Greg Jennings stops by The Herd to talk about Aaron Rodgers being voted the most annoying player, realistic expectations for the Steelers, the Packers being interested in Micah Parsons, and more
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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 3 (00:26):
Back here on the Herd.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Next guest is Greg Jennings, Fox Sports NFL analyst. He's
over at First Things First today actually after the show.
He's also, you know, an all time great wide receiver
for the Packers.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
He had a good run with the Vikings as well.
He's a bodybuilder. Greg, how are we doing today?
Speaker 5 (00:44):
Man? I'm excellent?
Speaker 6 (00:47):
You are?
Speaker 5 (00:47):
I haven't seen Rachel?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
How are you? Rach is very popular around here.
Speaker 7 (00:56):
You get out in the trenches with these guys. Jason,
you gotta come to more practices.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 7 (01:01):
We sweat on those fields in Green Bay.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
That it's interesting, great because last time you were on
with me, it was like we ended on a sour
note because I asked a question you didn't seem to love,
maybe already forgotten it. You do a lot of interviews,
you're famous, but I'm going to start here with a
tough one. Your boy, Aaron Rodgers was voted the most
annoying player in the NFL, according to a recent poll
by I believe it was Action Network.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Greg.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I know you're tight with Rogers. I'm sure you guys
are texting about this. How was he holding up after
being made the most annoyed? First of all, do you
agree with that sentiment he has.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Been a little annoying the last few years?
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Well, I think I think anytime you're in the media
as much as he's in the media, and your popularity
is where his is in, the expectations everywhere you go
is to compete for a Super Bowl in him giving
you a chance, in that not happening in the past
few years. Yeah, you start to get a little annoyed
(01:59):
with that, and the excitement starts to doll in the
locker room and around the league.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
But to say somebody is the.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
Most annoying, typically it's because of number one, how you
feel about them, how they portrayed themselves, and they're probably
not winning games. Not a lot of people are gonna
say if you are winning and having success that you
are an annoying player.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
It's interesting because Kelsey and Mahomes are two and three
and they're winning a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Aaron Rodgers not as much. Do you, by the way,
have we talked about this.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Do you think in Pittsburgh Rogers is going to thrive
and make the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
As you see the list there.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
Look, I'm not sure if they're going to make the playoffs.
I wasn't high on the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. Now
they surprised a lot of us and probably a lot
of their fans based on what they had at the
quarterback situation. I don't see Aaron Rodgers being an extreme upgrade.
And I understand and we fall in love with the resume.
I played with the guy. He is a spectacular quarterback.
(03:05):
He was a spectacular quarterback. He's not that version of
Aaron Rodgers that we've seen in years past. Can he
show flashes of that, of course, but the level of
consistency of having that be sustained, I just we haven't
seen it. We have not seen it since second to
(03:28):
last year in Green Bay. Weard yeah, second to last
year in Green Bay. So I'm not picking the Pittsburgh
Steelers to do anything this year. And it doesn't have
a whole lot to do with Aaron Rodgers is just
I've seen this team in years past just barely get
by because of other teams in that AFC conference not
(03:49):
living up to what the expectations were for them.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Your Packers made the news this week. Now listen.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
It's a little suss that this started from some random
on social media, but the Packers were then linked to
Micah Parsons in a possible trade, and Guda Kuntzt was
asked about it and was like, I can't talk about
it's all very cool. I cannot envision a scenario where
the Cowboys trade mic out of the Packers, or the
Packers being like, hey, we'll give Michael all the money
(04:17):
after giving up draft picks to get him.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I don't see it, but maybe I'm missing something. Where
are you on this?
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Look in the in a fantasy world, and that's where
we all try to like to live in our imagination.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Sometimes this would be unreal.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
If this happens for the Green Bay Packers because they've
struggled with getting after the quarterback. Obviously Rashaun Gary and
Luke Van s who their past main pass rusus are.
Luke Vans has not lived up to the hype Rashaan
Gary since the injury.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Has been good, he hasn't been great.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
And just when you have when you have a name
like Michael Parsons and you know what he can provide,
and you have a defense that's really good and may
have some troubles in the secondary, we will see that's pending.
You need guys that can get out of the quarterback.
And so everyone in Green Bay would love this until
you start to talk about what you got to give
(05:14):
up to getting.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah, there's no way there's a Herschel Walker package. That's
just not I don't.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Think that's not what the green Bay Packers do.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Right, That's just out of character for them. I do
have to ask, you know about the person stuff. And
I know a lot of the audience is like, why
are you guys talking about Dallas because they haven't made
a conference championship game since nineteen ninety five. You might
as well talk about the Saints or the Panthers. But
I am curious, do you think that you know, Dallas
is kind of still an interesting team or are like
(05:42):
are they relevant.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
As a player.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
As a former player, there was always noise around and
surrounding the Dallas Cowboys because of the star, because of
the history and the America's team and whatnot. But then
you say even play and you're like, man, look, they're
just like any other team. However, they have an owner
that is loud, that draws attention, that is going to
(06:08):
have us talking about this team for one reason or
the other, whether they're having success on the field or
whether they're making noise because of situations like contract disputes
or what have you.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
We're going to be.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Talking about the Dallas Cowboys because that's how he has
orchestrated this thing. So are they relevant? Yeah, they are
relevant and their team. Look, we look at the Cincinnati
Bengals as a team that has a chance because they
have a great, elite quarterback and we call Joe Burrow
an elite quarterback. Dak Prescott has his work cut out
(06:43):
for him, regardless of what takes place with Michael Parsons
in that defense, Dak Prescott is healthy. You have added
another receiver. Let's see what you can do. Can you
live up to this elite quarterback status that you are
being paid to be?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Be sure the can't live editions of the Herd Weekdays
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Speaker 8 (07:04):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
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(07:25):
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Speaker 4 (08:00):
Speaking of elite quarterbacks or Wannab's Caleb Williams in Chicago.
I'm coming under fire right now, Greg, just because I
had to take that, Like, it doesn't seem like Caleb
and Ben are on the same page. The messaging out
of Chicago, I don't think is great right now. We
had Albert Breer echo some of that earlier. Where are
you on this first year relationship? Remember Caleb was basically
freelancing his final year at USC just doing whatever, run
(08:23):
around guy, and he did a lot of the same
from Chicago last year where he didn't get a lot
of structure and he was running for his life. Took
sixty eight sacks all of a sudden, He's going to
be a drop back passer like a Jared Goff.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Is that what Ben wants? Do you think that's feasible?
Speaker 6 (08:37):
Look, we had a chance of talk with Ben Johnson
earlier this week, and a lot of the questions were like,
where is he from a maturity standpoint for me? Because
the talent, I believe we all can agree it's there.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
We know he possesses the skill set and the talent.
Speaker 6 (08:55):
However, the acumen, the understanding of what is being asked
in certain situations, and then once you get that down, okay,
put your spin on it, spice it up a bit.
But until you get you can't just go out there freelancing.
And I think that's the messaging that Ben Johnson is
trying to get across to his young quarterback, and he
(09:18):
knows it's going there's going to be growing pains, there's
going to be moments that he does it and he
executes it well and it looks great, and we're going
to expect to see that moving forward the moment we
see it because of the talent that we know he possesses. However,
Ben Johnson is trying to be realistic and understanding. He
is a very young quarterback that probably didn't have this
(09:40):
type of discipline structure around him last season, and he
understands that, and so.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Talked about the first.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
Play of the game of their preseason game against Kansas
City and the Jet sweep and that being on your
quarterback and how frustrated it is as a play caller
offensive coordinator in mind to see your quarterback not be
able to time that up, knowing that's all on you.
Those are the types of things that I feel like
(10:12):
Ben Johnson is trying to suppress a little bit because
it's like, we can't have those type of mistakes when
we're trying to be a team that's competitive. We have
all the weapons that we need, we're building all this
stuff around you to support you. You can't do those
types of things. There's certain mistakes that you can you
(10:32):
can take, we can handle that, we can correct that.
But when you make mistakes like that where it's on
your cadence to time up a guy that you put
in motion and we work this play all week and
it's stuff first player of the game, those are the
types of players that just stay with you as a
coach and as players, and you can't let that go.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
So you see on the screen the Bears host the
Vikings on Monday Night Football in Week one. That's JJ
McCarthy in his first start with the Vikings versus Caleb
Williams who started last year and now has Ben Johnson. Listen,
when you were playing in the NFL, Greg, I'm sure
you would see the media overreacting.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You guys in the locker room would last. Now you're on.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
This side with the media, you know there's going to
be a big overreaction to whoever.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Loses this game. If JJ McCarthy flopped off, he wasn't
the guy. You know, they should have kept Arnold.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
If Caleb flopped, well, when's he getting benched for Tyson Bagon?
I mean, honestly, we're probably headed there in week one.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Do you think that this is fair to the young quarterbacks?
Speaker 6 (11:40):
It's where we are, yeah, Jason, this is where we are.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Number one.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
Caleb has come in with so much expectations surrounding him
and then to not deliver or to make it look like, man,
did you see what he was able to do even
though he had a really good rookie season. Is good
based on rookies coming in and playing at the quarterback position. However,
(12:05):
it wasn't Jade and Daniels, it wasn't CJ.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Stroud.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
We have this, we have this sense of always desiring
to compare to what we last saw or what we're
seeing in current moments.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
And for JJ, we just saw Sam Donald.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
Take this team and nobody believed in Sam Donald. Nobody
believe in Sam Donald, and so for Sam Donald to
do what he was able to accomplish with that you
offensive unit, there's going to be pressure for JJ McCarthy
to an expectation that you know what, if Sam did it,
why can't you do it?
Speaker 5 (12:42):
You are first round pick.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
We know that you won a national championship at the
University of Michigan. You are supposed to come right in
and keep it rolling, and that's just unrealistic. Both coaches
understand that, but fan bases are a little more impatient,
and we in the media are even more impatient.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Greg Jennings, first things first, man, Greg, I'm so it's
good to know you as a human. You're a good dude.
I like your analysis. Enjoy the NFL.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Season, buddy, absolutely too. Take care of Rachel.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
All right, the great Greg Jennings. Let's go to Rachel
Nichols with the news.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Greg Jennings, class pack.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
That's all I gotta say. All Right, let's talk a
little Travis Kelsey because, as I mentioned in the last hour,
his Jersey sales have topped two hundred percent since he
and Taylor Swift announced their engagement. The song Swift put
on the Instagram announcement called so high School that search
four hundred percent and Spotify downloads Meta said the post
of their engagement has been reposted more than a million times,
(13:51):
which is the most.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
In the history of Instagram. That's not all.
Speaker 7 (13:55):
Yesterday Countsey announced a clothing line collab with American Eagle,
and those clothes already flying off the shelves.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
So, Jason, I.
Speaker 7 (14:01):
Wanted to get your take on this because we heard
Kelsey say earlier this summer, too many distractions last season, Right,
I'm cleaning up the distractions, and he put his money
where his mouth is, at least he seemed to over
the summer with the workouts. You've heard several of our
guys have come on for interviews this week say they've
never seen him in such good shape in years, and
he's clearly ready to go.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
So which side are you on?
Speaker 7 (14:24):
Are these distractions going to continue through the season or
do you feel like when it's football time, he knows
he's got to buckle down on football.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, I mean, as is usually the case, is both Right,
he knows.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
It's time to buckle down. Let's get this stuff out
of the way. Let's get the engagement out of the way.
The big podcast with the with the wife and the
clothing line, is this the same one with the Sydney
Sweeney recently did Great Jeans or is that different?
Speaker 7 (14:46):
It's a different it's the same company, but it's a
different stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I don't even know the clothing brains, you know. I
think it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
I'm just this where she writes suspension kind of twists
things because now there's more pressure on Kelsey Earth.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah, exactly, because Hollywood Brown is still not a definite go.
Speaker 7 (15:04):
I can't believe you just say, get the engagement out
of the way, let's get a wife.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You must be such a romantic at home.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Well, I'd less to trust me the wife who is
not happy during football season because I told her, listen, Sundays,
I gotta work Saturdays. Saturdays, well, you can watch the
college on your phone, but NFL you got I mean
multiple Television's red Zone fantasy gambling like it's it's a
scene and I'm ordering food every Sundays.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
It's so you're going to be buckled down, not distracted
during football season. And I'm of the opinion Kelsey will too.
I think there's it's not a coincidence. This is all
happening in this dead.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Week before I would agree with you.
Speaker 7 (15:39):
Yeah, well, see let's talk a little Lions. Right, they
lost offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. We've just been talking about
him in Chicago, defensive coordinator Aaron Glent Jets. Now, some
people have been doubting if they'll have that same level
of success, But the guys over in Detroit say they
are motivated by all this talk. Ride receiver a Monray's
sa Mon Ross Saint Brown said they are looking forward
(16:01):
to seeing Ben right twice a year, and he actually
told his former OC quote, we are going to FUO.
And I don't think he just said f that's just
me reading into it, but I believe he said more
than one letter.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
That's just my guess.
Speaker 7 (16:15):
Anyway, do you feel that this is going to motivate them?
Or if you look at this list of teams that
have had coordinators leave, it hasn't.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Gone great for them. So which way do you think
it's going to go?
Speaker 7 (16:28):
These are teams that lost both their OC and their
DC in the previous season.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Oh mind, you.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Had one AFC Championship appearance from the Chargers, but otherwise,
time about wildcard losses.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah, that's not great.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
It's you know, I remember I asked Greg, Hey, whoever
loses between McCarthy and Caleb it's going to be open
season on the loser well that Lions Packers game. If
the Lions lose that see everything everybody said all summer.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
They didn't look Chris not buttoned up.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I give up thirty four points and they lose, and
it's like the Lions are head toward disaster. We will
try not to overreact, but it's tough not to, right.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I mean, you've been doing this long enough, you know
there's going to be overreaction.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
With you, of course.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
I mean everything with the NFL is like that, and
that's good for the league in general.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
Right.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
I think that in the first month of the season
you will see a different Lions team than you will
for the rest of the season. I think that it
will take real game, live games, real decisions, real in
the moment things, for everyone to get on the same page.
For guys to start trusting the coordinators they did with
their old guys. Right, that's a relationship that requires sort
of having been been down there and doing it together.
(17:37):
But I think that comps. I think it comes pretty
quickly in the NFL because you're in a lot of
those situations right away.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
So I wouldn't be.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Surprised if we see a little disorganization or a little
bit of you know, not being on the same page
in the first month, and then I think this is
too good a team.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
To call apart because they lost a couple of guys.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I do like that this motivated you see on the screen,
and let's say they're seven and two out of the game.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Rachel.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, and my favorite is when then they'll take online
your take on them from the summer to see this
guy was way wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
We used it as motivation, Rachel. I'm happy to help
and motivate these guys. You're doing to say a service, Jason, Exactly.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
I don't think Munch of the Lions. I don't think
they're going to the playoffs. Use that as Boltimore material.
Call me out in November. I'm happy to help.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Is that fair?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Well, Hey, we'll play this clip in November. See, I'll
text Colin and tell them.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Play this in November.
Speaker 7 (18:30):
Let's talk about Chicago. You were just talking to Greg
a little bit about Caleb Williams and the Bears. Look,
there's been plenty of conversations about problems he may be having,
but Caleb himself recently told the media, he is back
to finding joy in his game. In fact, he said,
one of the ways you can tell is that he's
painting his nails again, j Mac and that his body
language has been different. And in fact, that's something that
(18:52):
came a little bit from Ben Johnson that they sat
down and looked at tape right when Johnson got there,
and one of the big things was, you've got to
show calm. You've got to just you know, the body language,
the parts of your personality that are you. You can't
just swamp and lose all of that. So Caleb said, quote,
I'm just back to being myself. I'm being unapologetic about it.
I'm not going to apologize for it. I'm going to
(19:13):
be me.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Do you buy all of this?
Speaker 7 (19:16):
Do you think that makes a difference on the field.
Do you like seeing this parts of his personality or
are you want of these called down to play football?
Young man?
Speaker 6 (19:22):
Well?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
What is back to myself? What is I don't know what.
Speaker 7 (19:26):
That means that he felt he was filling a role
and not being put in a position to be who
he wanted.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
To be out there.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
I mean, there's certainly you know this idea in sports,
and we've seen it over and over again and in life.
Basically of I.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Tried to conform.
Speaker 7 (19:40):
I tried to do what I was supposed to do.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
But you know, being eighty percent of.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
Someone else is not as good as being one hundred
percent of me, right for that expression, So I think
that's the idea of what he's trying to say. But
just with a lot of I'm not apologizing.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I'm unapologetic all that.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I know the Bears fans think we're hate and specifically men.
I don't hate Caleb with I like him. I just
don't see a lot of positives right now. And that's okay,
but I know that doesn't translate well on the internet
for the jabronis Rachel with the news.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News all right.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Coming up next, we'll go to big tend Country Ohio
State Texas. You can't get enough of that. That's next.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
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 whenever you like. The
show is just flying by.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
As we head into the final twenty minutes, let's bring
in a guest from Big Ten Country, Anthony Herron's college football.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Analyst at the Big Ten Network.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
He's got Wisconsin in action tonight. I mean, Anthony, it
feels kind of like Christmas, right. I know Week zero
is a soft launch for college football, but I know
you're excited for this weekend starting tonight.
Speaker 9 (21:00):
Yeah, man, I cannot wait and the idea that at
Camp Braandle Stadium going into year three for Luke Fickle
and all the implications of what a program like Wisconsin
have in store for that. But then, of course not
the biggest game of the weekend in college football. But yeah,
I got a game to night. I'm at Purdue on Saturday.
I'm rocket and rolling. Man, It's college football season.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Geez, Purdue, per I call him per, don't but don't
tell him. I said that. Listen, man, we got to start.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
We got to start with the big matchup, Ohio State
hosting Texas. Everybody wants to weigh in on Arch Manning
and his kind of real debut. I know he started
a couple of games last year against some you know,
lesser foes. There's a tall order for him to go
into Ohio State against the defending champs.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
No, definitely.
Speaker 9 (21:47):
Really, when you look at both lineups, there's a lot
of new personnel for each of these teams that they
have to deal with. And just getting to talk to
Ryan Day a couple of weeks ago, he's he seems
excited about that.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
He's kind of using that as.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
An additional way to invigorate him coming off of the
national championship, and even mentioned it shortly after the season
last year that it's great and there is some exhale,
some relief. He did the rubber chicken circuit for a
little while on various shows. But oh, let's go into
that opener and see how things go. If we're not
playing well against Texas, and then the pressure will be
(22:21):
right back on. That's just the pressure cooker that it
is when you're the coach in Columbus. But both these teams,
of course, have their first time starter at quarterback, you know,
being the full time starter for either of them. And
it's odd because arch Manning, even though he's still really
young and to your point, we haven't seen him start
a full season for Texas yet, but he is the
more experienced between the two. I do feel more certain
(22:44):
about what Julian's saying in Ohio State will have available
in playmakers in a line.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
The continuity there with the.
Speaker 9 (22:52):
Play callers and Ryan Davis just sort of matured this
program with this combination of finesse and physicality that wasn't
always is there.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
And I can't.
Speaker 9 (23:01):
Imagine a player to be able to handle the pressure
the scrutiny that arch Manning is under better than a
young quarterback. Has through a couple of seasons of sparingly
playing major college football, so he seems ready for it
as a personality and with his maturity, I'm just not
certain his game is there yet. To just sort of
anoint him as the number one pick in this coming draft,
(23:23):
I got to watch that play out first.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I totally agree. It's interesting.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Obviously your bio, you played high level college football, you
were in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Now you're on the other side doing the media stuff.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Is it fair or unfair that in the NFL the
Eagles are the defending champs, but all we hear about
is Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Dallas Cowboys, blah blah blah,
and in college football it's the Arch Manning story. We're
not even talking really about the Eagles or we're not
talking about Ohio.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
State, the defending champions.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Do we need to do better in the media mixing
it up or what's your take on that.
Speaker 9 (23:58):
You know, I'm supposed to some extent where all or at
least many of us are guilty of it, But especially
when you're talking about the National Football League and the Eagles.
Even though Jalen Hurts is not some magnetic personality, He's
not a guy who you see all over social media
being out in the club everything else. But he is
(24:19):
a guy that carries himself with this maturity both mentally
and emotionally, and we saw that play out in college.
That seems to be what wins in the NFL. Of course,
Patrick Mahomes he can have a circus going in his
family sometimes and that tends to be a little more
interesting than when you got one of the great tight
ends of all time dating one of the most famous
(24:39):
women on the planet now engaged to one of the most.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Famous women on the planet.
Speaker 9 (24:42):
That's going to include a lot more folks into that conversation.
But if you just want to talk ball, how can
you not be passionate talking about the Eagles at what
they do on the line of scrimmage. I mean that
to me, it just kind of depends on which audience
to try to appeal to. The broader audience will come
with some of the more charismatic personalities.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
But if you're just talking ball man, yeah, the Eagles are.
Where is that?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah? You know, let me quickly ask about Penn State.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
They're almost kind of written off as like the team
that cried wolf.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Every year it's Penn State. They're close, they got it,
and then James Franklin drops a bag in a big game.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
It feels like, hey, this is probably the year Ala returns.
They got a great backfield, you know, preseason top five,
But it really comes down to can James Franklin win
a big game? Because I'm not bashing the guy, the
reality is he has struggled against elite A competition.
Speaker 9 (25:35):
It's fair when you look at the record, there's no
doubt about that. But what he's done extremely well at
as elite a level as any program in the country.
Penn State doesn't lose those question mark games to teams
who shouldn't beat them. There's a skill in that. There's
a preparedness that goes into that as well. And I
mean years ago one of the first appearances I had
(25:58):
with Colin on this show back in the day, I
wasn't a believer in James Franklin and Penn State When
they were going into a game against Jim Harbaugh in
Michigan and they had Sae Kwon Barkley and weapons all
over the place and a fantastic defense. I just saw
Michigan was going to show up at Beaver Stadium and
punch him in the mouth. That didn't happen that week.
They blew Michigan out, and Penn State fans were all
in my bensons and everywhere else they did a couple
(26:20):
of weeks ago falter from that point. But my point
is I do believe this version of Penn State, especially
after what we saw last season. Now, if you want
to say being an eyelash away for the appearance in
the National Championship game, he didn't win any big games
on the way there, are going to disagree with you
on that, Jake. But what we saw now is a
very similar model from this past offseason to what Michigan
(26:42):
won the National Championship with two years ago and what
Ohio State won the National Championship with last year. Roster retention,
especially on the line of scrimmage. This has the potential
to be the best on the offensive line that James
Franklin has had at any point in over a decade
that he's been leading things for Penn State. And Drew
Aller he is one of the more physically gifted quarterbacks
(27:05):
that's going to come into this draft cycle. And now
he's got back to back years with Andy Kotelnikki as
his offensive coordinator. That should be extremely exciting to every
Penn State fan out there and frankly kind of scary
to the majority of college football because the size, the mobility,
the arm strength you're looking for it. Drew Allen would
have been a first round pick in this last draft
(27:26):
cycle if he decided to go out.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
He didn't.
Speaker 9 (27:29):
He came back to continue to mature his skills for
another season and they finally got him some playmakers on
the outside. So all that man coverage that Notre Dame
was locking down folks with all last season, and they
effectively did against pet State, It'll be a tougher task
for anyone wanting the man up on the Nickney Lions
this year.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
I mean, it just feels like the last time we
saw Aler throw a pass. It was that disaster against
the Irish, like, what are you doing?
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Kid? Was his worst pass.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I don't want to come off.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Like I'm bashing Franklin, but you know what was it, Jered?
I mean West was like one in eight in the
NBA Finals or something like.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
That, maybe one or nine.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
But Franklin, it's not just always struggled one in sixteen
against top five of I mean, Anthony, that's like you
can't argue like, well, this was in the rain and
this was a miss field goal and one in sixteen
is kind of like, oh, that's a problem, right.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
And it was a problem for Dabo until he broke
through and got it done at Clemson and Mark Rick
had an amazing run going at Georgia and then they
just said, wow, this isn't good enough. And now we
see what's able to happen with Kirby Smart. But to
be amongst the top ten programs every single year now
over the last couple of years, amongst the top five
(28:40):
programs in college football, there's certainly something to be said
for that. And what really I was impressed by is
the way that James Franklin and Drew Aller and the
folks who came to Las Vegas for Big ten Football
media days. I was interviewing all of them for Big
ten Radio with Series XM and sitting down with James Franklin.
He did not shirk the response of ability of leading
(29:01):
knitting the Lions football and certainly didn't shirk the expectations
of Penn State fans. And I'm sure you've seen the
clips on occasion, whether it's the spring game or regular
season game last season with Penn State's coming out with
a victory, and it'd be some fan in the stands
wanting to say something to James Franklin. He knows what
the expectations offer his role, while he's also realistic about
what's been accomplished during his time there. And you know,
(29:24):
there's very few programs who went at the level of
the Penn State does. But that's why the expectations are
so high. It's a part of where you know, the
game I'm calling a Knight, the Wisconsin game, Luke Fickle,
Matt Rule both Going into year three, there's a different
feel from each fan base, though more positivity about where
Nebraska is because they know they've got a young budding
(29:44):
star as at quarterback, there are more questions about where
Wisconsin sits along those lines, so it hasn't necessarily eased
the bellies of Wisconsin fans so much so. Billy Edwards
taking the field tonight at Camp Brown for the first
time in the transfer portal, that's going to be a
big part of whether Wisconsin fans are going to love that.
But having Drew Aller for a third year as a starter,
(30:05):
and the receivers like Trevor Paianna and Kiren Hudson that
they brought in with Penn State, and they're still going
to be deep at tight end, by the way, and
so much NFL talent returns on defense, it doesn't even
have to all be on the shoulders of Drew Aller
to be a similar team to what they were last year.
But this should be the best version we've ever seen
of him as well. So, yes, expectations are high, and
(30:27):
they should be, but let's not ignore the results that
have been there. They've been amongst the elite in the
country for a decade.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
All right, Anthey, we got about a minute left.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Miami Notre Dame historically a great battle, all eyes on
Carson Beck against the defensive guru Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame,
your quick thoughts on that game, Well.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
Carson Beck, like I mentioned, you know a guy who
had potential to go to the NFL. Of course, a
year ago, Carson Beck was the presumed number one pick
in that next draft cycle, and then twenty twenty four happened.
So now he's got a fresh start. He's got a
new opportunity here. And for what happens with man coverage
Notre Dame on the back end, they're going to be
salty in the secondary. Yet again, the approach that Marcus
(31:09):
Freeman takes there to just man everyone up across the board,
there's going to be opportunities for Carson Beck to show
development because throwing into tight windows or even extending the
play when it's necessary, those haven't been his strengths and
to performing that way consistently during his previous stops.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Now we'll see whether or not not only.
Speaker 9 (31:29):
His approach has matured, but has his game matured as
a quarterback, because he's going to be tested by Notre Day.
So with Mario Christobaul, he doesn't mind the game coming
down to Cold Crest depth late. So I do think
that this is going to be a low scoring affair
in whichever squad, whether it's a young quarterback for the
Irish or the experienced guy in Carson Beck, kind of
make that key play late.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
We'll beside it, all right, Anthony Aaron, Big ten Network.
Great stuff.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Good luck tonight with the Wisconsin games. We'll talk to
you Someboddy his sah all right, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
From Anthony Aaron.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Listen to College Football Weekend, your last respite before the
NFL consumes your.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Life for three plus months. Back at a minute,
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 3 (00:26):
Back here on the Herd.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Next guest is Greg Jennings, Fox Sports NFL analyst. He's
over at First Things First today actually after the show.
He's also, you know, an all time great wide receiver
for the Packers.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
He had a good run with the Vikings as well.
He's a bodybuilder. Greg, how are we doing today?
Speaker 5 (00:44):
Man? I'm excellent?
Speaker 6 (00:47):
You are?
Speaker 5 (00:47):
I haven't seen Rachel?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
How are you? Rach is very popular around here.
Speaker 7 (00:56):
You get out in the trenches with these guys. Jason,
you gotta come to more practices.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 7 (01:01):
We sweat on those fields in Green Bay.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
That it's interesting, great because last time you were on
with me, it was like we ended on a sour
note because I asked a question you didn't seem to love,
maybe already forgotten it. You do a lot of interviews,
you're famous, but I'm going to start here with a
tough one. Your boy, Aaron Rodgers was voted the most
annoying player in the NFL, according to a recent poll
by I believe it was Action Network.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Greg.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I know you're tight with Rogers. I'm sure you guys
are texting about this. How was he holding up after
being made the most annoyed? First of all, do you
agree with that sentiment he has.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Been a little annoying the last few years?
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Well, I think I think anytime you're in the media
as much as he's in the media, and your popularity
is where his is in, the expectations everywhere you go
is to compete for a Super Bowl in him giving
you a chance, in that not happening in the past
few years. Yeah, you start to get a little annoyed
(01:59):
with that, and the excitement starts to doll in the
locker room and around the league.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
But to say somebody is the.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
Most annoying, typically it's because of number one, how you
feel about them, how they portrayed themselves, and they're probably
not winning games. Not a lot of people are gonna
say if you are winning and having success that you
are an annoying player.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
It's interesting because Kelsey and Mahomes are two and three
and they're winning a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Aaron Rodgers not as much. Do you, by the way,
have we talked about this.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Do you think in Pittsburgh Rogers is going to thrive
and make the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
As you see the list there.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
Look, I'm not sure if they're going to make the playoffs.
I wasn't high on the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. Now
they surprised a lot of us and probably a lot
of their fans based on what they had at the
quarterback situation. I don't see Aaron Rodgers being an extreme upgrade.
And I understand and we fall in love with the resume.
I played with the guy. He is a spectacular quarterback.
(03:05):
He was a spectacular quarterback. He's not that version of
Aaron Rodgers that we've seen in years past. Can he
show flashes of that, of course, but the level of
consistency of having that be sustained, I just we haven't
seen it. We have not seen it since second to
(03:28):
last year in Green Bay. Weard yeah, second to last
year in Green Bay. So I'm not picking the Pittsburgh
Steelers to do anything this year. And it doesn't have
a whole lot to do with Aaron Rodgers is just
I've seen this team in years past just barely get
by because of other teams in that AFC conference not
(03:49):
living up to what the expectations were for them.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Your Packers made the news this week. Now listen.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
It's a little suss that this started from some random
on social media, but the Packers were then linked to
Micah Parsons in a possible trade, and Guda Kuntzt was
asked about it and was like, I can't talk about
it's all very cool. I cannot envision a scenario where
the Cowboys trade mic out of the Packers, or the
Packers being like, hey, we'll give Michael all the money
(04:17):
after giving up draft picks to get him.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I don't see it, but maybe I'm missing something. Where
are you on this?
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Look in the in a fantasy world, and that's where
we all try to like to live in our imagination.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Sometimes this would be unreal.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
If this happens for the Green Bay Packers because they've
struggled with getting after the quarterback. Obviously Rashaun Gary and
Luke Van s who their past main pass rusus are.
Luke Vans has not lived up to the hype Rashaan
Gary since the injury.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Has been good, he hasn't been great.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
And just when you have when you have a name
like Michael Parsons and you know what he can provide,
and you have a defense that's really good and may
have some troubles in the secondary, we will see that's pending.
You need guys that can get out of the quarterback.
And so everyone in Green Bay would love this until
you start to talk about what you got to give
(05:14):
up to getting.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah, there's no way there's a Herschel Walker package. That's
just not I don't.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Think that's not what the green Bay Packers do.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Right, That's just out of character for them. I do
have to ask, you know about the person stuff. And
I know a lot of the audience is like, why
are you guys talking about Dallas because they haven't made
a conference championship game since nineteen ninety five. You might
as well talk about the Saints or the Panthers. But
I am curious, do you think that you know, Dallas
is kind of still an interesting team or are like
(05:42):
are they relevant.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
As a player.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
As a former player, there was always noise around and
surrounding the Dallas Cowboys because of the star, because of
the history and the America's team and whatnot. But then
you say even play and you're like, man, look, they're
just like any other team. However, they have an owner
that is loud, that draws attention, that is going to
(06:08):
have us talking about this team for one reason or
the other, whether they're having success on the field or
whether they're making noise because of situations like contract disputes
or what have you.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
We're going to be.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Talking about the Dallas Cowboys because that's how he has
orchestrated this thing. So are they relevant? Yeah, they are
relevant and their team. Look, we look at the Cincinnati
Bengals as a team that has a chance because they
have a great, elite quarterback and we call Joe Burrow
an elite quarterback. Dak Prescott has his work cut out
(06:43):
for him, regardless of what takes place with Michael Parsons
in that defense, Dak Prescott is healthy. You have added
another receiver. Let's see what you can do. Can you
live up to this elite quarterback status that you are
being paid to be?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Be sure the can't live editions of the Herd Weekdays
a Neon Eastern non am Pacific.
Speaker 8 (07:04):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
(07:25):
sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something, right, So
check us out. We like to get you involved too,
take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to
(07:46):
check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of
the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you
get your podcasts, and of course on social media. That's
Covino and Rich.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Speaking of elite quarterbacks or Wannab's Caleb Williams in Chicago.
I'm coming under fire right now, Greg, just because I
had to take that, Like, it doesn't seem like Caleb
and Ben are on the same page. The messaging out
of Chicago, I don't think is great right now. We
had Albert Breer echo some of that earlier. Where are
you on this first year relationship? Remember Caleb was basically
freelancing his final year at USC just doing whatever, run
(08:23):
around guy, and he did a lot of the same
from Chicago last year where he didn't get a lot
of structure and he was running for his life. Took
sixty eight sacks all of a sudden, He's going to
be a drop back passer like a Jared Goff.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Is that what Ben wants? Do you think that's feasible?
Speaker 6 (08:37):
Look, we had a chance of talk with Ben Johnson
earlier this week, and a lot of the questions were like,
where is he from a maturity standpoint for me? Because
the talent, I believe we all can agree it's there.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
We know he possesses the skill set and the talent.
Speaker 6 (08:55):
However, the acumen, the understanding of what is being asked
in certain situations, and then once you get that down, okay,
put your spin on it, spice it up a bit.
But until you get you can't just go out there freelancing.
And I think that's the messaging that Ben Johnson is
trying to get across to his young quarterback, and he
(09:18):
knows it's going there's going to be growing pains, there's
going to be moments that he does it and he
executes it well and it looks great, and we're going
to expect to see that moving forward the moment we
see it because of the talent that we know he possesses. However,
Ben Johnson is trying to be realistic and understanding. He
is a very young quarterback that probably didn't have this
(09:40):
type of discipline structure around him last season, and he
understands that, and so.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Talked about the first.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
Play of the game of their preseason game against Kansas
City and the Jet sweep and that being on your
quarterback and how frustrated it is as a play caller
offensive coordinator in mind to see your quarterback not be
able to time that up, knowing that's all on you.
Those are the types of things that I feel like
(10:12):
Ben Johnson is trying to suppress a little bit because
it's like, we can't have those type of mistakes when
we're trying to be a team that's competitive. We have
all the weapons that we need, we're building all this
stuff around you to support you. You can't do those
types of things. There's certain mistakes that you can you
(10:32):
can take, we can handle that, we can correct that.
But when you make mistakes like that where it's on
your cadence to time up a guy that you put
in motion and we work this play all week and
it's stuff first player of the game, those are the
types of players that just stay with you as a
coach and as players, and you can't let that go.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
So you see on the screen the Bears host the
Vikings on Monday Night Football in Week one. That's JJ
McCarthy in his first start with the Vikings versus Caleb
Williams who started last year and now has Ben Johnson. Listen,
when you were playing in the NFL, Greg, I'm sure
you would see the media overreacting.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You guys in the locker room would last. Now you're on.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
This side with the media, you know there's going to
be a big overreaction to whoever.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Loses this game. If JJ McCarthy flopped off, he wasn't
the guy. You know, they should have kept Arnold.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
If Caleb flopped, well, when's he getting benched for Tyson Bagon?
I mean, honestly, we're probably headed there in week one.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Do you think that this is fair to the young quarterbacks?
Speaker 6 (11:40):
It's where we are, yeah, Jason, this is where we are.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Number one.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
Caleb has come in with so much expectations surrounding him
and then to not deliver or to make it look like, man,
did you see what he was able to do even
though he had a really good rookie season. Is good
based on rookies coming in and playing at the quarterback position. However,
(12:05):
it wasn't Jade and Daniels, it wasn't CJ.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Stroud.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
We have this, we have this sense of always desiring
to compare to what we last saw or what we're
seeing in current moments.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
And for JJ, we just saw Sam Donald.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
Take this team and nobody believed in Sam Donald. Nobody
believe in Sam Donald, and so for Sam Donald to
do what he was able to accomplish with that you
offensive unit, there's going to be pressure for JJ McCarthy
to an expectation that you know what, if Sam did it,
why can't you do it?
Speaker 5 (12:42):
You are first round pick.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
We know that you won a national championship at the
University of Michigan. You are supposed to come right in
and keep it rolling, and that's just unrealistic. Both coaches
understand that, but fan bases are a little more impatient,
and we in the media are even more impatient.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Greg Jennings, first things first, man, Greg, I'm so it's
good to know you as a human. You're a good dude.
I like your analysis. Enjoy the NFL.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Season, buddy, absolutely too. Take care of Rachel.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
All right, the great Greg Jennings. Let's go to Rachel
Nichols with the news.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Greg Jennings, class pack.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
That's all I gotta say. All Right, let's talk a
little Travis Kelsey because, as I mentioned in the last hour,
his Jersey sales have topped two hundred percent since he
and Taylor Swift announced their engagement. The song Swift put
on the Instagram announcement called so high School that search
four hundred percent and Spotify downloads Meta said the post
of their engagement has been reposted more than a million times,
(13:51):
which is the most.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
In the history of Instagram. That's not all.
Speaker 7 (13:55):
Yesterday Countsey announced a clothing line collab with American Eagle,
and those clothes already flying off the shelves.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
So, Jason, I.
Speaker 7 (14:01):
Wanted to get your take on this because we heard
Kelsey say earlier this summer, too many distractions last season, Right,
I'm cleaning up the distractions, and he put his money
where his mouth is, at least he seemed to over
the summer with the workouts. You've heard several of our
guys have come on for interviews this week say they've
never seen him in such good shape in years, and
he's clearly ready to go.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
So which side are you on?
Speaker 7 (14:24):
Are these distractions going to continue through the season or
do you feel like when it's football time, he knows
he's got to buckle down on football.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, I mean, as is usually the case, is both Right,
he knows.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
It's time to buckle down. Let's get this stuff out
of the way. Let's get the engagement out of the way.
The big podcast with the with the wife and the
clothing line, is this the same one with the Sydney
Sweeney recently did Great Jeans or is that different?
Speaker 7 (14:46):
It's a different it's the same company, but it's a
different stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I don't even know the clothing brains, you know. I
think it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
I'm just this where she writes suspension kind of twists
things because now there's more pressure on Kelsey Earth.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah, exactly, because Hollywood Brown is still not a definite go.
Speaker 7 (15:04):
I can't believe you just say, get the engagement out
of the way, let's get a wife.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You must be such a romantic at home.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Well, I'd less to trust me the wife who is
not happy during football season because I told her, listen, Sundays,
I gotta work Saturdays. Saturdays, well, you can watch the
college on your phone, but NFL you got I mean
multiple Television's red Zone fantasy gambling like it's it's a
scene and I'm ordering food every Sundays.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
It's so you're going to be buckled down, not distracted
during football season. And I'm of the opinion Kelsey will too.
I think there's it's not a coincidence. This is all
happening in this dead.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Week before I would agree with you.
Speaker 7 (15:39):
Yeah, well, see let's talk a little Lions. Right, they
lost offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. We've just been talking about
him in Chicago, defensive coordinator Aaron Glent Jets. Now, some
people have been doubting if they'll have that same level
of success, But the guys over in Detroit say they
are motivated by all this talk. Ride receiver a Monray's
sa Mon Ross Saint Brown said they are looking forward
(16:01):
to seeing Ben right twice a year, and he actually
told his former OC quote, we are going to FUO.
And I don't think he just said f that's just
me reading into it, but I believe he said more
than one letter.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
That's just my guess.
Speaker 7 (16:15):
Anyway, do you feel that this is going to motivate them?
Or if you look at this list of teams that
have had coordinators leave, it hasn't.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Gone great for them. So which way do you think
it's going to go?
Speaker 7 (16:28):
These are teams that lost both their OC and their
DC in the previous season.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Oh mind, you.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Had one AFC Championship appearance from the Chargers, but otherwise,
time about wildcard losses.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah, that's not great.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
It's you know, I remember I asked Greg, Hey, whoever
loses between McCarthy and Caleb it's going to be open
season on the loser well that Lions Packers game. If
the Lions lose that see everything everybody said all summer.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
They didn't look Chris not buttoned up.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I give up thirty four points and they lose, and
it's like the Lions are head toward disaster. We will
try not to overreact, but it's tough not to, right.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I mean, you've been doing this long enough, you know
there's going to be overreaction.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
With you, of course.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
I mean everything with the NFL is like that, and
that's good for the league in general.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
Right.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
I think that in the first month of the season
you will see a different Lions team than you will
for the rest of the season. I think that it
will take real game, live games, real decisions, real in
the moment things, for everyone to get on the same page.
For guys to start trusting the coordinators they did with
their old guys. Right, that's a relationship that requires sort
of having been been down there and doing it together.
(17:37):
But I think that comps. I think it comes pretty
quickly in the NFL because you're in a lot of
those situations right away.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
So I wouldn't be.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Surprised if we see a little disorganization or a little
bit of you know, not being on the same page
in the first month, and then I think this is
too good a team.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
To call apart because they lost a couple of guys.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I do like that this motivated you see on the screen,
and let's say they're seven and two out of the game.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Rachel.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, and my favorite is when then they'll take online
your take on them from the summer to see this
guy was way wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
We used it as motivation, Rachel. I'm happy to help
and motivate these guys. You're doing to say a service, Jason, Exactly.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
I don't think Munch of the Lions. I don't think
they're going to the playoffs. Use that as Boltimore material.
Call me out in November. I'm happy to help.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Is that fair?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Well, Hey, we'll play this clip in November. See, I'll
text Colin and tell them.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Play this in November.
Speaker 7 (18:30):
Let's talk about Chicago. You were just talking to Greg
a little bit about Caleb Williams and the Bears. Look,
there's been plenty of conversations about problems he may be having,
but Caleb himself recently told the media, he is back
to finding joy in his game. In fact, he said,
one of the ways you can tell is that he's
painting his nails again, j Mac and that his body
language has been different. And in fact, that's something that
(18:52):
came a little bit from Ben Johnson that they sat
down and looked at tape right when Johnson got there,
and one of the big things was, you've got to
show calm. You've got to just you know, the body language,
the parts of your personality that are you. You can't
just swamp and lose all of that. So Caleb said, quote,
I'm just back to being myself. I'm being unapologetic about it.
I'm not going to apologize for it. I'm going to
(19:13):
be me.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Do you buy all of this?
Speaker 7 (19:16):
Do you think that makes a difference on the field.
Do you like seeing this parts of his personality or
are you want of these called down to play football?
Young man?
Speaker 6 (19:22):
Well?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
What is back to myself? What is I don't know what.
Speaker 7 (19:26):
That means that he felt he was filling a role
and not being put in a position to be who
he wanted.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
To be out there.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
I mean, there's certainly you know this idea in sports,
and we've seen it over and over again and in life.
Basically of I.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Tried to conform.
Speaker 7 (19:40):
I tried to do what I was supposed to do.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
But you know, being eighty percent of.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
Someone else is not as good as being one hundred
percent of me, right for that expression, So I think
that's the idea of what he's trying to say. But
just with a lot of I'm not apologizing.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I'm unapologetic all that.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I know the Bears fans think we're hate and specifically men.
I don't hate Caleb with I like him. I just
don't see a lot of positives right now. And that's okay,
but I know that doesn't translate well on the internet
for the jabronis Rachel with the news.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News all right.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Coming up next, we'll go to big tend Country Ohio
State Texas. You can't get enough of that. That's next.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
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 whenever you like. The
show is just flying by.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
As we head into the final twenty minutes, let's bring
in a guest from Big Ten Country, Anthony Herron's college football.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Analyst at the Big Ten Network.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
He's got Wisconsin in action tonight. I mean, Anthony, it
feels kind of like Christmas, right. I know Week zero
is a soft launch for college football, but I know
you're excited for this weekend starting tonight.
Speaker 9 (21:00):
Yeah, man, I cannot wait and the idea that at
Camp Braandle Stadium going into year three for Luke Fickle
and all the implications of what a program like Wisconsin
have in store for that. But then, of course not
the biggest game of the weekend in college football. But yeah,
I got a game to night. I'm at Purdue on Saturday.
I'm rocket and rolling. Man, It's college football season.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Geez, Purdue, per I call him per, don't but don't
tell him. I said that. Listen, man, we got to start.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
We got to start with the big matchup, Ohio State
hosting Texas. Everybody wants to weigh in on Arch Manning
and his kind of real debut. I know he started
a couple of games last year against some you know,
lesser foes. There's a tall order for him to go
into Ohio State against the defending champs.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
No, definitely.
Speaker 9 (21:47):
Really, when you look at both lineups, there's a lot
of new personnel for each of these teams that they
have to deal with. And just getting to talk to
Ryan Day a couple of weeks ago, he's he seems
excited about that.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
He's kind of using that as.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
An additional way to invigorate him coming off of the
national championship, and even mentioned it shortly after the season
last year that it's great and there is some exhale,
some relief. He did the rubber chicken circuit for a
little while on various shows. But oh, let's go into
that opener and see how things go. If we're not
playing well against Texas, and then the pressure will be
(22:21):
right back on. That's just the pressure cooker that it
is when you're the coach in Columbus. But both these teams,
of course, have their first time starter at quarterback, you know,
being the full time starter for either of them. And
it's odd because arch Manning, even though he's still really
young and to your point, we haven't seen him start
a full season for Texas yet, but he is the
more experienced between the two. I do feel more certain
(22:44):
about what Julian's saying in Ohio State will have available
in playmakers in a line.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
The continuity there with the.
Speaker 9 (22:52):
Play callers and Ryan Davis just sort of matured this
program with this combination of finesse and physicality that wasn't
always is there.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
And I can't.
Speaker 9 (23:01):
Imagine a player to be able to handle the pressure
the scrutiny that arch Manning is under better than a
young quarterback. Has through a couple of seasons of sparingly
playing major college football, so he seems ready for it
as a personality and with his maturity, I'm just not
certain his game is there yet. To just sort of
anoint him as the number one pick in this coming draft,
(23:23):
I got to watch that play out first.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I totally agree. It's interesting.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Obviously your bio, you played high level college football, you
were in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Now you're on the other side doing the media stuff.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Is it fair or unfair that in the NFL the
Eagles are the defending champs, but all we hear about
is Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Dallas Cowboys, blah blah blah,
and in college football it's the Arch Manning story. We're
not even talking really about the Eagles or we're not
talking about Ohio.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
State, the defending champions.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Do we need to do better in the media mixing
it up or what's your take on that.
Speaker 9 (23:58):
You know, I'm supposed to some extent where all or at
least many of us are guilty of it, But especially
when you're talking about the National Football League and the Eagles.
Even though Jalen Hurts is not some magnetic personality, He's
not a guy who you see all over social media
being out in the club everything else. But he is
(24:19):
a guy that carries himself with this maturity both mentally
and emotionally, and we saw that play out in college.
That seems to be what wins in the NFL. Of course,
Patrick Mahomes he can have a circus going in his
family sometimes and that tends to be a little more
interesting than when you got one of the great tight
ends of all time dating one of the most famous
(24:39):
women on the planet now engaged to one of the most.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Famous women on the planet.
Speaker 9 (24:42):
That's going to include a lot more folks into that conversation.
But if you just want to talk ball, how can
you not be passionate talking about the Eagles at what
they do on the line of scrimmage. I mean that
to me, it just kind of depends on which audience
to try to appeal to. The broader audience will come
with some of the more charismatic personalities.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
But if you're just talking ball man, yeah, the Eagles are.
Where is that?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah? You know, let me quickly ask about Penn State.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
They're almost kind of written off as like the team
that cried wolf.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Every year it's Penn State. They're close, they got it,
and then James Franklin drops a bag in a big game.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
It feels like, hey, this is probably the year Ala returns.
They got a great backfield, you know, preseason top five,
But it really comes down to can James Franklin win
a big game? Because I'm not bashing the guy, the
reality is he has struggled against elite A competition.
Speaker 9 (25:35):
It's fair when you look at the record, there's no
doubt about that. But what he's done extremely well at
as elite a level as any program in the country.
Penn State doesn't lose those question mark games to teams
who shouldn't beat them. There's a skill in that. There's
a preparedness that goes into that as well. And I
mean years ago one of the first appearances I had
(25:58):
with Colin on this show back in the day, I
wasn't a believer in James Franklin and Penn State When
they were going into a game against Jim Harbaugh in
Michigan and they had Sae Kwon Barkley and weapons all
over the place and a fantastic defense. I just saw
Michigan was going to show up at Beaver Stadium and
punch him in the mouth. That didn't happen that week.
They blew Michigan out, and Penn State fans were all
in my bensons and everywhere else they did a couple
(26:20):
of weeks ago falter from that point. But my point
is I do believe this version of Penn State, especially
after what we saw last season. Now, if you want
to say being an eyelash away for the appearance in
the National Championship game, he didn't win any big games
on the way there, are going to disagree with you
on that, Jake. But what we saw now is a
very similar model from this past offseason to what Michigan
(26:42):
won the National Championship with two years ago and what
Ohio State won the National Championship with last year. Roster retention,
especially on the line of scrimmage. This has the potential
to be the best on the offensive line that James
Franklin has had at any point in over a decade
that he's been leading things for Penn State. And Drew
Aller he is one of the more physically gifted quarterbacks
(27:05):
that's going to come into this draft cycle. And now
he's got back to back years with Andy Kotelnikki as
his offensive coordinator. That should be extremely exciting to every
Penn State fan out there and frankly kind of scary
to the majority of college football because the size, the mobility,
the arm strength you're looking for it. Drew Allen would
have been a first round pick in this last draft
(27:26):
cycle if he decided to go out.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
He didn't.
Speaker 9 (27:29):
He came back to continue to mature his skills for
another season and they finally got him some playmakers on
the outside. So all that man coverage that Notre Dame
was locking down folks with all last season, and they
effectively did against pet State, It'll be a tougher task
for anyone wanting the man up on the Nickney Lions
this year.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
I mean, it just feels like the last time we
saw Aler throw a pass. It was that disaster against
the Irish, like, what are you doing?
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Kid? Was his worst pass.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I don't want to come off.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Like I'm bashing Franklin, but you know what was it, Jered?
I mean West was like one in eight in the
NBA Finals or something like.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
That, maybe one or nine.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
But Franklin, it's not just always struggled one in sixteen
against top five of I mean, Anthony, that's like you
can't argue like, well, this was in the rain and
this was a miss field goal and one in sixteen
is kind of like, oh, that's a problem, right.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
And it was a problem for Dabo until he broke
through and got it done at Clemson and Mark Rick
had an amazing run going at Georgia and then they
just said, wow, this isn't good enough. And now we
see what's able to happen with Kirby Smart. But to
be amongst the top ten programs every single year now
over the last couple of years, amongst the top five
(28:40):
programs in college football, there's certainly something to be said
for that. And what really I was impressed by is
the way that James Franklin and Drew Aller and the
folks who came to Las Vegas for Big ten Football
media days. I was interviewing all of them for Big
ten Radio with Series XM and sitting down with James Franklin.
He did not shirk the response of ability of leading
(29:01):
knitting the Lions football and certainly didn't shirk the expectations
of Penn State fans. And I'm sure you've seen the
clips on occasion, whether it's the spring game or regular
season game last season with Penn State's coming out with
a victory, and it'd be some fan in the stands
wanting to say something to James Franklin. He knows what
the expectations offer his role, while he's also realistic about
what's been accomplished during his time there. And you know,
(29:24):
there's very few programs who went at the level of
the Penn State does. But that's why the expectations are
so high. It's a part of where you know, the
game I'm calling a Knight, the Wisconsin game, Luke Fickle,
Matt Rule both Going into year three, there's a different
feel from each fan base, though more positivity about where
Nebraska is because they know they've got a young budding
(29:44):
star as at quarterback, there are more questions about where
Wisconsin sits along those lines, so it hasn't necessarily eased
the bellies of Wisconsin fans so much so. Billy Edwards
taking the field tonight at Camp Brown for the first
time in the transfer portal, that's going to be a
big part of whether Wisconsin fans are going to love that.
But having Drew Aller for a third year as a starter,
(30:05):
and the receivers like Trevor Paianna and Kiren Hudson that
they brought in with Penn State, and they're still going
to be deep at tight end, by the way, and
so much NFL talent returns on defense, it doesn't even
have to all be on the shoulders of Drew Aller
to be a similar team to what they were last year.
But this should be the best version we've ever seen
of him as well. So, yes, expectations are high, and
(30:27):
they should be, but let's not ignore the results that
have been there. They've been amongst the elite in the
country for a decade.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
All right, Anthey, we got about a minute left.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Miami Notre Dame historically a great battle, all eyes on
Carson Beck against the defensive guru Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame,
your quick thoughts on that game, Well.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
Carson Beck, like I mentioned, you know a guy who
had potential to go to the NFL. Of course, a
year ago, Carson Beck was the presumed number one pick
in that next draft cycle, and then twenty twenty four happened.
So now he's got a fresh start. He's got a
new opportunity here. And for what happens with man coverage
Notre Dame on the back end, they're going to be
salty in the secondary. Yet again, the approach that Marcus
(31:09):
Freeman takes there to just man everyone up across the board,
there's going to be opportunities for Carson Beck to show
development because throwing into tight windows or even extending the
play when it's necessary, those haven't been his strengths and
to performing that way consistently during his previous stops.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Now we'll see whether or not not only.
Speaker 9 (31:29):
His approach has matured, but has his game matured as
a quarterback, because he's going to be tested by Notre Day.
So with Mario Christobaul, he doesn't mind the game coming
down to Cold Crest depth late. So I do think
that this is going to be a low scoring affair
in whichever squad, whether it's a young quarterback for the
Irish or the experienced guy in Carson Beck, kind of
make that key play late.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
We'll beside it, all right, Anthony Aaron, Big ten Network.
Great stuff.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Good luck tonight with the Wisconsin games. We'll talk to
you Someboddy his sah all right, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
From Anthony Aaron.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Listen to College Football Weekend, your last respite before the
NFL consumes your.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Life for three plus months. Back at a minute,
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