August 13, 2026 • 34 mins
Former NFL coach Eric Mangini stops by The Herd to talk about the debut of Fernando Mendoza tonight, why he's not buying the Caleb Williams hype, and more
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I mean you, ever since Sam Donald won the Super Bowl,
I have been difficult. I'm not gonna lie. You thought
I was gonna know it all before. Eric Manginie, first
things first, after our show is joining us man one,
Sam Darnald one. It's rough to be around.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Me, you know, I'll be honest.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
It that take did take quite a few years to
mature though, Like I know, you're taking some victory laps now,
but there are a lot of lean years leading up
to this.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
That Merlone needed about eight years.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Yeah, a lot of time on the sholf.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well, Fernando Mendoza similarly is going to a franchise with
about a fifteen year run of not great football or
ownership or general managers, you know, like Darnold, he was
high profile in college. Mendoza, though, I don't know, I
between cal and Indiana, he got beat up a little bit.
(01:34):
He had to initiate offense. I know people say he's
a little stiff. That's what they said about Justin Herbert.
Where are you on him with the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Well, it's going to be interesting to see how quickly
they actually push him into the games. I don't think
they're looking to start him at the beginning of the season.
I think they'd like to be able to go with
Cousins early on. When coming out with the player comparison
I had was Chad Pennington in the sense that smart,
really efficient with the football through a nice ball. It
(02:05):
wasn't necessarily the strongest arm in the world, could make
some plays made. It made a lot of good decisions.
So I think that could be the floor. And Chad
had a really nice career. And Chad got dinged up
a couple of different times, which which hurt him, and
it might have been even better than it was. But
that was a good career and I think the Raiders
(02:26):
would take that versus what they've had over you know,
like you said, the last what twelve years or however
long it's been a futility. I'm not sure if we're
going to see the dramatic upside early, you know, as
he as he grows and learns in the system, provided
(02:47):
that there's some continuity in that organization and the coaching
is as good as I think they hope it'll be.
He he seems to continue to develop and and that's
that's encouraging.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You know, It's funny.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I saw a post the other day people talked about
nine of the twenty quarterbacks taken in the last few
years in the first round have been released or let go,
and everybody said, you know, the NFL is bad at
quarterback development. My take is, no, it's not. It's such
an important position. We often reach and draft guys way
earlier than they should go. Kenny Pickett's an example. Zach Wilson,
(03:23):
to me, was an example. The second thing is and
Darnald and Baker Mayfield prove it. If you got it,
you got it. You can't tea. You know, if a
young kids like I want to be a comedian, well
are you funny? Some guys are some guys freeze on stage?
I mean, my take is Joe Burrow has been winning
in Cincinnati. Is that brilliantly run? He's never had a
(03:47):
good offensive line, you really become what eventually Baker Mayfield,
Sam Darnold, you become eventually what you are. You find
there's too many good coaches in the league, right, soa
is developments important. Having a mentor for me as a
kid helped. But eventually you work or you don't in
(04:07):
your industry. That is my take your thoughts, and.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
In fairness to NFL coaches, and the quarterbacks come in
the league. In a lot of ways, college football is
not developing quarterbacks. Everything now is in the shotgun. Every
majority of the guys are getting the place from the sideline,
so that the coordinators looking at the defense, he's calling
the play to get him the best position. So there's
that component to it. So many guys are relying on
(04:33):
running quarterbacks and instead of developing developing them as passers,
they just say, Okay, we're gonna run quarterback driven runs
or we're gonna run run you know RPOs. That works
to some degree in the NFL, but it's not what
works over time.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And also in college.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Football, you're not getting anywhere near the level of defensive
sophistication week in and week out. So they come into
the league and they've got to overcome a lot of
what that's happening now in college football in order to
get to where they should get to, and guys do
develop at different paces. We want every high pick to
(05:10):
be great right now, and that's not realistic. It does
matter what organization you go into, what type of coaching
you have, how quickly you pick things up. Peyton Manning
wasn't great his first year, but he developed Tom Brady.
And I've told you this a ton of times. That
first year it was bad. I watched them every day
(05:30):
after practice. It was nowhere near the Tom Brady you
think of. He had a lot of things that he
had to work out and do. We overdraft quarterbacks, Yeah,
because we're desperate. It's like shopping hungry. When you shop hungry,
you're going to buy things that you may not necessarily
want to buy at prices you may not necessarily pay.
But there's only so many talented guys, and if you
(05:53):
don't have a quarterback, you don't have a chance.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I shop hungry. I got about six boxes of
power bars I haven't gotten into yet.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
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Speaker 5 (06:08):
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Speaker 1 (07:08):
Kenner Murray and I Say You Know Again. The Darnald
Baker Mayfield. The one time he had a Pro bowler
on the offensive line, he had a passer rating over
one hundred. He has the same passer ratings in his
career as Matt Stafford, bad ownership, chaos, and coaching. I
mean it just that's an organization. You could argue it's
(07:29):
the West Coast Jets or the West you know, NFC Jets.
I think he's gonna go to Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I wish he was three inches taller. I wish he
was better in the pocket. He gets a little nervous,
you know, if he doesn't get to his first or
second guy. I think he's gonna work in Minnesota. I
think he's gonna be I think he's going to be successful,
very successful. Do you think it works.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Here's my multiple concerns with Kyler Murray. He said so
many years of double digit in our that to me
is a problem. He's missed over half the season two
out of the last three seasons. He's never thrown more
than twenty six touchdownds. I was in his second year.
Now that was his big year because he had the
twenty six passing touchdounds and I think was either nine
(08:15):
or eleven rushing touchdounds. So that was good. There's been
questions about his willingness to study, his consistency to committing
to all the things you need to be a pro.
Now I don't know where that is. And now he's
going to a Minnesota system. Think about the guys that
they've had there. So they had Kirk Cousins. He's very
(08:35):
different than Kyler Murray, they drafted JJ. He's very different
than Kyler Murray. They had Sam Darnold. He's very different
than Kyler Murray. So are they going to be able
to adapt the system to him as well? So it's
not just him coming in and learning the system. That's
one component of it. But I think you also have
to take a step back and say, he's not like
(08:55):
the guys we've had, so we got to do some
other things to make sure that he can be successful.
And then hearing him in this quarterback competition and saying
I need the reps. Okay, but you're pretty deep into
your NFL journey. You should be able to pick things
up with less reps. And I get everybody learns at
different paces. So how quickly they confused the system with
(09:19):
the skill set, how determined he is to have a
great second act, and you know, can it be more
than just him running around making plays? Kenny developed that
second pitch that he didn't quite see in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, I think those legitimate questions. I don't know where
you were on Caleb. I went to a practice Sunday.
Watch for two hours. He's lost thirteen pounds. He was
fast before, he's a different level speed now, and he
looked more accurate. I even said to Ben Johnson, I said,
it's just tighter. Everything's just you know, he was always
(09:58):
such a fluid natural athlete with all this horsepower that
like luck Josh Allen, sometimes it's just you know, it's loose.
He looked tight and precise and exact. I was really impressed.
I mean it does. I mean, if you go look
at Jared Goff second year. Ben Johnson was like, oh,
oh this works, this is really really good. What do
(10:18):
you expect from Caleb this year?
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Well, we know he can do the difficult things. We
know he can do the heroic things. All those are great.
The question is can he do the mundane things? Can
he do the easy things? Can he hit the layups?
And that's what's been missing And you would think that
would be the easiest thing to correct, but I'd like
to see that and will he be comfortable doing the
(10:42):
mundane things.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
He likes running around.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
He held the ball longer than any quarterback last season.
He had the highest time to throw of any quarterback
last season. And even though his sacks came way down,
which to me is huge, that's a huge testament to
his progress. And Ben Johnson, will he be comfortable throwing
the quick slant, throwing the check down, throught, doing those
(11:07):
things that they're they're boring there, they're mundane, but they
win games. They give everybody else a chance to make
plays the great place. Yeah, he's shown that that's something
he can do really well. Uh And and I don't
love Colin Ben Johnson saying we're going to be the
most explosive offense in the history of the NFL. We're
gonna win the most games. I get the confidence. Great,
(11:31):
but now you're putting that pressure back on the quarterback
to do all those things. And when he had all
the pressure his first year, it did it wasn't great
for him. Take the pressure off him. Let him just
go continue on this journey and it can be great.
But now we've we've upped the ante and we've upped
the anti from the head coach, not not even from
(11:53):
Caleb all.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Right, I made five, John, and I made five bold
predictions out Now we're not putting the Browns. Here we go, Well,
we didn't put the Browns in the super Bowl. We're
not absurd. We didn't call it five delusional. Here are
my five. Jalen hurts better without AJ Brown. Actually, if
you look at the numbers when they targeted him, eight
(12:17):
or fewer the last two years, they were thirteen and
Oh they struggled when they forced it to AJ Brown. Listen,
Justin Herbert finally has what appears to be at least
a middle of the pack offensive line. I like the Packers.
Mike is not playing till October. They were zero and
five without Michael last year. The Broncos are good. That
(12:39):
division's ridiculous. Even the Raiders offensively will be dangerous. Bo
Nick's two surgeries first time play caller and Caleb wins
the MVP. Okay, which one of those are you like?
Come on, Colin, give me a break.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Well, I agree with the first one. I think there's
there can be additioned by subtraction.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I agree.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I think the second one isn't that bold of prediction.
Back to back eleven win seasons didn't have either of
their tackles. He was hurt, the running back was heard.
I think they could. They could win two playoff games.
Packers finishing last in the NFC North, I think that's
that's easily on the table because the other three teams
have gotten better. I don't agree with Broncos missed the playoffs.
(13:21):
They've They've got everybody back. They've got everybody back, the
quarterbacks got another year in the system. I just don't
see why there should be that significant a drop off
with so many pieces back in place and another year
of pushing sort of philosophically what they're trying to achieve forward.
(13:43):
Caleb Williams wins the MVP. I think you and Danny
are both on that on that train. Is it crazy?
It's it's not crazy, but but I just need to
see a whole lot more consistency before I can jump
on that that prediction.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
You know, the Broncos are interesting. So Davis Webb is
one of these hot shot young coordinators. So Sean Payton says, Okay,
I'm not going to call plays. I'm going to get
rid of my guy. You get the job. Otherwise I'm
going to go against you somewhere in this league, it
is so easy for a coach to say before the season,
I will not interject it is your season. And then
you go on a two game skid to Kansas City
(14:22):
and the Chargers. Did you ever Were you a headset
guy or were you kind of a walk around guy?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Were you calling plays? No?
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I was monitoring plays, and during the course of the week,
I wanted to know exactly what the plan was and
when we had Where I would get the most frustrated
is we would have a guy to have it. Section
of practice, we're in the most critical moments, this is
what we're going to go to. And then we'd get
in a critical moment and the offensive coordinator would call
(14:53):
something different or defensively, Hey, we said we were going
to pressure or we're going to drop bay, whatever it was,
and they do something right different. They say they had
a gut feeling. It's like no, no, no, no no. We had
all week to practice and plan, and we prepped the
guys for this moment, and then the biggest moment, you
do something sort of you just pull it out of
your head and it very rarely worked. But I've been
(15:16):
at a lot of headsets with a lot of established
head coaches that say they're going to let guys do
their own thing, and then they don't let them do
their own thing. So it's Sean Payton's a pretty strong personality.
It if it gets if it gets noisy, he's probably
gonna get noisy.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Hey, finally I listen. I don't think he's going to
be Johnny Unaniis or John Hilway, Okay Sad or Sanders.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I would just play him.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
First of all, I want to find out if he
can play, because next year there's seven guys that could
be first round quarterbacks. I want to see it two
months straight of playing. Secondly, I actually think Andrew Berry
is a very sharp GM. The last two drafts I've
absolutely loved. I think this year the first five picks
will all start. I think he's really sharp. And my
(16:04):
take is, I know what Deshaun Watson is. If he's starting,
it makes me feel like Jimmy haslums like knocking on
the door. Hey, I'm paying him, blank, can you play him?
I would just go with shador. You're not a super
Bowl team. It's basically a year of exploration and revelation,
like can the kid play? I want to know if
he can't. Where are you on that situation? You live
(16:24):
in Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Well, I'm on the flip side of that, and I
believe that Sam, Darnold, Baker Mayfield, those guys have changed
the equation. They changed the equation about the second act
of quarterbacks. So now every owner, every GM, everybody who's
out there in the football world who sees these former
(16:47):
number one draft picks or these guys with high expectations
are guys who are achieved at a high level at
some point. Those success stories, those hero arecs saying Gino Smith.
I mean, there's a lot of guys now that suddenly
have either recaptured magic or found magic. So I'm sure
they're saying, we've already sunk so much money into this,
(17:09):
We've already it's been terrible, but he was great at
one point. Let's see if there's any Donald. Maybe it's
not going to be the level, but let's see if
there's any Donald Baker Geno magic left in this, in
this in this bottle that we can we can harness.
And if there's not, yeah, we'll move on to Shador.
(17:29):
But that Donald's success has opened the door for quarterbacks
that wasn't open four or five years ago.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah, you are right.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You make a pretty good argument there. I don't like
the go pro helmet. Can I tell you my take
on that.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
I don't love that either. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
That's a coach worried that my quarterback's not seeing the field.
So I can go look at tape that the coaches
are doing that because they they don't think the players
looking at the field seeing the right spot in the field.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
That's my take on GoPro.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
There could be an element of that, but it is
pretty cool tape to teach off of. And now with
virtual reality and things like that, you can actually take
that video and let someone else experience what it was
like to run that play. So there's some value in
having that perspective, especially from a teaching perspective, for other
(18:22):
guys who didn't get that rep Hey, this is what
it looked like. This is where he was looking. You
know he was looking right, but you know the coveragement,
he should have been looking left. So you can probably
intercut that with sideline and end zone and get some
really cool teaching perspectives.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Have you had a nice summer.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I know you've been on the beach and I know
where you have your executive sweet Place.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I have had a great summer. Miss talking to you
during the summer, as our vacations kind of didn't coincide,
so we didn't connect as much as we normally do.
But yeah, it's got some great time with the family
and excited that we're back to real live games.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Here pretty soon. Oh yeah, tonight, six of them.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I keep telling everybody, this is the last time in
your life you'll be excited to watch Vegas play Arizona
in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
This is the last time. Enjoy it. Why you can? Yeah,
I see it. Con all right, we take a break. Yeah,
it is.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
There is something about opening a new present, you know,
exploring going to it. You know, you go on a vacation,
you go to a new place, you're kind of excited.
Fernando Mendoza Raiders. I mean, I couldn't say the last time.
I couldn't wait for a Raider season to start, and
I've had friends work for the organization.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I'm fired up for tonight.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's not gonna be perfect, It's not going to be beautiful, sir.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and neon Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (20:03):
Saturday night is Baseball.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Night in America and this week two of the best
in the NFL NL square off as the Brewers take
on Show A and the Dodgers. Or another regional action
is d Backs Braves, Red Sox Pirates. Check local listings
for the game in your area. Saturday, seven pm Eastern
on Fox.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Six.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
NFL preseason games tonight, the word came down Carson Beck
apparently banged up, won't play tonight. So no Carson, I'm
watching for Fernando Mendos. Anyway, I already saw Carson Beck.
I like what I saw, poised, calm, mean, it's a
Hall of Fame game.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Whatever. John Middlecoff with the News, Turn on the news.
This is the headline news.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Well, I don't know if you saw this summer, Colin
when you were out traveling the world. There was a
big wedding at Madison Square Garden and involved Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 8 (20:54):
And uh that was talk of the town.
Speaker 6 (20:57):
But he's looking to rebound on the field because last
year was a little underwhelming. He had some big drops,
looked like he was slowing down a little bit. Yeah,
you know, here's Kelsey on what he brings to the.
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Table, just being a better leader, you know, and when
we get stuck in, you know, with adversity hitting, who's
going to be able to you know, who's going to
want you in that fox hole with you? And that's
one of those things that I want to be one
of those guys that everybody counts on to be there
and get us out of that fox hole.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I still think on third down or in the red zone,
you can trust him for a big catch. I mean,
I think that there's nothing wrong with having an older guy,
a little long in the tooth, that the quarterback trusts
old gronk. Tom still found a way to trust him
in big spots. I don't have a problem with it. Again,
I think you got to start you got to start
moving him. He's out of the volume business. Probably I'm
(21:50):
not getting ninety catches from him. But if I got
sixty seven touchdowns like and he was really good in
division games and in a playoff game or two, I
take that any day.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
I would say of the of the best tight ends
in NFL history, you know, in his heydays, probably right
there with Shannon is the fastest, you know, Tony Gonzalez
Gronk a little bigger, more physical. Last year, it felt
like he lost it a little bit of a step,
so he wasn't quite as quick now, like you said,
still get open over the course, you know, over the
middle of the field. Had some drops I remember in
(22:24):
some big spots last year. They cost him, so I
think they just yeah, it just needs to bounce back
a little bit for them to get back in the
playoff mix.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
He was a little distracted. Now he's just another old
married guy.
Speaker 8 (22:37):
Yeah, sir, I saw Blandino was at the wedding.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
They didn't.
Speaker 8 (22:42):
You didn't get an invite. That shocks me.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, yeah, And I didn't fight for it. I'm not
a wedding fan. I'm gonna go to my kids' weddings,
and I'm good. If I just get those all six,
I'll be good.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
Don't blame you.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski told reports yesterday that Tua
we'll start tomorrow's preseason game matchup with the Broncos, giving
two an opportunity to create some separation because he had
a competition with him and Michael Pennix. However, Stefanski would
not commit to week one starter. Because here's the thing
with Pennix. He said his knee is stronger than ever.
Speaker 8 (23:17):
So what the doctor told him.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
But he can't get hit.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
So it's like the problem is in pro football you
get hit a lot, and if your knee can't get hit,
I know you're a Stefanski guy. They already lost Jalen Walker.
Pierce is going to get suspended.
Speaker 8 (23:32):
Surely. Quarterback situations a nightmare this Falcons team.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
It could feel a little like Lions mid nineties with
Berry just get the ball, the beach out Robinson every play.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, And I think I like the ownership. I think
the front office is pretty shrewd. I liked the coach.
I did like Pennix. I mean, there was always an
injury concern. He had a couple of surgeries. I think
at Indiana he was great at Washington. But I haven't
sold my panic start. It's taken a while. I do
think TUA made sense here, climate controlled, weaker division. I
(24:07):
think the TUA acquisition isn't bad at all. I think
it's pretty smart. Actually, I don't know. I'm gonna take
the Saints as one of the surprise teams in the League,
and I do think Carolina, for all the misgivings about
Bryce Young, I think they've surrounded him pretty decent offensive line,
decent backs, nice receiving targets.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So I don't see it as a playoff year for Atlanta.
Speaker 8 (24:30):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 6 (24:31):
I was a huge Penis fan in Washington, root for
him to get his career, you know, back on the tracks.
But you know, Stefanski's got a soft spot for short,
left handed, weak arm quarterbacks Tua, Dylan Gabriel. He's not
exactly It's like Kevin. We got to change our mentality
here a little bit. Last, but not least, Yahoo Sports
(24:54):
they ran a simulation of the college football season in
EA Sports and the Football twenty seven video game, and
USC won the national championship. Colin I've got a couple
of text messages this week. You know, I'm from the
West Coast. I have a lot of friends. They went
(25:15):
to these.
Speaker 8 (25:16):
Formerly known as the Pac twelve schools.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
A lot of people. Yeah, maybe it's envy, Maybe it's jealousy.
Don't love USC. They can never get over your ability
year in year out to go. This is USC's year.
Everyone I know thinks eight and four best case scenario. Well,
here's the upside.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Jade and Mayava would have been drafted last year. I
think he's a mid to a late first round quarterback,
maybe more. I think he's a really good I think
he's improved more than any player in the last year.
They're very young at wide receiver, but talented. Old lines
the best they've had. They've got Sunday players in the
(25:55):
old line. Left tackle, right guard, right tackle is going
to be good, justin Tuenu. Not spectacular. Don't love their linebackers,
but it's corner and defensive front excellent. They're not a
great team, but I would say they're running back.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
You know Lincoln right.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Like a lot of coaches that get labeled passing coaches,
they love the run game. McVeigh, Kevin O'Connell, Lincoln Riley's
got two, he's got his best one to two punch
at running back. My only real concern for them is
I don't think they're great on the back end. They
lost Kamari Ramsey and Bishop their safeties. Their safeties now,
(26:35):
I don't think it was as good as last year.
I think the linebacking, corps and corner they're okay. They
have a five star tight end. That's pretty interesting, but
not a ton of depth at tight end. Their schedule,
they get Oregon, Washington, Ohio State at home.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Can you win two of those?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
If you can win two of them, I mean they'll
be favored to beat Washington.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Here's the thing. Can you beat Oregon or Ohio State
at home?
Speaker 6 (26:58):
One of them didn't just have the number one high
school recruiting class.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, and they Trent Mosley is a wide receiver out
of that class. He'll play and excel as a freshman
Mark bowman the tight end he will play. So they
have two offensive guys. They're they're young at the skill
positions offensively, but they're also really good.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
That Week two matchup Colin You don't it's on full State.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
On Fox, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
I think all those Bulldogs, those you know, those Bulldogs
about twenty years ago almost took down Liner and Reggie
at the Coliseum.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I remember that game.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Well.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Reggie had one of his great Petrust was on the call.
It was a night game and the Dogs had him
up against the Ropes.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah. I kind of look at that.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Oregon Washington's by the way, Oregon Washington at Penn State,
you gotta win you gotta win. I mean that's that's
and then and then Ohio State Indiana back to back.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It's a tough schedule.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Gold at Notre Dame, schedule, Gold at USC's Ohio State, USC,
Texas is Wisconsin.
Speaker 8 (28:03):
Any good. I was kind of on the hot seat
then no.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I mean, if you look at the schedule, they're going
to start four to Oho, lose to Oregon, beat Washington.
I'll give them a close win at Penn State though,
if it's a night game, good luck. Beat Wisconsin, lose
at home to Ohio State. I don't know what Indiana
is other than well coached. Let's see, they lost their
top two receivers, top two running backs.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Maryland.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Ucla should be w it feels like to me, let
me tell you.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Ucla is going to be a lot better. I mean,
I know they still got a waste to go. But
this Bob Jesney guy, I don't know if you kind
of followed his career arc pretty impressive, guy, Collen.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I'm gonna go nine and three and that again the schedules.
If they can beat in Oregon or in Ohio State
at home, that you can go nine and three and
get into the playoff.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Listen, if you lose, if you lose.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
To add Indiana and Ohio State and win the rest
of them going to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Those those both both those teams are in the playoff.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
I agree, But there's the Ohio State schedule, USC schedule,
Texas schedule.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Not easy. These are rough college schedules.
Speaker 6 (29:13):
Problem is if you go eight and four, you're going
to like the Silicon Valley substation.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Oh people are over that.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
Yeah, no, careful.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Got it can't start soon enough, can't start soon enough.
John Middlecoff of the News.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping that.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
The herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We're are bold, were give me middle cops bold predictions again?
Your yours were actually bold? Mine were uh luke warm
you I'll tell you Max Crosby traded to Chicago. I
watched that practice Sunday. They had no pass rush. Not
not shocking. Niners winning the NFC West. You are out
(29:54):
there on an island, Uh, Patriots missing the playoffs, Dak MVP.
You could talk me into I will say your Bengals
number one seed is a really good argument. They bring
back the quarterback, they bring back the coach, they lost
Hendrickson but you go look at their defensive line and
what they replace Hendrickson with. This has been their problem.
(30:17):
You can run all over them and take the ball
away from Burrow. Their run defense should be much more
stout this year. I yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
By the way, here was Greg Cosel last hour speaking
of Dak be an MVP on what he sees.
Speaker 9 (30:36):
He is really a refined pocket player. He knows how
to play the position. There's tremendous efficiency to his game.
He doesn't move the way he used to. Obviously, this
team theoretically is better than he's had in recent years.
But when you watch him play, you come away and Colin,
I'm sure you probably saw some of the Hall of
Fame speeches. The reason I mentioned that is the way
(30:58):
Drew Brees spoke about the quarterback position and all the
detail and nu ones that's demanded to be consistent, snap
after snap, quarter after quarter, game after game, season after season.
That's the way Dak Prescott plays the position.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Yeah. No, I think I like Caleb for MVP. You
like Dak.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I also think the media like stories. Caleb's a very
explosive player. People love that. Dak is an easy guy
to root for because He's dealing with Jerry and there's
the pressure, and you know, Pickens, you know, can be
a little moody. I could see Dak getting You remember
when Westbrook won the MVP, it was like he was
easy to pull for. Kadi went to the rival and
(31:38):
everybody was like kind of rooting for Westbrook. I could see.
I think Dak's an easy guy to root for. It's
you know, cowboys are a lot of noise and a
lot of vanity, and I could see Dak.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
W wasn't it.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
You know, I didn't want to have the same team twice,
but if I wanted to vertically integrate my take with
the Bengals if they're the one seed, I mean, Burrow
is going to be in the mix for the MVP.
If you knew right now the Bengals were going to
be the one seed, he would probably have a better
than fifty percent chance of winning that award. I think
(32:09):
I think a lot, you know, I think Caleb, Dak,
you know, Burroken resurrect. There are certain guys, Hey, it's
a momentum award.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Justin Herbert with protection and his coach, that's going to
be interesting, Greg co Sell, Fernando Mendoza debuts tonight in
the NFL. Here's Greg co Cell's thoughts on him going
into the game.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
The number one thing for him, I think will be
how he handles the balls that have to be thrown
between the numbers. You did not see a lot of
that at Indiana simply because that was not foundationally how
they played offense. Because one of the things that is
is a transition for college quarterbacks to the NFL is
the game has played much more in the middle of
the field, not outside. And he was a great backed
(32:54):
shoulder thrower in college, and those are really important throws,
but he didn't throw a lot of balls twelve to
twenty two yards between the numbers. And very often when
you make that transition, it seems like there's fifteen defenders
on the field because it's just a much more condensed
look because of where the hashmarks are.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
All Right, Mendoza tonight, My prediction is twelve of twenty two,
one hundred and fifty yards and a touchdown and one pick.
And everybody's going to be like, oh, what happened to
Fernando Mendoza. Well, let's let's just see who they play.
How many Brock Bauers snaps Ashton gent offensive line. Their
old line was a wreck last year. I went and
(33:36):
got Tyler Linderbaum. That to me was the off season acquisition.
I know he's a center. I thought that was the
number one acquisition all off season. Tyler Linderbaum. I've always said,
I think I think center's the most underwrited position in
pro football. John Middlekoff has been just fantastic the last
couple of weeks. Buddy, thank you so much. As owas
(33:57):
you are, such a good teammate, such a good partner.
I wanted to think, get everybody here. We're off tomorrow
and I'm watching football tonight. H
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):
I mean you, ever since Sam Donald won the Super Bowl,
I have been difficult. I'm not gonna lie. You thought
I was gonna know it all before. Eric Manginie, first
things first, after our show is joining us man one,
Sam Darnald one. It's rough to be around.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Me, you know, I'll be honest.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
It that take did take quite a few years to
mature though, Like I know, you're taking some victory laps now,
but there are a lot of lean years leading up
to this.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
That Merlone needed about eight years.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Yeah, a lot of time on the sholf.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well, Fernando Mendoza similarly is going to a franchise with
about a fifteen year run of not great football or
ownership or general managers, you know, like Darnold, he was
high profile in college. Mendoza, though, I don't know, I
between cal and Indiana, he got beat up a little bit.
(01:34):
He had to initiate offense. I know people say he's
a little stiff. That's what they said about Justin Herbert.
Where are you on him with the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Well, it's going to be interesting to see how quickly
they actually push him into the games. I don't think
they're looking to start him at the beginning of the season.
I think they'd like to be able to go with
Cousins early on. When coming out with the player comparison
I had was Chad Pennington in the sense that smart,
really efficient with the football through a nice ball. It
(02:05):
wasn't necessarily the strongest arm in the world, could make
some plays made. It made a lot of good decisions.
So I think that could be the floor. And Chad
had a really nice career. And Chad got dinged up
a couple of different times, which which hurt him, and
it might have been even better than it was. But
that was a good career and I think the Raiders
(02:26):
would take that versus what they've had over you know,
like you said, the last what twelve years or however
long it's been a futility. I'm not sure if we're
going to see the dramatic upside early, you know, as
he as he grows and learns in the system, provided
(02:47):
that there's some continuity in that organization and the coaching
is as good as I think they hope it'll be.
He he seems to continue to develop and and that's
that's encouraging.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You know, It's funny.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I saw a post the other day people talked about
nine of the twenty quarterbacks taken in the last few
years in the first round have been released or let go,
and everybody said, you know, the NFL is bad at
quarterback development. My take is, no, it's not. It's such
an important position. We often reach and draft guys way
earlier than they should go. Kenny Pickett's an example. Zach Wilson,
(03:23):
to me, was an example. The second thing is and
Darnald and Baker Mayfield prove it. If you got it,
you got it. You can't tea. You know, if a
young kids like I want to be a comedian, well
are you funny? Some guys are some guys freeze on stage?
I mean, my take is Joe Burrow has been winning
in Cincinnati. Is that brilliantly run? He's never had a
(03:47):
good offensive line, you really become what eventually Baker Mayfield,
Sam Darnold, you become eventually what you are. You find
there's too many good coaches in the league, right, soa
is developments important. Having a mentor for me as a
kid helped. But eventually you work or you don't in
(04:07):
your industry. That is my take your thoughts, and.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
In fairness to NFL coaches, and the quarterbacks come in
the league. In a lot of ways, college football is
not developing quarterbacks. Everything now is in the shotgun. Every
majority of the guys are getting the place from the sideline,
so that the coordinators looking at the defense, he's calling
the play to get him the best position. So there's
that component to it. So many guys are relying on
(04:33):
running quarterbacks and instead of developing developing them as passers,
they just say, Okay, we're gonna run quarterback driven runs
or we're gonna run run you know RPOs. That works
to some degree in the NFL, but it's not what
works over time.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And also in college.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Football, you're not getting anywhere near the level of defensive
sophistication week in and week out. So they come into
the league and they've got to overcome a lot of
what that's happening now in college football in order to
get to where they should get to, and guys do
develop at different paces. We want every high pick to
(05:10):
be great right now, and that's not realistic. It does
matter what organization you go into, what type of coaching
you have, how quickly you pick things up. Peyton Manning
wasn't great his first year, but he developed Tom Brady.
And I've told you this a ton of times. That
first year it was bad. I watched them every day
(05:30):
after practice. It was nowhere near the Tom Brady you
think of. He had a lot of things that he
had to work out and do. We overdraft quarterbacks, Yeah,
because we're desperate. It's like shopping hungry. When you shop hungry,
you're going to buy things that you may not necessarily
want to buy at prices you may not necessarily pay.
But there's only so many talented guys, and if you
(05:53):
don't have a quarterback, you don't have a chance.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I shop hungry. I got about six boxes of
power bars I haven't gotten into yet.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Ye be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon eastern non a em Pacific.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
Stec Gott's here. 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 Stegtson Company Live, which
is available in podcast form right when the show finishes
every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports.
(06:31):
A lot of phone.
Speaker 6 (06:32):
Calls, I love you on your show.
Speaker 7 (06:34):
It's one of my favorite.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
A lot of interact shit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
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So listen to Steve Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu Gotson Company and God
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(06:58):
and you can check all of those out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast for wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Kenner Murray and I Say You Know Again. The Darnald
Baker Mayfield. The one time he had a Pro bowler
on the offensive line, he had a passer rating over
one hundred. He has the same passer ratings in his
career as Matt Stafford, bad ownership, chaos, and coaching. I
mean it just that's an organization. You could argue it's
(07:29):
the West Coast Jets or the West you know, NFC Jets.
I think he's gonna go to Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I wish he was three inches taller. I wish he
was better in the pocket. He gets a little nervous,
you know, if he doesn't get to his first or
second guy. I think he's gonna work in Minnesota. I
think he's gonna be I think he's going to be successful,
very successful. Do you think it works.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Here's my multiple concerns with Kyler Murray. He said so
many years of double digit in our that to me
is a problem. He's missed over half the season two
out of the last three seasons. He's never thrown more
than twenty six touchdownds. I was in his second year.
Now that was his big year because he had the
twenty six passing touchdounds and I think was either nine
(08:15):
or eleven rushing touchdounds. So that was good. There's been
questions about his willingness to study, his consistency to committing
to all the things you need to be a pro.
Now I don't know where that is. And now he's
going to a Minnesota system. Think about the guys that
they've had there. So they had Kirk Cousins. He's very
(08:35):
different than Kyler Murray, they drafted JJ. He's very different
than Kyler Murray. They had Sam Darnold. He's very different
than Kyler Murray. So are they going to be able
to adapt the system to him as well? So it's
not just him coming in and learning the system. That's
one component of it. But I think you also have
to take a step back and say, he's not like
(08:55):
the guys we've had, so we got to do some
other things to make sure that he can be successful.
And then hearing him in this quarterback competition and saying
I need the reps. Okay, but you're pretty deep into
your NFL journey. You should be able to pick things
up with less reps. And I get everybody learns at
different paces. So how quickly they confused the system with
(09:19):
the skill set, how determined he is to have a
great second act, and you know, can it be more
than just him running around making plays? Kenny developed that
second pitch that he didn't quite see in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, I think those legitimate questions. I don't know where
you were on Caleb. I went to a practice Sunday.
Watch for two hours. He's lost thirteen pounds. He was
fast before, he's a different level speed now, and he
looked more accurate. I even said to Ben Johnson, I said,
it's just tighter. Everything's just you know, he was always
(09:58):
such a fluid natural athlete with all this horsepower that
like luck Josh Allen, sometimes it's just you know, it's loose.
He looked tight and precise and exact. I was really impressed.
I mean it does. I mean, if you go look
at Jared Goff second year. Ben Johnson was like, oh,
oh this works, this is really really good. What do
(10:18):
you expect from Caleb this year?
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Well, we know he can do the difficult things. We
know he can do the heroic things. All those are great.
The question is can he do the mundane things? Can
he do the easy things? Can he hit the layups?
And that's what's been missing And you would think that
would be the easiest thing to correct, but I'd like
to see that and will he be comfortable doing the
(10:42):
mundane things.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
He likes running around.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
He held the ball longer than any quarterback last season.
He had the highest time to throw of any quarterback
last season. And even though his sacks came way down,
which to me is huge, that's a huge testament to
his progress. And Ben Johnson, will he be comfortable throwing
the quick slant, throwing the check down, throught, doing those
(11:07):
things that they're they're boring there, they're mundane, but they
win games. They give everybody else a chance to make
plays the great place. Yeah, he's shown that that's something
he can do really well. Uh And and I don't
love Colin Ben Johnson saying we're going to be the
most explosive offense in the history of the NFL. We're
gonna win the most games. I get the confidence. Great,
(11:31):
but now you're putting that pressure back on the quarterback
to do all those things. And when he had all
the pressure his first year, it did it wasn't great
for him. Take the pressure off him. Let him just
go continue on this journey and it can be great.
But now we've we've upped the ante and we've upped
the anti from the head coach, not not even from
(11:53):
Caleb all.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Right, I made five, John, and I made five bold
predictions out Now we're not putting the Browns. Here we go, Well,
we didn't put the Browns in the super Bowl. We're
not absurd. We didn't call it five delusional. Here are
my five. Jalen hurts better without AJ Brown. Actually, if
you look at the numbers when they targeted him, eight
(12:17):
or fewer the last two years, they were thirteen and
Oh they struggled when they forced it to AJ Brown. Listen,
Justin Herbert finally has what appears to be at least
a middle of the pack offensive line. I like the Packers.
Mike is not playing till October. They were zero and
five without Michael last year. The Broncos are good. That
(12:39):
division's ridiculous. Even the Raiders offensively will be dangerous. Bo
Nick's two surgeries first time play caller and Caleb wins
the MVP. Okay, which one of those are you like?
Come on, Colin, give me a break.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Well, I agree with the first one. I think there's
there can be additioned by subtraction.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I agree.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I think the second one isn't that bold of prediction.
Back to back eleven win seasons didn't have either of
their tackles. He was hurt, the running back was heard.
I think they could. They could win two playoff games.
Packers finishing last in the NFC North, I think that's
that's easily on the table because the other three teams
have gotten better. I don't agree with Broncos missed the playoffs.
(13:21):
They've They've got everybody back. They've got everybody back, the
quarterbacks got another year in the system. I just don't
see why there should be that significant a drop off
with so many pieces back in place and another year
of pushing sort of philosophically what they're trying to achieve forward.
(13:43):
Caleb Williams wins the MVP. I think you and Danny
are both on that on that train. Is it crazy?
It's it's not crazy, but but I just need to
see a whole lot more consistency before I can jump
on that that prediction.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
You know, the Broncos are interesting. So Davis Webb is
one of these hot shot young coordinators. So Sean Payton says, Okay,
I'm not going to call plays. I'm going to get
rid of my guy. You get the job. Otherwise I'm
going to go against you somewhere in this league, it
is so easy for a coach to say before the season,
I will not interject it is your season. And then
you go on a two game skid to Kansas City
(14:22):
and the Chargers. Did you ever Were you a headset
guy or were you kind of a walk around guy?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Were you calling plays? No?
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I was monitoring plays, and during the course of the week,
I wanted to know exactly what the plan was and
when we had Where I would get the most frustrated
is we would have a guy to have it. Section
of practice, we're in the most critical moments, this is
what we're going to go to. And then we'd get
in a critical moment and the offensive coordinator would call
(14:53):
something different or defensively, Hey, we said we were going
to pressure or we're going to drop bay, whatever it was,
and they do something right different. They say they had
a gut feeling. It's like no, no, no, no no. We had
all week to practice and plan, and we prepped the
guys for this moment, and then the biggest moment, you
do something sort of you just pull it out of
your head and it very rarely worked. But I've been
(15:16):
at a lot of headsets with a lot of established
head coaches that say they're going to let guys do
their own thing, and then they don't let them do
their own thing. So it's Sean Payton's a pretty strong personality.
It if it gets if it gets noisy, he's probably
gonna get noisy.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Hey, finally I listen. I don't think he's going to
be Johnny Unaniis or John Hilway, Okay Sad or Sanders.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I would just play him.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
First of all, I want to find out if he
can play, because next year there's seven guys that could
be first round quarterbacks. I want to see it two
months straight of playing. Secondly, I actually think Andrew Berry
is a very sharp GM. The last two drafts I've
absolutely loved. I think this year the first five picks
will all start. I think he's really sharp. And my
(16:04):
take is, I know what Deshaun Watson is. If he's starting,
it makes me feel like Jimmy haslums like knocking on
the door. Hey, I'm paying him, blank, can you play him?
I would just go with shador. You're not a super
Bowl team. It's basically a year of exploration and revelation,
like can the kid play? I want to know if
he can't. Where are you on that situation? You live
(16:24):
in Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Well, I'm on the flip side of that, and I
believe that Sam, Darnold, Baker Mayfield, those guys have changed
the equation. They changed the equation about the second act
of quarterbacks. So now every owner, every GM, everybody who's
out there in the football world who sees these former
(16:47):
number one draft picks or these guys with high expectations
are guys who are achieved at a high level at
some point. Those success stories, those hero arecs saying Gino Smith.
I mean, there's a lot of guys now that suddenly
have either recaptured magic or found magic. So I'm sure
they're saying, we've already sunk so much money into this,
(17:09):
We've already it's been terrible, but he was great at
one point. Let's see if there's any Donald. Maybe it's
not going to be the level, but let's see if
there's any Donald Baker Geno magic left in this, in
this in this bottle that we can we can harness.
And if there's not, yeah, we'll move on to Shador.
(17:29):
But that Donald's success has opened the door for quarterbacks
that wasn't open four or five years ago.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah, you are right.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You make a pretty good argument there. I don't like
the go pro helmet. Can I tell you my take
on that.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
I don't love that either. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
That's a coach worried that my quarterback's not seeing the field.
So I can go look at tape that the coaches
are doing that because they they don't think the players
looking at the field seeing the right spot in the field.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
That's my take on GoPro.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
There could be an element of that, but it is
pretty cool tape to teach off of. And now with
virtual reality and things like that, you can actually take
that video and let someone else experience what it was
like to run that play. So there's some value in
having that perspective, especially from a teaching perspective, for other
(18:22):
guys who didn't get that rep Hey, this is what
it looked like. This is where he was looking. You
know he was looking right, but you know the coveragement,
he should have been looking left. So you can probably
intercut that with sideline and end zone and get some
really cool teaching perspectives.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Have you had a nice summer.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I know you've been on the beach and I know
where you have your executive sweet Place.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I have had a great summer. Miss talking to you
during the summer, as our vacations kind of didn't coincide,
so we didn't connect as much as we normally do.
But yeah, it's got some great time with the family
and excited that we're back to real live games.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Here pretty soon. Oh yeah, tonight, six of them.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I keep telling everybody, this is the last time in
your life you'll be excited to watch Vegas play Arizona
in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
This is the last time. Enjoy it. Why you can? Yeah,
I see it. Con all right, we take a break. Yeah,
it is.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
There is something about opening a new present, you know,
exploring going to it. You know, you go on a vacation,
you go to a new place, you're kind of excited.
Fernando Mendoza Raiders. I mean, I couldn't say the last time.
I couldn't wait for a Raider season to start, and
I've had friends work for the organization.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I'm fired up for tonight.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's not gonna be perfect, It's not going to be beautiful, sir.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and neon Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (20:03):
Saturday night is Baseball.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Night in America and this week two of the best
in the NFL NL square off as the Brewers take
on Show A and the Dodgers. Or another regional action
is d Backs Braves, Red Sox Pirates. Check local listings
for the game in your area. Saturday, seven pm Eastern
on Fox.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Six.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
NFL preseason games tonight, the word came down Carson Beck
apparently banged up, won't play tonight. So no Carson, I'm
watching for Fernando Mendos. Anyway, I already saw Carson Beck.
I like what I saw, poised, calm, mean, it's a
Hall of Fame game.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Whatever. John Middlecoff with the News, Turn on the news.
This is the headline news.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Well, I don't know if you saw this summer, Colin
when you were out traveling the world. There was a
big wedding at Madison Square Garden and involved Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 8 (20:54):
And uh that was talk of the town.
Speaker 6 (20:57):
But he's looking to rebound on the field because last
year was a little underwhelming. He had some big drops,
looked like he was slowing down a little bit. Yeah,
you know, here's Kelsey on what he brings to the.
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Table, just being a better leader, you know, and when
we get stuck in, you know, with adversity hitting, who's
going to be able to you know, who's going to
want you in that fox hole with you? And that's
one of those things that I want to be one
of those guys that everybody counts on to be there
and get us out of that fox hole.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I still think on third down or in the red zone,
you can trust him for a big catch. I mean,
I think that there's nothing wrong with having an older guy,
a little long in the tooth, that the quarterback trusts
old gronk. Tom still found a way to trust him
in big spots. I don't have a problem with it. Again,
I think you got to start you got to start
moving him. He's out of the volume business. Probably I'm
(21:50):
not getting ninety catches from him. But if I got
sixty seven touchdowns like and he was really good in
division games and in a playoff game or two, I
take that any day.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
I would say of the of the best tight ends
in NFL history, you know, in his heydays, probably right
there with Shannon is the fastest, you know, Tony Gonzalez
Gronk a little bigger, more physical. Last year, it felt
like he lost it a little bit of a step,
so he wasn't quite as quick now, like you said,
still get open over the course, you know, over the
middle of the field. Had some drops I remember in
(22:24):
some big spots last year. They cost him, so I
think they just yeah, it just needs to bounce back
a little bit for them to get back in the
playoff mix.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
He was a little distracted. Now he's just another old
married guy.
Speaker 8 (22:37):
Yeah, sir, I saw Blandino was at the wedding.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
They didn't.
Speaker 8 (22:42):
You didn't get an invite. That shocks me.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, yeah, And I didn't fight for it. I'm not
a wedding fan. I'm gonna go to my kids' weddings,
and I'm good. If I just get those all six,
I'll be good.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
Don't blame you.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski told reports yesterday that Tua
we'll start tomorrow's preseason game matchup with the Broncos, giving
two an opportunity to create some separation because he had
a competition with him and Michael Pennix. However, Stefanski would
not commit to week one starter. Because here's the thing
with Pennix. He said his knee is stronger than ever.
Speaker 8 (23:17):
So what the doctor told him.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
But he can't get hit.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
So it's like the problem is in pro football you
get hit a lot, and if your knee can't get hit,
I know you're a Stefanski guy. They already lost Jalen Walker.
Pierce is going to get suspended.
Speaker 8 (23:32):
Surely. Quarterback situations a nightmare this Falcons team.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
It could feel a little like Lions mid nineties with
Berry just get the ball, the beach out Robinson every play.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, And I think I like the ownership. I think
the front office is pretty shrewd. I liked the coach.
I did like Pennix. I mean, there was always an
injury concern. He had a couple of surgeries. I think
at Indiana he was great at Washington. But I haven't
sold my panic start. It's taken a while. I do
think TUA made sense here, climate controlled, weaker division. I
(24:07):
think the TUA acquisition isn't bad at all. I think
it's pretty smart. Actually, I don't know. I'm gonna take
the Saints as one of the surprise teams in the League,
and I do think Carolina, for all the misgivings about
Bryce Young, I think they've surrounded him pretty decent offensive line,
decent backs, nice receiving targets.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So I don't see it as a playoff year for Atlanta.
Speaker 8 (24:30):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 6 (24:31):
I was a huge Penis fan in Washington, root for
him to get his career, you know, back on the tracks.
But you know, Stefanski's got a soft spot for short,
left handed, weak arm quarterbacks Tua, Dylan Gabriel. He's not
exactly It's like Kevin. We got to change our mentality
here a little bit. Last, but not least, Yahoo Sports
(24:54):
they ran a simulation of the college football season in
EA Sports and the Football twenty seven video game, and
USC won the national championship. Colin I've got a couple
of text messages this week. You know, I'm from the
West Coast. I have a lot of friends. They went
(25:15):
to these.
Speaker 8 (25:16):
Formerly known as the Pac twelve schools.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
A lot of people. Yeah, maybe it's envy, Maybe it's jealousy.
Don't love USC. They can never get over your ability
year in year out to go. This is USC's year.
Everyone I know thinks eight and four best case scenario. Well,
here's the upside.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Jade and Mayava would have been drafted last year. I
think he's a mid to a late first round quarterback,
maybe more. I think he's a really good I think
he's improved more than any player in the last year.
They're very young at wide receiver, but talented. Old lines
the best they've had. They've got Sunday players in the
(25:55):
old line. Left tackle, right guard, right tackle is going
to be good, justin Tuenu. Not spectacular. Don't love their linebackers,
but it's corner and defensive front excellent. They're not a
great team, but I would say they're running back.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
You know Lincoln right.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Like a lot of coaches that get labeled passing coaches,
they love the run game. McVeigh, Kevin O'Connell, Lincoln Riley's
got two, he's got his best one to two punch
at running back. My only real concern for them is
I don't think they're great on the back end. They
lost Kamari Ramsey and Bishop their safeties. Their safeties now,
(26:35):
I don't think it was as good as last year.
I think the linebacking, corps and corner they're okay. They
have a five star tight end. That's pretty interesting, but
not a ton of depth at tight end. Their schedule,
they get Oregon, Washington, Ohio State at home.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Can you win two of those?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
If you can win two of them, I mean they'll
be favored to beat Washington.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Here's the thing. Can you beat Oregon or Ohio State
at home?
Speaker 6 (26:58):
One of them didn't just have the number one high
school recruiting class.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, and they Trent Mosley is a wide receiver out
of that class. He'll play and excel as a freshman
Mark bowman the tight end he will play. So they
have two offensive guys. They're they're young at the skill
positions offensively, but they're also really good.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
That Week two matchup Colin You don't it's on full State.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
On Fox, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
I think all those Bulldogs, those you know, those Bulldogs
about twenty years ago almost took down Liner and Reggie
at the Coliseum.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I remember that game.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Well.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Reggie had one of his great Petrust was on the call.
It was a night game and the Dogs had him
up against the Ropes.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah. I kind of look at that.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Oregon Washington's by the way, Oregon Washington at Penn State,
you gotta win you gotta win. I mean that's that's
and then and then Ohio State Indiana back to back.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It's a tough schedule.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Gold at Notre Dame, schedule, Gold at USC's Ohio State, USC,
Texas is Wisconsin.
Speaker 8 (28:03):
Any good. I was kind of on the hot seat
then no.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I mean, if you look at the schedule, they're going
to start four to Oho, lose to Oregon, beat Washington.
I'll give them a close win at Penn State though,
if it's a night game, good luck. Beat Wisconsin, lose
at home to Ohio State. I don't know what Indiana
is other than well coached. Let's see, they lost their
top two receivers, top two running backs.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Maryland.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Ucla should be w it feels like to me, let
me tell you.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Ucla is going to be a lot better. I mean,
I know they still got a waste to go. But
this Bob Jesney guy, I don't know if you kind
of followed his career arc pretty impressive, guy, Collen.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I'm gonna go nine and three and that again the schedules.
If they can beat in Oregon or in Ohio State
at home, that you can go nine and three and
get into the playoff.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Listen, if you lose, if you lose.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
To add Indiana and Ohio State and win the rest
of them going to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Those those both both those teams are in the playoff.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
I agree, But there's the Ohio State schedule, USC schedule,
Texas schedule.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Not easy. These are rough college schedules.
Speaker 6 (29:13):
Problem is if you go eight and four, you're going
to like the Silicon Valley substation.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Oh people are over that.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
Yeah, no, careful.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Got it can't start soon enough, can't start soon enough.
John Middlecoff of the News.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping that.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
The herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We're are bold, were give me middle cops bold predictions again?
Your yours were actually bold? Mine were uh luke warm
you I'll tell you Max Crosby traded to Chicago. I
watched that practice Sunday. They had no pass rush. Not
not shocking. Niners winning the NFC West. You are out
(29:54):
there on an island, Uh, Patriots missing the playoffs, Dak MVP.
You could talk me into I will say your Bengals
number one seed is a really good argument. They bring
back the quarterback, they bring back the coach, they lost
Hendrickson but you go look at their defensive line and
what they replace Hendrickson with. This has been their problem.
(30:17):
You can run all over them and take the ball
away from Burrow. Their run defense should be much more
stout this year. I yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
By the way, here was Greg Cosel last hour speaking
of Dak be an MVP on what he sees.
Speaker 9 (30:36):
He is really a refined pocket player. He knows how
to play the position. There's tremendous efficiency to his game.
He doesn't move the way he used to. Obviously, this
team theoretically is better than he's had in recent years.
But when you watch him play, you come away and Colin,
I'm sure you probably saw some of the Hall of
Fame speeches. The reason I mentioned that is the way
(30:58):
Drew Brees spoke about the quarterback position and all the
detail and nu ones that's demanded to be consistent, snap
after snap, quarter after quarter, game after game, season after season.
That's the way Dak Prescott plays the position.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Yeah. No, I think I like Caleb for MVP. You
like Dak.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I also think the media like stories. Caleb's a very
explosive player. People love that. Dak is an easy guy
to root for because He's dealing with Jerry and there's
the pressure, and you know, Pickens, you know, can be
a little moody. I could see Dak getting You remember
when Westbrook won the MVP, it was like he was
easy to pull for. Kadi went to the rival and
(31:38):
everybody was like kind of rooting for Westbrook. I could see.
I think Dak's an easy guy to root for. It's
you know, cowboys are a lot of noise and a
lot of vanity, and I could see Dak.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
W wasn't it.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
You know, I didn't want to have the same team twice,
but if I wanted to vertically integrate my take with
the Bengals if they're the one seed, I mean, Burrow
is going to be in the mix for the MVP.
If you knew right now the Bengals were going to
be the one seed, he would probably have a better
than fifty percent chance of winning that award. I think
(32:09):
I think a lot, you know, I think Caleb, Dak,
you know, Burroken resurrect. There are certain guys, Hey, it's
a momentum award.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Justin Herbert with protection and his coach, that's going to
be interesting, Greg co Sell, Fernando Mendoza debuts tonight in
the NFL. Here's Greg co Cell's thoughts on him going
into the game.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
The number one thing for him, I think will be
how he handles the balls that have to be thrown
between the numbers. You did not see a lot of
that at Indiana simply because that was not foundationally how
they played offense. Because one of the things that is
is a transition for college quarterbacks to the NFL is
the game has played much more in the middle of
the field, not outside. And he was a great backed
(32:54):
shoulder thrower in college, and those are really important throws,
but he didn't throw a lot of balls twelve to
twenty two yards between the numbers. And very often when
you make that transition, it seems like there's fifteen defenders
on the field because it's just a much more condensed
look because of where the hashmarks are.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
All Right, Mendoza tonight, My prediction is twelve of twenty two,
one hundred and fifty yards and a touchdown and one pick.
And everybody's going to be like, oh, what happened to
Fernando Mendoza. Well, let's let's just see who they play.
How many Brock Bauers snaps Ashton gent offensive line. Their
old line was a wreck last year. I went and
(33:36):
got Tyler Linderbaum. That to me was the off season acquisition.
I know he's a center. I thought that was the
number one acquisition all off season. Tyler Linderbaum. I've always said,
I think I think center's the most underwrited position in
pro football. John Middlekoff has been just fantastic the last
couple of weeks. Buddy, thank you so much. As owas
(33:57):
you are, such a good teammate, such a good partner.
I wanted to think, get everybody here. We're off tomorrow
and I'm watching football tonight. H
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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