guy in the portal at quarterback,
they would just be a lock to be number one.
Yet Indiana somehow's fine. They just went sixty. Let's see
the teams above them. They beat Miami last year, they
beat Ohio State, and they beat they beat three.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Out of the four teams above them last year, same coach.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So I get it.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
They're Indiana, They're not maybe the marquee brand historically, but
like I he's earned my respect and I'm not betting
against them.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I mean I would, and.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
We talked about their schedule earlier. Like Oregon, we all
love Dan Lanning, but that program for a long time
now has been loaded with players for whatever reason, they
just can't quite.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Get over the hump.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yep, yeah, yeah, it's it's I love the new college football.
Notre Dame Miami, glamour program, Pacific Northwest represented Big Ten,
crushing Texas from the south is I always think makes
college football better.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
You think there's pressure on landing, you know, a hot seat,
but it's like, hey man, this you got this couple
of year windows make a run. It's order now to
win it because you got to you gotta win three games,
even if you're a top four seed.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
If you can make the playoff at Oregon and you
can win a couple of games in the playoffs, I
think you gotta be careful right now. Notre Dame Miami,
Ohio State, Texas. I mean, it's let's be honest about Oregon.
They're there because of Phil Knight. He can afford Dan Lanning,
he can afford the five star recruit. So you know,
(38:04):
Oregon's standard has been raised precipitously over the last decade.
Where it used to be winn a Bowl game, beat Washington.
You know, they separated from Oregon State. Now, like I
think it's unfair to put Oregon in natty or coaches
in trouble. I think if they can win, if they
get to a playoff and win two games, regardless of
who they play, that's a damn good year for almost
(38:25):
everybody this year not named Texas or Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
John with the news, Well, that's.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
The news, and thanks for stopping.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
By The Herd Line News Live in Chicago. It's the Hurt.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
All right, we did it an hour ago. We debuted it,
so we got three and a half minutes. Here my
predictions for the first and second place team in both conferences.
I'm not going to argue or debate bad teams that
have no chance to make the playoffs. Buffalo, New England's
probably the easiest. I like the Bills doing it. The
Patriots lodged in for a wild card. Their schedule's tougher, Jets,
(39:13):
Dolphins rebuilding, Ravens, Bengals in the AFC North. I think
Cincinnati deserves credit spending some money on Jonathan Allen and
Dexter Lawrence and boy A Maffey from Seattle. They have
upgraded significantly their defensive front. They've always had the quarterback
and the wide receiver and the skill players. So I
go Ravens won Cincinnati two. I'm going to take Texans
(39:35):
Colts Tamiko Ryans I think is a top five coach
in the league. C J. Stroud regressed offensive line has
been addressed. I think he rebounds a little. And this
was a tough one. A lot of people, like the Jags,
didn't love their draft. I think if Daniel Jones is upright,
the Colts roster top to bottom better. I have them
lodging in potential wildcard team AFC West Denver pulls back.
(39:58):
They trailed fifteen games last year, fourteen virtually absurd. You
can't do that again. They are inconsistent offensively. The Chargers
Mike McDaniel, Trey Harris will pop as a receiver. Running
backs at least for now in the O line are healthy,
and Kansas City's roster has holes. Trent McDuffie's gone. That hurts,
but I have them as a wildcard team in the NFC,
(40:21):
the probably the hardest division to crack is I'll take
Philadelphia because I like their roster. Sirianni works, Jalen Hurts
as a grown up, McKay lemon not having a great camp,
but he and Devonte Smith, Saquon Barkley, that offensive line
and tight end group will score some points. I like
the Giants fingers crossed on Jackson, Dart, Skataboo, Molik, neighbors,
(40:43):
Andrew Thomas's health, but they lost a lot of one
score games, unlike Denver. Reverse it with Denver. Denver won
too many close ones. Giants lost too many close ones.
Both will somewhat flip. I think when you go to
the NFC North, best division in football, Detroit's got the
best roster. I think their offensive line they solved it
(41:05):
in the draft, the right tackle spot now Pine Sewell
moves to left. I think their roster's fantastic. I think
their skill players are exceptional. Feel the same way about
the Bears, but I don't like their defensive personnel as well.
I think Jalen Johnson's a hell of a corner and
Malik Muhammad I watched them at practice from Texas. He'll
be an interesting rookie. But I think the Lions and
(41:27):
the Bears separate from the pack about Thanksgiving. I think
NFC South Saints will be maybe the most improved team
in the league in Carolina. I like their GM and
their coach. I think they've given Bryce Young a lot
to work with. I do worry about his size and
his health. And NFC West, listen, Seattle could win the
Super Bowl again. I know you don't think it's possible,
(41:49):
but if Sam Donald wins back to back Super Bowls,
I'm gonna be difficult. I wish all of you the
best of luck if Donald hoist his second straight Lombardi Trophy.
There you go, AFC, NFC top two teams in each
apologize for third and fourth place finishers, but hey, do
better and I'll talk about it. There you go. Last
(42:10):
hour coming up. Joel Klatt on deck. We got a
lot to discuss.
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):
It's great to have you in. It's the second hour
of the show. Best part about the storms in Chicago.
Thirty minutes they fly through town and we had a
whopper today. It's great to be in, Nick writes a
couple of minutes away, John Middlecoff, filling in.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know, I'm thinking about this. The world changes.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
You gotta pay attention tech sports life changes very quickly.
Remember when the metaverse the metaverse wouldn't change the world.
It quickly pivoted to, yeah, we're pulling the plug on
that puppy. We lost eighty nine billion dollars and one
night long ago, streaming will change the world. Well, Netflix
(01:07):
has been profitable, everybody else is hemorrhaging money. And it
was announced today that Netflix and Disney because to be
and roco ad roku ads supported, not streamer ad supported
platforms are threatening Netflix and Disney. So now Netflix and
Disney are like, yeah, we're gonna do that ad supported thing.
(01:31):
Those guys are doing ads. When streamers started, they made
fun of ads. Here's how college football's changed. Five years
ago thereabouts. Brian Kelly leaves Notre Dame and there is
a sense Notre Dame got a little bit of a ceiling.
Your roster's only going to be so good five and
he goes to LSU. No ceiling, no ceiling there, and
(01:53):
Brian Kelly's won everywhere. Five years later, the SEC looks
like it has a financial ceiling with the end and
Notre Dame maybe the best team in the country. Josh Pate,
who's from Georgia, I asked him about how good do
you think Notre Dame is today?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
If they played in the SEC? I think I'd picked
them to win the SEC this year. And I say that. Well,
I say that cause it'll stir some people up where
I'm from, but I also say it because people are
going to mistakenly look at their schedule and discount them.
This is a team that can stand up against any
schedule in the country this year. That's no guarantee, but
this is an extremely good team, certainly in my lifetime.
(02:34):
I don't know when you would have ever looked over
a coming five year period and felt better about the
future of Notre Dame football than you do twenty twenty
six through twenty thirty one. And I never thought i'd
say that.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yep, either to die.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I thought, you know, they had multiple coaches, Ty Willingham,
Bob Davey, Charlie Wise, and you're like, the Lou Holtzier
is over and here we go. I really do think
they have a chance to play for the national championship.
They may have the best quarter back CJ. Carr in
the country, and there's a lot of good ones. So
I mean, just the world changes. I mean, was it
(03:07):
not three months ago where you hurl heard from all
these tech narcissists, AI, oh, it's gonna take over the world.
Thirty births at unemployment. I have read Wall Street Journal,
the Economist, multiple opinions. It's like, no, actually, there's gonna
be a job expansion over the next two years. It's
(03:29):
gonna be it's gonna be lower unemployment. I mean, just
you just got to hold on for the ride, man,
You got to enjoy the ride. And with that, Nick right, Cahos.
First things first is joining us live, So I uh
do it?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Okay? Colin?
Speaker 5 (03:45):
After a decade in sunny southern California, you don't have
a lot of experience with the old tornado warnings, do
you me? Midwestern native? I grew up in school, A
little alarm goes off, Hide under the desk like you
did his little kid when they were practicing for the
nuclear fallout. I don't think it would have worked, but yeah,
we did that for tornadoes all the time. Away from
(04:07):
doors and windows, get low, don't worry, It'll pass. I'm
glad you survived it, Colin good. I'm glad you dealt
with it just fine.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
My knees did not buckle. I saw warnings and lights flashing.
I'm not leaving the building, you know what?
Speaker 5 (04:20):
You just oh, yeah, well you're you know, remember during
the pandemic when what did they call the folks that
still had to go to work? You were not an
indispensable employee.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I mean I can't think of the right words.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
So you're essential, thank you exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I mean even in times of crisis, we need America's honesty.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Broker, like you got to be on the air, so.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
You have an obligation to stay. I'm glad you did,
and I'm glad everyone's okay.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So I went to the Bears practice. You know what
a nerd I am for this stuff. I just walked out.
I went to the Bears practice for two hours. I'm
going to the game Saturday. And I watched Caleb boy,
who's lost thirteen pounds, and I said, studies indicate that
women and men, especially women, will make a decision on
a guy in about eight minutes, like marriage or no. Not,
no chance, I'm kissing him this guy, I'm not snuggling.
(05:12):
I'm getting rid of this eight minutes. For women, guys,
it's sooner. And my argument is I can go watch
a practice for two hours and I can absolutely make
a judgment. It was so crisp. Caleb was so fast
because he's thinner. The quality of efficiency wide receivers. I
watched that offense and I'm like, oh god, that's a
great that's not a good offense. That is an all
(05:34):
time offense. And people are firing back at whoa, whoa, whoa.
And I'm like, if you watch two hours of anything,
it could be a play. You would know ten minutes
in this play it's no good or it's great. So
my take is I watched the Bears and I'm like, oh,
this is different. This is really elite stuff.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
Your thoughts so I think, you know, I obviously haven't
been there, I haven't seen it in person. That goes
in line with what I would hope and kind of
what I would expect, because I do think the Bears
are going to have to have an elite offense because
I think some of the other what we consider kind
(06:16):
of luck based stuff is going to regress back to
the mean a bit. I don't think they're going to
be perfect in the final two minutes of games the
way they were a large part of last year. Defensively,
last year they lived off turnover margin that usually comes
down a bit. So if that's gonna happen, how are
(06:36):
they still going to be a double digit win team
potentially win the division. It has to be because Caleb
in year three, but year two of Ben Johnson takes
another leap. Ben Johnson in his second year as a
head coach, he takes, you know, he moves a step
up and it is a truly elite offense. The reason
(06:57):
I think there is good logic behind believing that will
happen is Caleb. Year one had had a bunch of flaws,
but the two most glaring were they couldn't really get
to the line of scrimmage and get the operation downright,
and he took some of the most garish, awful sacks imaginable.
(07:20):
Year two, the sacks went from sixty eight to twenty four,
and or the operational line of scrimmage was clean.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So that's what he focused on.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
If year two to three he focused on, all right,
I don't have to have seventy percent completions, but can
I have sixty four percent? Can I be league average?
Can I hit the layups? Then all of a sudden,
the offense gets that much better, And I just I
would rather my quarterback have If his weaknesses are going
(07:52):
to be glaring, I'd rather it be something that I
think is fixable, like easy pass accuracy, than something you
just can't develop, like athleticism or arm strength and the
things Caleb has in spades. So I listen, I think
there is real reason for real optimism about your new
hometown Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Okay, so I'm going to give you so last segment
I said, I don't care about the bottom of the league.
I'm going to predict the first and second place team
in it in every division. Let's I want you to start.
I'm going to start with the AFC. A some of
this stuff is easy and you can react to it.
(08:33):
So I went Bill's Patriots Ravens Bengals. I do think
Cincinnati made a defensive front commitment the last year. I
think it'll pay off. Texans Colts. Remember, not all these
second place teams or playoff teams. I don't know if
Indias of course, Chargers Chiefs. I know where you're going
with this, but I would say.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I don't know where I'm going, well kind of, but
it just let's start with the AFC.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Bill's Patriots' is Bengals, Texans cult Chargers chief any major disagreement.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Bill's Patriots totally agree. Ravens Bengals. I think I agree,
but I also don't know that. I think the Bengals
get a playoff spot out of that, and so I
but I think Pittsburgh is going to take a small
step back, and I think Cleveland is worlds away. So
(09:25):
I agree there. I vehemently disagree with the South.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I think the Jags.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
We're talking about Ben Johnson in year two, Liam Cohen
in year two, Trevor coming off arguably the best year
of his career. Now, they won thirteen games last year.
I don't think they're necessarily going to do that, but
I think that I would have Jaggs Texans before, so
I would have the Colts and third and the Jags
all the way up. And then we get to the
(09:52):
most interesting one, which is there's a lot of interest here, Colin.
First one before I get to my the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
It's sad to see.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
What's happened with you in your beloved Denver Broncos.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I can't believe it.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
I can't believe after you last year, to your credit,
believed in them. They got the one seed. Your guys
Sean Payton proved everyone wrong, nobody more so than me.
But you know now they're just to the wastement of history.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
They trailed. This is almost hard to wrap your brain around.
They trailed in fifteen games last year and won fourteen.
If they maintained sixty percent of that, which is probably
not going to happen. They they the average if you
trail fifteen times is you win four games. They won fourteen.
(10:48):
The numbers tell me they are going to regress somewhat
sharply in win total.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
So I listen, I tend to agree with you. I'm
just and I'm surprised and impressed. Five and so now
it's my favorite part of the calendar, which is the
best part of the calendar every year for the Chargers
August before the games have been played, because every August
the Chargers are juggernaut, and in every January we find
(11:16):
out how they've got to do more to support Justin Herbert.
Something happens when the games are actually played where they
go from juggernaut on both sides of the ball to
one man show, poor Justin Herbert, and we are right
where we're.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Supposed to be.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I just want to put a prediction out there, Okay,
because we have already seen you know, the Justin Herbert
story is starring a coach that just doesn't know what
he's doing. Can you imagine these wacky fourth downs the
Justin Herbert story where well, actually that defense, while it
has Joey Bosen, Derwin James and other good lines, you
(11:53):
know that defense isn't good enough. And then last year
we saw the premiere of Justin Herbert, who's a man
Without Joe Alt. This year will be the debut of
Quinton Johnston, Lad McConkie.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Just not enough weapons.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Even Mike McDaniel couldn't do it. So like I like
the preseason optimism, I appreciate that you at least have
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
On the graphic.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I'm going to go ahead and have the scorching hot
take that the Chargers are going to be who the
Chargers have been my entire life, which is a better
team on paper than they are on the field. I
would put the Chiefs at the top of the division,
but overall not a huge disagreement on the AFC.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Okay, so I think the NFC the West feels pretty secure.
Seahawks Rams are the best two teams. San Francisco's old
brittle and Arizona's not there. So I go Eagles Giants again.
I need Molik Neighbors. I need Scataboo, Jackson Dart out
of the blue tent, Andrew Thomas, who I like at
left tackle but misses too many. I need four offensive
(13:00):
guys to mostly play. But I do think the culture
and the defensive line talent's pretty damn good. Eagles Giants, Lions,
who I think have the best roster in their division,
and I think they've upgraded at OC Lions, Bears, Saints.
Most underrated team in the league, the Saints, there's a
chance they are, I really thought. I think they really
(13:21):
attack their offense very smartly. That's what they miss, some
speed on the perimeter, and then ram Seahawks fire away.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Listen to the NFC East. I don't know what to
do with Dallas. I don't I know they'll be better,
I don't know what to.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
Do with them.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
So let's start there, because I am I am surprised
you have the Giants ahead of the Cowboys. The Eagles
are I think we might agree on this. I think
the Eagles are the only team in the league that
it would not shock me if they have the best
record in football, and it would not shock me if
(13:56):
at Thanksgiving we think they're firing the coach.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I think they have.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
Their variance is seven wins to fourteen wins, and they
might be the only team I feel that way about.
So they're a hard one to handicap. But you colin
you for as long, forget as I've known you a decade.
But I feel like I've known you for twenty five years.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I've listened.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
One thing you have been consistent about from when you
were on the radio in Portland is you want you
hold your quarterbacks to a different standard. I even heard
a rumor once upon a time you even care about
how they wear their baseball caps, even though they're not
baseball players. Yeah, and you're gonna attach your wagon to
Jackson Dart over Dak Prescott, Dak Prescott, the bastion of
(14:41):
adult professionalism, all of it. You're gonna you're you got
the Giants. I know hardball's good. The first week of
the season, when Jackson dart Is diving head first to
gain six yards on third and fourteen, you're gonna rip
your hair out here.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Say what am I doing?
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Dax's is super National throwing dimes, So that one's odd
to me. NFC North brutal, just brutally, top top to bottom.
I think that's fine. The South, I'm partial to Baker.
I also I'm not all that interest. Sorry Saints fans,
I'm not that interested in that division. I want to
drop about the West for a moment. I think I
(15:19):
understand why the Rams are the favorite. I get why
they're the favorite. They deserve to be the favorite, even
if they don't bring back Aaron Donald. I think the
most important thing for the rest of the NFC as
a whole is that Seattle wins the division again. And
I say that only because I think if the Rams
are forced to go outdoors in the postseason, they are
(15:43):
incredibly beatable. And I think that if they get to
be at home in climate controlled fast tracks en route
to the Super Bowl, it's going to be hard to
beat them, barring an injury. So I think the Seattle
Los Angeles battle for the division, which last year might
have decided Super Bowl as well, might be the most
important thing in the NFC. But I don't take huge
(16:05):
issue with how you have it, except I just think
the Cowboys got to be better than the Giants now.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
The Dak Jackson Dart take is one of your best.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
That really, I won't sleep well the night I'm after.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
You all sleep well. You won't sleep well, I mean you.
It's one thing to have Skataboo as a running back,
be a little, you know, a little eccentric.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You don't like quarterbacks like that at all at all? No,
I don't like it like at all. Okay, So I
want to end with this.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
The most impressive thing about Lebron is in his resume,
or the fact that he was twenty one, six and
seven and the healthiest guy in the Lakers last year.
It's not that that he's done more for a longer
period than anybody now, eclipsing a Russell or a careeb
That's not it. The most impressive part is the NBA
(16:58):
waited for him to sign the Sixers. He will open
against the Knicks. He is Christmas Day against the Lakers,
not Aunt, not Wemby, not the Knicks, not the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
In year twenty, I forget he is the Rolling Stones,
He's Paul McCartney. It's like, no, he's still the most
interesting person on stage. I saw the schedule at the
day and I'm like, you gotta.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Be kidding me.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
By the way, those will be the two highest regular
season games in the league, absolutely guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Right, So it is again.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
People can disagree with whether this is the right strategy
or not, but they can't disagree with what the NBA
has told us.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
The NBA has told us.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
While we debate all the time about the face of
the league, it's been this guy for almost a quarter century,
every single year, certainly for the last twenty. The fact
that on the opening night of the season, they could
have put Lebron on Opening Night had it be about
Jalen Brown against the Celtics. You know what I mean,
(18:03):
sixer Celtics could have been Opening Night. No, we want
to what is going to make the Knicks first home
game dropping the banner feel biggest? Probably should have Lebron there,
You know, we probably should have Lebron there Christmas Day?
Christmas Day? Is that when we should do the finals rematch? Yes,
(18:25):
Nicks first Christmas Day? All right, it's gonna be the
five pm, three third game, marquee game, right, yeah, no's
we're gonna go ahead and put that in the morning
when people are still opening presence. Why what's bigger than that?
Speaker 7 (18:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Lebron's return to LA is only game there.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
That's probably the biggest game of the day. All right, what.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
About the Lakers who've played Opening Night every year since
Bron got there? Yeah, we don't have room for him
this year on Opening Night. Sorry, we got room for
the Pistons, but the Lakers. Sorry, Nobron, we're not gonna
be there. He has, right or wrong, carried the interest
(19:08):
of this league, not single handedly, but more so than
any player, not just since Jordan, but including Jordan, and
done it for a longer period of time than imaginable.
And credit by the way to Steph, because Steph's team
also got a Christmas Day game, and of the ten
teams playing on Christmas, they're the only team that's probably
(19:30):
going to be bad. And that's just because Steph still
has that much draw on, that much star quality. But
the league tells us every chance they get the most
interesting person playing basketball also happens to be the oldest,
also happens to be the greatest ever play it, and
it's Lebron.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I mean, think about this, Lakers get Luca. Everybody loves Luca.
NBA is like non Nick Sixers.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Nick six I mean they it's unbelievable, and that they
didn't that they are priority on Christmas. They could have
had Lebron on Christmas. They they are prioritizing Lebron's game
back against the Lakers rather than Jalen Brown's game first
in Boston.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
That's not on the schedule.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
The Sixers at Celtics. It was an obvious Christmas game
They're like, yeah, I think we'd rather see Lebron with
his one game in Los Angeles of the season.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
We're gonna do that instead.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
It's remarkable Nick Wright, funny stuff today. First things first,
good seeing you buddy, as always.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Great to see us.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Stay safe in the windy city, my friend, My goodness.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes, I had a very very windy stay safe in
Chicago today. The storms fly through, but I you know,
I knew it was occasionally cold here. But you know,
it's an eventful weather calendar, to say the least.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
One more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand when you like.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Stu Gott's here.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow, and
I have brought it here to iHeart. I'm also doing
a live radio show from three to five pm Eastern
because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
It's called Stu Gotson Company Live, which is available in
podcast form right when the show finishes. Every single day.
(21:24):
Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of
phone calls.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I love you guys.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
Your show.
Speaker 8 (21:28):
It's one of my favorites, a lot of interact shit
guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some
of the things that you can expect from Stu Gottson
Company and Steve Gotson Company Live. So listen to Stu
Gotson Company Live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate
and review Stu Gotson Company and God Bless Football. Taylor's
(21:50):
livelihood depends on it. Do it today and you can
check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Joel Klatt Last Hour, I just saw a quote one
of the Big ten coaches anonymously said USC Lincoln Riley
doesn't use Jaden myava right, and Lincoln Riley won't change.
First of all, I don't know who said that. Watch
the games. I watched Jadon Mayav at UNLV raw wild inaccurate.
(22:29):
He was a talented mess. I was actually surprised they
offered him a scholarship at UNLV. He was talented, but
I mean a lot of interceptions, just unstructured off platform.
He was all over the map. He goes to USC,
doesn't start his first year all the games right. Last
(22:49):
year is first full season starting. The kid was first
in passing yards in the Big Ten, and there were
good quarterbacks, good offenses, second in big pass plays, plays, instructure,
very accurate, appears to be a really heady kid, makes
a lot. I mean I watched them live twice on TV,
(23:11):
seven other times, eight other times. Makes really good decisions.
He didn't at UNLV. And by the way, you don't
have to think Lincoln Riley's a great culture coach that's
yet to be proven, right like that, that's a fair argument.
Do they have that late game toughness to win on
the road, that's a fair criticism. But when Lincoln Riley
took over the offense, this team had thirty five legitimate
(23:34):
Division IE players USC players. I mean, it was a
Fresno State roster.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
It was bad.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
The previous staff couldn't recruit. He took that program over.
From that day until today, they are first in the
country in passing offense, third down percentage, red zone offense.
And they've done it without a lot of NFL running
backs and offensive linemen. They've been doing it with like
they're just now just now getting an offensive line that
(24:04):
has Sunday players. So you know, this idea that he's
not using Jade and Miava right. I watched Jaden mayavat
UNLV because I used to live in Vegas, so I
still pay attention to UNLV football. I've watched him at USC.
I've never seen a player that I didn't I didn't
think was good enough to play in the Pac twelve
at a high level too. I absolutely think he should
be the second or third quarterback taken. I think he's
(24:26):
that good. I think he's really good. He's really grown up.
Bad decisions to good ones. Didn't like him thrown over
the middle of the field the first year at US
seat Now, I mean, I went to that Illinois game
last year. The knock on him was he scored too quickly.
He is really a good player. Here was Lincoln recently
on his quarterback.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Our starting quarterback.
Speaker 7 (24:48):
You know, he's certainly established himself as a leader on
our football team as one of the best quarterbacks in
the country. Of all the guys that I've been fortunate
enough to coach, I don't know that I've had any
that have him proved from day one, you know, to
this point as much as Jaden has. And it's been
fun to see him grow as a player. It's been
fun to see him grow as a leader and really,
(25:09):
I think, start to embrace what it means to be
the starting quarterback at USC.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I've never seen a quarterback that was out of control
to what he is in two years. Well, who gets
credit for that? The kid does, obviously, so does the coach.
Right now, four starting quarterbacks in the NFL had Lincoln Riley.
This will be your fifth. He is something else. John
Middlecoff with The News, No News, this is the herdline News.
(25:37):
I told, I literally told when I saw Lincoln Riley
two years ago, I'm like, I watched Jayden at UNLV
good luck.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I'm like, I don't know, he's got a good arm,
but I don't know. And a year and a half later, I'm.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Like, Wow, Lincoln has a good cabo tan going there.
And the quarterbacks, I mean, part of it is, you know,
from kleb Da Kayler to Jalen Hurt, I mean Baker Mayfield.
This guy was in a different universe than all those
guys coming out of high school clearly, So I see
what he's saying about the improvement. Speaking of im improvement
(26:09):
and speaking of former Lincoln Riley quarterbacks, Kyler Murray colin
August eleventh that this isn't you know a week before
the first game's kicking off, This is August eleventh, officially
named the starting quarterback. I think it's safe to say
anyone with a functional brain knew the moment he was signed.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
He was the starting quarterback.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
And I saw our buddy Albert Breer tweeted out that
Kevin O'Connell had to look his veteran players, and he
has a lot of high priced veteran players, especially on
that offense.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yes, and they didn't think the other guy.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
They had to go with the person that everyone on
the team thinks is the better player. We have recent examples.
The Colts did this last year with Daniel Jones. The
Niners did this with Brock Purdy and Trey Lance, veteran players.
You know, I listen former scout here, but sometimes your
best scouts are the guys on the field. They know
what's going on, and especially veteran players, and when they
(27:11):
turn on a guy, this is a pretty good spot
for Kyler Murray is not.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Let's look at the Viking schedule. If our guys can
call it up. Minnesota is really interesting because we love
the staff, we love the left tackle, the receiving corps,
their tight end space. I mean, it's a really I mean,
they open it home with Green Bay, you're gonna know
after two weeks home with Green Bay at Chicago, you're
(27:36):
gonna get a real sense of who they are early.
And then they've got some winnable games here Tampa, Miami Saints,
they get the Colts at home. They they have a
couple of these go either way games at home, so
I think you're gonna have I think there's the chance
if they can win that opener at home against Green Bay.
I think it's a very interesting team. That division is
(27:59):
so good offensively, John, it really is. Every one of
these offenses can be special.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
I know you're high on this player, connection with the coach.
If I wanted to go glass half empty, could I
say that he's been banged up several times over the
course of the last hire years, even last year essentially
bench the second half of the season.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
You go, oh, it's the Cardinals.
Speaker 6 (28:24):
Well, part of the reason you're so big on the
Lions is because they stole their OC Drew Petsing, which
everyone thinks really good. He won with Jacoby Brisette, who
threw twenty three touchdowns, Now the team wasn't very good,
but the quarterback play in the offense was good.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's you see the clips when he's at practice.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
It's just a math problem.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
He's five to nine.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
The guys in front of him are six five. It's
hard to see.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
No, that's why it's not going to be a fourteen
win Sam Darnold Vikings, I think it's nine to ten
win team. I do think there are I think Russell
Wilson got a lot of smaller guys drafted, like the
Johnny Manziels and guys that like Kyler Murray. I think
you know it's followed the leader. It's a very copycat league.
But I do think it's a smaller quarterback. His elusiveness,
(29:09):
his accuracy, some of it's baseball.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And I also there.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Is something we've seen things happen John like when the
environment's bad. It any workplace for sure, and after about
five or six years you can go either way. I'm
gonna player, I'm gonna sit it like I'm gonna practice hard.
I'm gonna roll my eyes because we're on a five
game losing streak. I think getting out of Arizona sort
(29:33):
of changes the calculus of the person a little bit,
So I think he'll be as good as he can be.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
And I do think the conversation is gonna shift whenever,
whenever Kevin O'Connell talks whether best today or tomorrow, is
are you comfortable making JJ McCarthy your backup? Because if
he's not, they have Carson Wentz on the roster. Is
JJ McCarthy on this team by.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
The start at next week?
Speaker 6 (29:54):
I mean, I think he could be if they're not
comfortable with making him as the backup and they want
to get Wentz continued, I think you could see JJ
McCarthy get traded because you don't want him to get
hurt in a preseason game and be stuck with a
guy that you aren't even going to have your back.
It's kind of like you know in basketball or baseball,
where the trade deadline's coming up and they hold the
guy out because they're like, we can't afford this guy
to roll an ankle or to get banged up. That
(30:17):
is something I'm keeping a big time eye on Overill's
forty eight Hours.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
And my take on JJ McCarthy was, Oh, was at Michigan,
they never really relied on him to initiate the offense.
It was a run game O line head coach defensive
Remember the Penn State game when Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Gets suspense in the second half.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
So it's like, I like my college quarterbacks to have
to initiate three hundred yards of offense and it's not
all on JJ McCarthy. If I had that Michigan roster
with fifteen NFL guys, I would run and Blake Corum
in that O line, I would have run the football.
But I don't think his Michigan experience prepared him for
the NFL. And I you know, I've said this if
(30:59):
it was just about I mean, like CJ. Stroud's one
of the few Ohio State quarterbacks in the league. Why
they all they get four and five star guys because
it's easier to play quarterback at Ohio State because you
have such especially now with the recruiting at wide receiver
and offensive line, there is some value. I mean there
at one point we had five quarterbacks in the league
from cal in North Carolina State. There is value that
(31:22):
your college experience is filled with crisis and humbling and
getting banged around and Drew Brees at Purdue, you know
you have to win by track meet, so I just
think Michigan was a It's a little like Matt Lioner
when he was at SC. It was a lot of
handing off to Reggie Bush and throwing with a lead.
It doesn't really prepare you for the league.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Totally agree, Sean Payton.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
You guys surprise all of us this offseason saying that
he's given up play calling and he's given it to
the new hot shot, Davis Webb. In a sit down interview,
Peyton spoke how he's still going to be very involved
in the offense because he saw something. But he saw
something in Web and he didn't want to hold the
offense back.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Here's Peyton.
Speaker 9 (32:05):
It was more about, man, I don't want to be
the one stop in progress.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
If that's the case.
Speaker 9 (32:11):
You remember drivers said when it was in high school
and you had the steering wheel but the but the
teacher had to break and they were right next to you.
This is before they went online. So I'll be next
to him and if there's something we need, he's not
gonna fail. Like he's gonna be great at it, and
I'm gonna make sure he is.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I don't I think it's hard.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Actually, when you've been great at something like play design
and play calling to give it up. There's gonna be
moments for Sean's like, that's not what I want to call.
But I think that's much hard. Like Demiko Ryans if
you said, hey, Demiko, give up, you know, they just
just walk around, just make sure everything like no, Dimiko's
brilliant defense. Mike McDonald's like that. You're just like every
(32:56):
decision in a game is the right one. Reportedly, so,
I think it's I think it's an interesting kind of
subplot to the bow Knicks growth.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
I think, you know, talking to people in the NFL,
they think that is going to be There are some
jobs where the team's so bad, like Munkin or halfway
down in Miami, where there's not really pressure on you.
This might be the most pressure pack job, including head
coaches in the league. You got the guy standing right
next to you. The offense is his baby. Bo Nix
(33:26):
was his hand picked player. You're young, you know it'd
be one thing if you know you're fifty years old,
you've been with him for twenty years. Part of the
reason they had to do this too, Let's be real,
he was gonna get a chance to call plays last year,
even if he didn't get a head coaching job, right,
So Sean Payton memory fired one of his best friends
who was on the staff. I they're just a lot
(33:47):
of eyeballs on this franchise. It's a marquee brand in
the league. They're the returning number one overall seed division champs.
That's it's just a tough gig to get your first off.
That's a coordinator spot and the guy hanging over your shoulder.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
And look get their first eight weeks. I mean it's
Arizona and a bunch of really tough playoff level elite
quarterback teams.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
It is a rough schedule.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Can I ask you a question?
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Last year their offense was all over the map and
a lot of games, if you watch them, it was
like what is going on? Then they'd flip a switch
with like seven minutes remaining. Can he afford as the
play caller? You know, it's one thing of Sean Payton.
I think that thing gets ripped back and he starts
calling the plays in the middle of a game. It'll
be like Dan Campbell with the glasses on, give me
(34:32):
that thing. So I good luck Davis, last, but out
least your guy. Joe Klatt he put out his preseason
top twenty five, and I saw him saying at the
Big Ten media days that you know his love and
how impressed he is with this roster at Oregon has
them number one overall. You and I are West Coast
(34:55):
football people. It's the best Oregon roster ever. I would
say that, which you know when you look at this list.
It's a lot of programs that have won national championships,
and even Indiana before two years ago, worst program ever.
They just won the national championship and didn't lose a game.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
So his top five is closer to mine. I think
Notre Dame has a really good shot to play for
the Natty. I think Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami. But
this is the best Oregon roster. His looks like mine.
Now he has Texas seven. I think Texas I think
that schedules too much. I do think they have a
(35:31):
great pass rusher who will be one of the first
non quarterbacks probably drafted in the next year. I think
he's a I think he's a junior sophomore. I think
Texas is good, but I think there's a ton of
pressure on arch I think the schedule is absolutely ridiculous.
So he his first SEC team is Georgia, And now
I don't think Georgia offensively. I think they're kind of pedestrian.
(35:53):
That's my take with Stocked.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Gunner Stock didn't you.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, they're just okay good defensively, not like they used
to be. But his is very much in line. I
think Oklahoma's a bit underrated. His is very much in
line where I'm at.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
I think some of these preseason top twenty fives can
be difficult. With the transfer portal. You got a lot
of moving parts. You never know exactly how it'll mesh.
My one main issue is if let's just take Ohio State,
Notre Dame in Oregon, if any three of those programs,
or you could put Miami in this too, had just
won the national championship, they returned their coach, return to
(36:30):
other players, got a hotshot guy in the portal at quarterback,
they would just be a lock to be number one.
Yet Indiana somehow's fine. They just went sixty. Let's see
the teams above them. They beat Miami last year, they
beat Ohio State, and they beat they beat three.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Out of the four teams above them last year, same coach.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So I get it.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
They're Indiana, They're not maybe the marquee brand historically, but
like I he's earned my respect and I'm not betting
against them.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I mean I would, and.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
We talked about their schedule earlier. Like Oregon, we all
love Dan Lanning, but that program for a long time
now has been loaded with players for whatever reason, they
just can't quite.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Get over the hump.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yep, yeah, yeah, it's it's I love the new college football.
Notre Dame Miami, glamour program, Pacific Northwest represented Big Ten,
crushing Texas from the south is I always think makes
college football better.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
You think there's pressure on landing, you know, a hot seat,
but it's like, hey man, this you got this couple
of year windows make a run. It's order now to
win it because you got to you gotta win three games,
even if you're a top four seed.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
If you can make the playoff at Oregon and you
can win a couple of games in the playoffs, I
think you gotta be careful right now. Notre Dame Miami,
Ohio State, Texas. I mean, it's let's be honest about Oregon.
They're there because of Phil Knight. He can afford Dan Lanning,
he can afford the five star recruit. So you know,
(38:04):
Oregon's standard has been raised precipitously over the last decade.
Where it used to be winn a Bowl game, beat Washington.
You know, they separated from Oregon State. Now, like I
think it's unfair to put Oregon in natty or coaches
in trouble. I think if they can win, if they
get to a playoff and win two games, regardless of
who they play, that's a damn good year for almost
(38:25):
everybody this year not named Texas or Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
John with the news, Well, that's.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
The news, and thanks for stopping.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
By The Herd Line News Live in Chicago. It's the Hurt.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
All right, we did it an hour ago. We debuted it,
so we got three and a half minutes. Here my
predictions for the first and second place team in both conferences.
I'm not going to argue or debate bad teams that
have no chance to make the playoffs. Buffalo, New England's
probably the easiest. I like the Bills doing it. The
Patriots lodged in for a wild card. Their schedule's tougher, Jets,
(39:13):
Dolphins rebuilding, Ravens, Bengals in the AFC North. I think
Cincinnati deserves credit spending some money on Jonathan Allen and
Dexter Lawrence and boy A Maffey from Seattle. They have
upgraded significantly their defensive front. They've always had the quarterback
and the wide receiver and the skill players. So I
go Ravens won Cincinnati two. I'm going to take Texans
(39:35):
Colts Tamiko Ryans I think is a top five coach
in the league. C J. Stroud regressed offensive line has
been addressed. I think he rebounds a little. And this
was a tough one. A lot of people, like the Jags,
didn't love their draft. I think if Daniel Jones is upright,
the Colts roster top to bottom better. I have them
lodging in potential wildcard team AFC West Denver pulls back.
(39:58):
They trailed fifteen games last year, fourteen virtually absurd. You
can't do that again. They are inconsistent offensively. The Chargers
Mike McDaniel, Trey Harris will pop as a receiver. Running
backs at least for now in the O line are healthy,
and Kansas City's roster has holes. Trent McDuffie's gone. That hurts,
but I have them as a wildcard team in the NFC,
(40:21):
the probably the hardest division to crack is I'll take
Philadelphia because I like their roster. Sirianni works, Jalen Hurts
as a grown up, McKay lemon not having a great camp,
but he and Devonte Smith, Saquon Barkley, that offensive line
and tight end group will score some points. I like
the Giants fingers crossed on Jackson, Dart, Skataboo, Molik, neighbors,
(40:43):
Andrew Thomas's health, but they lost a lot of one
score games, unlike Denver. Reverse it with Denver. Denver won
too many close ones. Giants lost too many close ones.
Both will somewhat flip. I think when you go to
the NFC North, best division in football, Detroit's got the
best roster. I think their offensive line they solved it
(41:05):
in the draft, the right tackle spot now Pine Sewell
moves to left. I think their roster's fantastic. I think
their skill players are exceptional. Feel the same way about
the Bears, but I don't like their defensive personnel as well.
I think Jalen Johnson's a hell of a corner and
Malik Muhammad I watched them at practice from Texas. He'll
be an interesting rookie. But I think the Lions and
(41:27):
the Bears separate from the pack about Thanksgiving. I think
NFC South Saints will be maybe the most improved team
in the league in Carolina. I like their GM and
their coach. I think they've given Bryce Young a lot
to work with. I do worry about his size and
his health. And NFC West, listen, Seattle could win the
Super Bowl again. I know you don't think it's possible,
(41:49):
but if Sam Donald wins back to back Super Bowls,
I'm gonna be difficult. I wish all of you the
best of luck if Donald hoist his second straight Lombardi Trophy.
There you go, AFC, NFC top two teams in each
apologize for third and fourth place finishers, but hey, do
better and I'll talk about it. There you go. Last
(42:10):
hour coming up. Joel Klatt on deck. We got a
lot to discuss.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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