September 5, 2024 • 33 mins
Colin shares his updated Super Bowl bubble before the NFL season kicks off and previews the match up between Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson before the season kicks off tonight. He tells you why Jim Harbaugh is the best culture creator in football right now and why he's set up to succeed with the Chargers. Plus, Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to breakdown the top QBs for week 1 of the NFL season
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go. NFL season starts Tonnay, Chiefs Ravens live
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your morning, your afternoon.
One hour from now. My final NFL predictions going into
the season, couple of alterations. That's it feel very strongly,
kind of like the Chiefs tonight, not in love with it.
Be very careful about this opening week Jmac. Also, we'll
(00:56):
do our Big ten Bets, a new thing we introduce
on Thursdays at the end of the second how we
line up go against each other for the year. Big bets,
Big ten Bets Texas Michigan this weekend is unbelievable. So
here we are. I'm so glad I'm in sports and
not politics. It's all joy and happy in finality and standings.
We're lucky what we do for a living, right, very fortunate.
(01:17):
Hashtag bust. All right, here we go, let's just start here.
I always do Super Bowl bubbles about once a month,
once every five weeks. I'll do you a Super Bowl bubble.
Here's my super Bowl bubble to start the season for
the radio audience. I think there's, to be honest, seven
eight teams should be favorites in the NFC Detroit, Green Bay,
(01:39):
San Francisco. I'm high on the Rams. In the AFC,
the Texans, the Bills, yeah, Josh Allen Mahomes, Kansas City,
and the Ravens. I think four teams are just on
the outside. I've got a question I need to see resolved. Philadelphia.
Love the roster, love the quarterback, love almost everything, ownership.
(02:01):
I'm a little worried about the coach and the quarterback
relationship and the coach overall. Cincinnati, Joe Burrow's health. I
wish I had the Jets defense and Miami's offense as
one team, but they're so good at one thing. Jets defense,
Miami offense. I'll keep them on the periphery. But there's
hope here. So there you go. Eight in the bubble
(02:23):
and four on the outside. This may change. We always
have a surprise team, but that feels right. I really
think the Texans have a legitimate chance to get to
a conference championship. They have turned that franchise around with
the right coach, the right GM, and the right quarterback.
All these teams, all these teams have one thing in common.
They have a good quarterback. I know, I know Brock Perdy,
(02:45):
but he has one hundred and eleven passer rating. He's
a good quarterback. I don't think he's a star, but
he's a good quarterback. But they don't all have an established,
proven coach. We don't know what Robert Soli really is.
But tonight, what you're seeing, frankly, is what the model
of the league is. Chiefs Ravens the two winning his
(03:06):
teams in this sport since the Patrick Mahomes era started. Ownership,
front office, coach, quarterback, roster drafting development. This is how
you do it. And yet Baltimore, one of the two
model franchises in the league, always leaves us unsatisfied, proving
(03:29):
how difficult it is to win in this sport mostly
because of two people. In the last decade. Two people
have had a stranglehold on this league. One has retired
Tom Brady, one is moving into his prime. Been there
probably a couple of years. Patrick Mahomes. Five of the
last six Trophies have been hoisted by Brady or Mahomes,
(03:50):
and eight of the last ten Super Bowls Brady or
Mahomes have appeared in it. So you and I, for
the next six months can talk about speedy wide receivers
and tough tight ends, and clever running backs and smart
coordinators and brilliant young offensive coaches Brady and Mahomes, and
even the quarterbacks capable capable of beating Mahomes in a
(04:13):
January game. Joe Burrow can't stay healthy. Lamar Jackson kind
of freezes in the headlights. Josh Allen won too many mistakes.
It illustrates once again just how damn hard it is
to win, and it's why I support Josh Allen and
Lamar Jackson. It's really hard to beat legends. Go ask
(04:35):
Peyton Manning and Big Ben with Brady, and go ask
Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. It's just
incredibly hard. Kansas City's got everything right, owner, front office, president, GM, quarterback, weapon,
pass rusher, draft, develop they had everything right, and Baltimore's
(04:59):
got almost everything right. And that's this sport inches not feet.
And Tom Brady earlier this week on this show talked
about the challenges tonight for Baltimore and the opening game
of the season.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
When you lose in the playoffs, you want to think
about our how are we going to get over the
hump next year?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
What do we need to do?
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Where are our deficiencies, Where can we get a little better,
How can we improve our team a little bit?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So when we get in these big.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Games, we're more prepared than the other team. We got
more margin of there and look, to win a super
Bowl is absolutely incredibly difficult. There's only one team that
does it. Baltimore wants what the Chiefs got and that's
why you lead the season off the way they have
it Ravens Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
For the record, Brady's best offense never won a Super Bowl.
He had a ten year gap. The best player that's
ever played, the most dominant productive player, Tom Brady won
a decade no super bowls, and those best offenses, Randy
Moss teams blue people out. That's how hard it is.
(06:05):
That's the challenge for Baltimore. But Barkley was great and
couldn't beat MJ Phil was great, couldn't get past Tiger enough.
It's just really hard to beat legends. Speaking of legends,
right now, the most consistent culture creator in American football,
(06:26):
college or pro is Jim Harbaugh. It's not Save when
he's retired. It's not Parcels. He's gone Belichick. Nope, Urban Meyer.
In college doing TV, it's Jim Harbaugh. Pre Harbaugh. Do
you remember how bad Stanford was one and eleven? Oh,
(06:47):
they were good at the academic thing, they were horrible
at football. His first year at Stanford, they flew down
to Los Angeles as a forty point underdog and beat
the Trojans, who were number two in the country in
Los Angeles. The San Francisco forty nine ers pre Harball
(07:08):
had not made the playoffs in eight years. The roster
was a mess. They had no culture. Year one with
Harbaugh thirteen and three NFC championship with a quarterback that
was viewed as a bust. Alex Smith. Michigan was a
tire fire pre Harbaugh, five and seven, one first round pick,
a left tacker tackle Taylor Lawan, one first rounder in
(07:34):
four years pre Harbaugh first year, ten and three, and oh,
by the way, this last year, what do they have
thirteen fourteen guys drafted? Stanford was a disaster, Niners were
a disaster, Michigan was a disaster. And now here comes
(07:54):
Sudini pre Harba. The Chargers last year had a virtual
mutiny with the players. Five and twelve, worst locker room
in the league, worst big play defense in the league,
with a defensive coordinator. And Jim walks into the building,
by the way, a brand new building in els Agundo, California.
It's gorgeous. And here's the guy that does this better
(08:16):
than anybody currently coaching football. He is the greatest repetitive
culture creator. But this time it's not a total rebuild.
Khalil Mack bos off the edge his first draft pick,
Joe All best tackling the draft to go along with
Rashawn Slater edge rushers tackles above average. Oh, Justin Herbert.
(08:42):
Nothing against Alex Smith or his first quarterback at Michigan,
but Justin Herbert's really good. Jim Harbaugh this week, who
was a quarterback in the NFL. I think he's got
a little twinkle. He's been very optimistic. He's almost been
funny this entire offseason. Why because this isn't the Stanford rebuild,
(09:03):
this isn't the Niner rebuild, this isn't the Michigan rebuild.
He's got Justin Herbert and here's Harbaugh on him.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
He's like a human computer chip, you know, for a brain.
It's just the way he the way he thinks, the
way he can. He can, you know, go through information
you do, get to the you know, disorb it, retain it,
remember it, disseminate it. I mean, it's it's really impressive.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
He's always reminded me Jim Harbaugh a little of the
late Steve Jobs. Jobs wasn't the best engineer, right, and
we're smarter people in the building. But he understood, unlike
Microsoft at the time, the artistry of it. He was
selling image imagery and he knew what he wasn't Harbaugh
(09:54):
is not the best scheme guy in the NFL. Could
be Kyle Shanahan. Not the best scheme guy. But the
ability to change cultures college and pro is a real thing,
and nobody in the world is better at it. And
I got into this discussion a couple of months ago
and somebody said, God, Harball's really lightened up. He's like
funny and likable. And I'm like, because Jim sees what
(10:17):
he's never seen before, which is a top five quarterback
in a rebuild. He usually had to go trade for one,
find one, recruit one. Now he's got one, and that's
why he's so happy, happier than ever as he embarks
on a weekend one against the Raiders. J Mac, who's
(10:40):
got it better than us, who has got nobody has
got it better than us?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah, I'll agree. I'll go ahead and agree with you there,
except the only problem is I don't know what to
do with the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Ravens kid tonight you might be right.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Yesterday you were like, just watch it, it's gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I might take is Kansas City Steve Spagnola, who
is in a short list of the best defensive coordinators
in the league with a very good defense almost all
of them returning, has had a little bit of wizardry.
He's had Lamar's number in the matchups. That's an advantage,
that's a coordinator advantage. They've had a lot of time
(11:16):
to prepare for a quarterback they've had success with. Also,
Kansas City lost this game last year to Detroit, so
they're not overlooking anybody. They got nipped last year. Remember
they weren't quite ready to go. They've also, I think
upgraded their receiving corps. Rareshie Rice established himself. You got
worthy of the ket out of Texas. They like a lot.
They brought in Juju Smith Schuster that knows their offense.
(11:39):
I would go Kansas City here. I think it's close,
maybe a little low scoring. It's a feeling out process
in the first quarter. But this is what the NFL
does better than any league, and the NBA is pretty
good at it too. They understand they're a TV product.
This is the game you'd want for Week one. This
is the game.
Speaker 6 (11:58):
The problem is all wealked about for the Chiefs all
summer is Super.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Bowl three peat.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Can they do it?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (12:04):
This gamemate circled on the calendar. But Baltimore, you know,
is locked in after getting destroyed and kind of embarrassed
in the AFC was You're at home.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
It was a clunker, terrible game plan.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
You know, the offensive coordinator even hardball by the way,
I saw Harball twelve and four against the spread in
week one games in his career, like he's going to
be dialed in, They're going to be ready. I don't
know if there's urgency for the Chiefs in week one
to show up and we got to win this game,
you know fair enough.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (12:38):
You're now entering the No Bull Zone sponsored by Credible
Great rates none of the bowls. So all distractions in
the NFL are not equal. And the Kansas City Chiefs
open the season at home against Baltimore tonight, and there's
this sense that it's been a very noisy off season
for Kansas City. And I would argue again, not all
(13:00):
distractions are equal. Take Kansas City and the Jets. The
Jets issues could be disruptive. They need a pass rusher
and he's held out. They thought they had him and
then they didn't, and then he held out, and he's
still not starting. And they have an offensive coordinator that
they strongly considered hiring another coach to call plays for him.
(13:23):
The quarterback took a shot at the coach. Coach took
a shot at the quarterback, rebuilding the old line. Those
are disruptions that could affect a locker room or an outcome.
Kansas City's issues, to me, aren't disruptive. Rashid Rice. In
the offseason, a young kid did something stupid. It's called
(13:43):
your twenties. The players had his back and so did
the team. Harrison Butker politics. Most of the players agree
with him. It's politics. Nobody cares in that locker room.
What about Travis Swift Travis Kelsey, Well, it could be
you know, Travis Kelcey, the Swifties, What are we gonna
(14:05):
Nobody cares. Just Hollywood and fun and music. Nobody cares.
The Jets have real disruptions, the Chiefs. You know, it's
a difference between on your couch scrolling on your phone
and in your car in traffic scrolling on your phone.
One has consequences. One's just wasting time and screwing off.
(14:26):
So h Taylor Swift, Travis Kelcey means nothing. Harrison Butker
means nothing. Rashie Rice doesn't mean nothing. But young players
in the league make mistakes, even big ones. You'll find
overwhelmingly that Kansas City from the first moment on had
his back, scold him, have his back. Those are not
(14:47):
outcome changers. Those are not locker room dividers. The media
thinks Harrison Butker is a locker room divider. I'm here
to tell you zero zero influence. So and Kansas City
is also built for this owner A plus GM president
quarterback coach experienced A plus plus. They're built to overcome
(15:12):
any little fissure in the chemistry, any little speed bump
driving to the stadium. They have stars at GM coach quarterback.
The Jets owners are the disruptors, are the chaos creators.
(15:33):
Big difference. They don't have proven leadership. Aaron makes a
situation that's noisy, noisier, he responds to everything. He's got
rabbit ears. Sala responds to everything. Woodie Johnson and Sala
apparently had some shouting match last year. That's not what
Kansas City is going through. So Kansas City is the
model of leadership in this league, top down, and that
(15:56):
means you're built to handle a Rashi rice a hair
and Butker, Travis Kelcey, I mean Andy Reid's appearing in commercials.
Everybody's all in New England had some stuff in the offseason,
but they had such great leadership with Craft early days,
Poli and Belichick and Brady A that stuff got in
(16:19):
the way of winning. That's the great advantage Baltimore's had issues.
It never gets in the way of winning. Little tiny
fissures with the Jets implode because they don't handle it.
They don't have leadership in the locker room. They don't
have it at quarterback, coach owner over the last twenty
five years. So not all distractions are equal. I'm reading
(16:41):
Diana Russini as a column today talking about the off
season for the Chiefs, and there's been a lot of
turbulence in movement. But it's the world's most well, it's
America's most popular sport, and Andy reads the best coach,
and Mahomes is the biggest star, and Travis Kelsey's hanging
out with Taylor Swift. There's gonna be turbulence. Is not
gonna be a cross country flight without an air pocket.
(17:03):
You gonna bounce around, although you go spell coffee. But
Kansas City's built to withstand anything, just like New England
was for twenty years. And you can go back to
the late Gayton spy Gayton. They had all sorts of
stuff never got in the way of wins. I watched
the documentary on New England they won a Super Bowl
and the player said, it was the hardest season we
ever had. It wasn't any fun. They hoisted a trophy.
(17:26):
Remember last year at the end of the year for
Kansas City, players said this was the hard one. This
was exactly. I mean, you got Travis Kelcey and Andy
reading the Super Bowl, banging heads, banging head set and
they hoisted a trophy. Greatness is not just playing catching
footballs throwing football. It's leadership and the teams like the
Baltimore's and San Francisco Kansas City, they're built for the bumps.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
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Speaker 3 (17:54):
He's Mike Carmen, I'm Dan Byern.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want Your.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
That's right, Dan.
Speaker 7 (18:01):
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
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Speaker 1 (18:12):
Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Carmon and
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wherever you beet your podcasts, here we go. Greg Cosel
forty five years NFL fills every Thursday, top of the hours,
second hour, and he is joining us now live. So
I think one of the more compelling games. And I've
said this before Greg, I can like a team, but
(18:32):
not like him. In Week one. Rams have had some
offensive line issues in camp. Little musical chairs here. I
don't love that. Here comes a team Detroit stacked healthy,
did lose a kicker, but the Lions play fourteen indoor
games this year. Do you expect it's almost Taylor made
for Goff his style indoor games. I would imagine the
(18:54):
film tells you this is a super Bowl worthy team.
Speaker 8 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I would say that defense would be the question.
Speaker 8 (19:03):
They knew that they had to address the corner position
because Aaron Glenn at his core, he's their defensive coordinator Colin.
He would like to pressure and when he's pressured in
the past he didn't quite have the back end play
to accommodate that. But he's very good Aaron Glenn with
pressure concepts. I think that's the way he wants to go,
So I think much will depend on their defense. Offensively,
(19:27):
they've got a really good all line. You know Goff,
He's from the West Coast. Goff is one of your
classic pocket quarterbacks. It's a really well schemed passing game.
They do a great job with the spacing of routes
to attack and defeat z own coverage. So this is
a really good pass game and Goff is as good
a pure pocket thrower as there is in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Matt Stafford in the Rams. They're young on the defensive side,
five of their top six defense, but I thought last year,
by the end of the year, it was a really
interesting unit. They've got the weapons. The kid out of
Michigan Corum running back will give them a tandem with
Kyron Williams and Blake Coreum. I like this team a lot.
Your thoughts on the Rams, I'm high on them.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Well, they've got the best quarterback in the NFC, in
Matthew Stafford. They revamped their O line.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
They've gotten bigger, and I think that's a function of
how they want their run game to look. They run
inside much more than they did, let's say, in the
McVeigh years. When they had Todd Gurley, when outside zone
was the foundation.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Now they run inside a lot more, more gap.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
Scheme runs with pulling linemen more what we call duo
Those are inside runs with double teams inside. That fits
Kyron Williams, it will fit Blake Coreum if he gets
meaningful snaps. And as I said, they've got the best
quarterback in the NFC. If Stafford can stay healthy, this
is a contending team.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So Jim harbaught Stanford. He took over a mess one
and eleven. First year. He beat USC as a forty
point dog. He did it at San Francisco they were
a mess. He did it at Michigan. But he's never
entered rebuild with a great franchise guy. And Justin Herbert,
what do you expect year one?
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Well, you know they obviously hired Greg Roman as their OC,
so you know that he wants to establish a physical
nature to his offense. That he does want to run
the ball. That's been his history. He's not going to change.
I think what you'll see a lot of is the
play action pass game with Herbert. Put him under center.
Make the run game in the pass game look similar.
We know that Greg Roman is as good a run
(21:29):
game designer as there is in the NFL, So I
think the offense will look different than it's looked. But
you're dealing with a quarterback in Herbert as you suggested,
and it's true in terms of pure physical traits, he's
top three to four in the league.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So the question is, how's the rest of the team
going to look?
Speaker 8 (21:47):
You know, I think the sense is that Herbert can
be the kind of guy that can carry a team
at times. I think people have questions about that, but
physically traits wise, he.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Can do that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins are coming off Achille injuries.
Aaron is always the more nimble, twitchy athlete. Do you
either one of them you expect more or less from?
Speaker 3 (22:14):
You know, I've always been a big Kirk Cousins guy.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
I know a lot of people look at him and
think he hasn't played in a lot of big games,
or when he does, he doesn't play well.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
But he is a very efficient quarterback.
Speaker 8 (22:24):
You know, He's one of those guys that if you
reduce the quarterback position to simplest terms, to you know,
throw to the right receiver with the right kind of
throw at the right time. He is really good at that.
You know, he makes good decisions and he throws it
straight and that's pretty much what she wants your quarterback
to do. So he's a very professional quarterback. I think
an overlooked element of the Falcons Colin is they have
(22:46):
a really good offensive line and everybody's back. You couldn't
make the argument their old Lion is top five in
the NFL, and I would expect Bijon Robinson in that
offense with Zach Robinson, who is now the OC there,
I would expect them to run the ball very efficiently.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Aaron Rodgers, I'm very anxious to see. He's older.
Speaker 8 (23:06):
He's coming off a pretty significant injury two years ago.
When he played, I thought his legs were not quite
the same. And I don't mean running around. I just
mean the way that he played the game. His legs
were not quite there the same way. But the bottom
line is we may have never seen anybody in the
history of the league throw the ball better than Aaron Rodgers.
And if he can be protected, if Tyron Smith can
(23:27):
stay healthy, then he may not have to move around
a lot and he can certainly throw the ball.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
And they've got.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Weapons Okay, Philadelphia when they had Shane Stiken, Sirianna gave
up play calling was magic. So here comes Kellen Moore
with Jalen Hurts. You know both Hurts and Kellen's tendencies.
What do you expect in that relationship?
Speaker 8 (23:50):
Hard to know, but I would say that what you're
going to see is an offense that we think of
more like the way the league is trending. You're going
to see more motion, You're going to see think a
little more creativity in the offense. You know, obviously they
have a great O line coach in Jeff Stallin and
a great O line, and I think they want to
still count on that as a big factor. The question
(24:11):
to me, and there's so much speculation as you know, Look,
we have sixteen new O season the league, seventeen new dcs,
so there's a lot of guesswork right now. But I'm
very curious to see what the balance is going to
be run pass Saquon Barkley is there. You don't sign
Barkley to carry the ball eight or nine times. We'll
see how they plan on using him within the context
(24:34):
of a complete offense. But I think you're going to
see more creativity and definitely more motion in their offense.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay, so Jordan Love it was a young offense. We
saw him be great for about eight to nine weeks.
There were questions out of Utah State, but I watched
him and I watched him go to Dallas, and I'm like, boy,
there is a lot to like when you watch the
film during last year in the offseason, is there another level?
(25:02):
I always I feel he's a little more far than Rogers's.
He's kind of willing to let it, let it rep.
You know, he's got a gun slinger a little bit.
Do you think there's another level or and by the way,
if there's not, that's okay, it's very good. What do
you think we'll see with Jordan Love her too as
a starter?
Speaker 8 (25:19):
Well, there's always going to be another level because of
the mental part, just getting more and more reps and
seeing things, So there's always another level mentally. You're talking
about a quarterback that in terms of physical traits is
top five in the NFL without question, because of his
size and his athleticism and.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
His throwing ability.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
And I think what really stood out last year in
the second half of the season was the mental parts
started to get much better, better recognition of what the
defense looked like pre snap, better understanding of how to
use his cadence to make the defense declare all the
little things, the subtleties, the nuances that go into quarterback
play that go beyond just the physical traits. That's so
(25:56):
much of what the quarterback position is at this level
where defense are Defenses are constantly trying to confuse you
with what they do with disguise before the snap and
then the late movement post snap. I thought Love really
got better in those areas and that's the kind of
thing that will continue to improve. And then just managing
a game, Colin, knowing when you take a shot, knowing
(26:17):
when you don't take a shot, the things that no
one really talks about that are so critical to quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's easy for guys like me to say, Wow, c J.
Stroud is good, But when did you last year? Wow?
I mean, what did you see that? His comp was
Jared Goff out of college, which I said, that's a
good comp. Jared made a super Bowl. He's got a
little more juice athletically, obviously, But what makes c J. Stroud?
(26:44):
I mean, we know Lamark and Ronner Josh is big
and strong, but what's his secret sauce to you?
Speaker 8 (26:52):
And it's funny you mentioned that because it was Week
two last year against the Indianapolis Colts when I watched
that tape and I said wow, because the anticipation that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
He threw the ball with was otherworldly.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
You know, we always talk about playmaking from the pocket,
at playmakers outside the pocket, guys that can run around
and make plays. Well, you can be a playmaker from
the pocket if you have tremendous anticipation. And I remember
seeing a throw it was to Nico Collins, who also
had a great year, where he hit him on an
inbreaking route a dig ball against the Colts Week two,
(27:28):
and I just ran that back ten fifteen times because
he threw the ball when Collins was on the numbers okay,
and he caught it between the hashes. And I just
said to myself that is high level quarterback play. And
so it was Week two last year when I just
saw the anticipation. And part of anticipation is also recognition
(27:48):
of coverage. He is an outstanding windows thrower, which you
don't see a lot in college tape because the game
is not like that. The college game is not like that,
but the NFL game is because the hash marks are
closer together. So that's when it really hit me that, Wow,
this guy really is something special throwing the football.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Good for the Texans fans. They deserve it. Let's now
deep dive on Kansas City hosting Baltimore tonight. Maybe it's
just spags. I do think it's pretty clear Lamar's twenty
and one against the NFC. And I said this yesterday,
It's like it's like driving on icy roads. If you
grew up in San Diego. You can read a manual
until you've done it, you can't experience it right. Like
(28:27):
if you don't play Lamar regularly, you have no idea
what you're getting the first time. But Kansas City has
seen him multiple times now, and it does appear they
have a little bit of a game plan. I'm guessing
that's it, because he just literally eats NFC teams for lunch,
even good teams, well coached. What does Kansas City do
(28:47):
against Lamar?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
A lot of pressure?
Speaker 8 (28:51):
I mean, you can just go back last year to
the AFC Championship Game, Colin, and I think he dropped
back forty six times, which of course is not exactly
what the race won.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
And I think on.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
Nineteen or twenty of those the chief splitz they rush
five or more and they posed major problems.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Now, one thing to keep in mind, a.
Speaker 8 (29:09):
Critical critical piece of the way the Chiefs have played
the last couple of years under Steve Spagnolo has been
Lagerius sneid because Steve Spagnolo believes in press coverage as
the way the NFL is trending, and he does not
have sneed who's a top two or three press man
corner in this league. And now it's going to be
interesting to see if he continues to play that way
(29:32):
because that goes along with his pressure concepts, and Spags's
pressure concepts can be a little different and a little
more difficult to kind of figure out. So what happens
is Lamar drops back and he has to figure it
out as he's dropping back.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
So we'll see. But pressure has been a major factor,
and it's not only Lamar, it's obviously the entire offense.
So we'll see.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
You know that they have been working on that from
the day the schedule came out, So we'll see tonight
how that plays out.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Okay, in Kansas City's offense. It looks like they've upgraded
it receiver, but I worry about their tackles. I worry
about their tackles. Yeah, what do you think the offense
looks like it's funny. I think it'll be better on
the perimeter. I'm not sure if it's better near the football.
What say you?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (30:19):
Well, one of the things people may not be aware
of with the Chiefs the last couple of years is
how much they play with multiple tight ends. I mean,
I think the last couple of years they're second or
third in the league in terms of percentage of offensive
snaps with two and three tight ends. So that's really
foundational to the way they play now. Obviously, they do
not have Marquise Brown tonight. If they had him, who knows.
(30:41):
Maybe they're going to go to more eleven personnel with
three wide receivers as the year progresses, but I think
you'll see them continue to play with multiple tight ends.
They're playing against a different defensive coordinator obviously in Baltimore,
zach Ors replaced Mike McDonald.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
That's an unknown.
Speaker 8 (30:58):
They probably are keeping a lot of the same concepts
and principles, but you just don't know how Zachor is
going to call a game.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, And finally Baltimore Kansas City the Greg Cosell Play
of the Week.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah. I went back to the AFC Championship game last year.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
I figure Week one, Colin, we needed some marquee, you know,
So we're gonna we're gonna get the swift.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
He's all excited here.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
We're gonna show the Travis Kelcey touchdown, you know from
I think it ended the first drive last year. So
let's go to that play and show it because it
was basically an unbelievable throw by Mahomes and we're used
to seeing him make these throws. And as I said,
it was early in the game, so let's take a
look at this. There's there's some real nuance to this play.
So what you're going to see here is you're gonna
(31:41):
see Mahomes in the gun. It's twelve personnel. Like I said,
you're seeing two tight ends on the field. Now there's
going to be three potential rushers to the left side
of the formation. There, you see it, So they have
three blockers for that three offensive linemen. Okay, but there's
also going to be three potential rushers to the right side.
(32:01):
But there's only two offensive linemen. So what does Mahomes do.
He moves Isaiah Pichecko to that side of the formation
to make sure he's protected. That's the nuance in the
detail of playing quarterback. That's critical. So now you had
Pacheco in position for the stacked linebacker if he were
to come.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
So now what do you get. You get the two
tight ends.
Speaker 8 (32:22):
It's man to man the matchup to Look at is
Kelsey versus Kyle Hamilton, one of the best safeties in
the league.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Now look at it right here.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
As it freezes, you're going to see the fact that
Hamilton has really good coverage. But he's on the inside
of Kelsey. So where does this ball have to be thrown?
To the outside. That's the only place to throw this ball,
and it requires precise ball location, a trait that's not
talked about enough quite frankly, when you talk about quarterback play.
(32:51):
And you can see it right here. Look where that
ball is placed. Wow, that is about as perfect as
it gets.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
And we know Mahomes can do that.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
To spend a lot of time talking about how great
Patrick Mahomes is, but that's a big time throw.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, that's one of my favorite plays of the year
because I get Mahomes, Kelsey and the best young safety
in football. That's just if Kyle Hamilton can't defend it,
you can't defend it. That's well defended. He's a brilliant
safety with great range. That's just does Hall of Fame
talent three of them on one play.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Yeah no, and changing the protection was so critical.
Speaker 8 (33:26):
That was That's a nuance that young quarterbacks, you know,
they're trying to learn all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Greg Azol was forty five years every Thursday at this time.
I really look forward to it. You nailed it again.
Good seeing you, my man.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Thanks kylein look forward to it every week.
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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 Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go. NFL season starts Tonnay, Chiefs Ravens live
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your morning, your afternoon.
One hour from now. My final NFL predictions going into
the season, couple of alterations. That's it feel very strongly,
kind of like the Chiefs tonight, not in love with it.
Be very careful about this opening week Jmac. Also, we'll
(00:56):
do our Big ten Bets, a new thing we introduce
on Thursdays at the end of the second how we
line up go against each other for the year. Big bets,
Big ten Bets Texas Michigan this weekend is unbelievable. So
here we are. I'm so glad I'm in sports and
not politics. It's all joy and happy in finality and standings.
We're lucky what we do for a living, right, very fortunate.
(01:17):
Hashtag bust. All right, here we go, let's just start here.
I always do Super Bowl bubbles about once a month,
once every five weeks. I'll do you a Super Bowl bubble.
Here's my super Bowl bubble to start the season for
the radio audience. I think there's, to be honest, seven
eight teams should be favorites in the NFC Detroit, Green Bay,
(01:39):
San Francisco. I'm high on the Rams. In the AFC,
the Texans, the Bills, yeah, Josh Allen Mahomes, Kansas City,
and the Ravens. I think four teams are just on
the outside. I've got a question I need to see resolved. Philadelphia.
Love the roster, love the quarterback, love almost everything, ownership.
(02:01):
I'm a little worried about the coach and the quarterback
relationship and the coach overall. Cincinnati, Joe Burrow's health. I
wish I had the Jets defense and Miami's offense as
one team, but they're so good at one thing. Jets defense,
Miami offense. I'll keep them on the periphery. But there's
hope here. So there you go. Eight in the bubble
(02:23):
and four on the outside. This may change. We always
have a surprise team, but that feels right. I really
think the Texans have a legitimate chance to get to
a conference championship. They have turned that franchise around with
the right coach, the right GM, and the right quarterback.
All these teams, all these teams have one thing in common.
They have a good quarterback. I know, I know Brock Perdy,
(02:45):
but he has one hundred and eleven passer rating. He's
a good quarterback. I don't think he's a star, but
he's a good quarterback. But they don't all have an established,
proven coach. We don't know what Robert Soli really is.
But tonight, what you're seeing, frankly, is what the model
of the league is. Chiefs Ravens the two winning his
(03:06):
teams in this sport since the Patrick Mahomes era started. Ownership,
front office, coach, quarterback, roster drafting development. This is how
you do it. And yet Baltimore, one of the two
model franchises in the league, always leaves us unsatisfied, proving
(03:29):
how difficult it is to win in this sport mostly
because of two people. In the last decade. Two people
have had a stranglehold on this league. One has retired
Tom Brady, one is moving into his prime. Been there
probably a couple of years. Patrick Mahomes. Five of the
last six Trophies have been hoisted by Brady or Mahomes,
(03:50):
and eight of the last ten Super Bowls Brady or
Mahomes have appeared in it. So you and I, for
the next six months can talk about speedy wide receivers
and tough tight ends, and clever running backs and smart
coordinators and brilliant young offensive coaches Brady and Mahomes, and
even the quarterbacks capable capable of beating Mahomes in a
(04:13):
January game. Joe Burrow can't stay healthy. Lamar Jackson kind
of freezes in the headlights. Josh Allen won too many mistakes.
It illustrates once again just how damn hard it is
to win, and it's why I support Josh Allen and
Lamar Jackson. It's really hard to beat legends. Go ask
(04:35):
Peyton Manning and Big Ben with Brady, and go ask
Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. It's just
incredibly hard. Kansas City's got everything right, owner, front office, president, GM, quarterback, weapon,
pass rusher, draft, develop they had everything right, and Baltimore's
(04:59):
got almost everything right. And that's this sport inches not feet.
And Tom Brady earlier this week on this show talked
about the challenges tonight for Baltimore and the opening game
of the season.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
When you lose in the playoffs, you want to think
about our how are we going to get over the
hump next year?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
What do we need to do?
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Where are our deficiencies, Where can we get a little better,
How can we improve our team a little bit?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So when we get in these big.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Games, we're more prepared than the other team. We got
more margin of there and look, to win a super
Bowl is absolutely incredibly difficult. There's only one team that
does it. Baltimore wants what the Chiefs got and that's
why you lead the season off the way they have
it Ravens Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
For the record, Brady's best offense never won a Super Bowl.
He had a ten year gap. The best player that's
ever played, the most dominant productive player, Tom Brady won
a decade no super bowls, and those best offenses, Randy
Moss teams blue people out. That's how hard it is.
(06:05):
That's the challenge for Baltimore. But Barkley was great and
couldn't beat MJ Phil was great, couldn't get past Tiger enough.
It's just really hard to beat legends. Speaking of legends,
right now, the most consistent culture creator in American football,
(06:26):
college or pro is Jim Harbaugh. It's not Save when
he's retired. It's not Parcels. He's gone Belichick. Nope, Urban Meyer.
In college doing TV, it's Jim Harbaugh. Pre Harbaugh. Do
you remember how bad Stanford was one and eleven? Oh,
(06:47):
they were good at the academic thing, they were horrible
at football. His first year at Stanford, they flew down
to Los Angeles as a forty point underdog and beat
the Trojans, who were number two in the country in
Los Angeles. The San Francisco forty nine ers pre Harball
(07:08):
had not made the playoffs in eight years. The roster
was a mess. They had no culture. Year one with
Harbaugh thirteen and three NFC championship with a quarterback that
was viewed as a bust. Alex Smith. Michigan was a
tire fire pre Harbaugh, five and seven, one first round pick,
a left tacker tackle Taylor Lawan, one first rounder in
(07:34):
four years pre Harbaugh first year, ten and three, and oh,
by the way, this last year, what do they have
thirteen fourteen guys drafted? Stanford was a disaster, Niners were
a disaster, Michigan was a disaster. And now here comes
(07:54):
Sudini pre Harba. The Chargers last year had a virtual
mutiny with the players. Five and twelve, worst locker room
in the league, worst big play defense in the league,
with a defensive coordinator. And Jim walks into the building,
by the way, a brand new building in els Agundo, California.
It's gorgeous. And here's the guy that does this better
(08:16):
than anybody currently coaching football. He is the greatest repetitive
culture creator. But this time it's not a total rebuild.
Khalil Mack bos off the edge his first draft pick,
Joe All best tackling the draft to go along with
Rashawn Slater edge rushers tackles above average. Oh, Justin Herbert.
(08:42):
Nothing against Alex Smith or his first quarterback at Michigan,
but Justin Herbert's really good. Jim Harbaugh this week, who
was a quarterback in the NFL. I think he's got
a little twinkle. He's been very optimistic. He's almost been
funny this entire offseason. Why because this isn't the Stanford rebuild,
(09:03):
this isn't the Niner rebuild, this isn't the Michigan rebuild.
He's got Justin Herbert and here's Harbaugh on him.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
He's like a human computer chip, you know, for a brain.
It's just the way he the way he thinks, the
way he can. He can, you know, go through information
you do, get to the you know, disorb it, retain it,
remember it, disseminate it. I mean, it's it's really impressive.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
He's always reminded me Jim Harbaugh a little of the
late Steve Jobs. Jobs wasn't the best engineer, right, and
we're smarter people in the building. But he understood, unlike
Microsoft at the time, the artistry of it. He was
selling image imagery and he knew what he wasn't Harbaugh
(09:54):
is not the best scheme guy in the NFL. Could
be Kyle Shanahan. Not the best scheme guy. But the
ability to change cultures college and pro is a real thing,
and nobody in the world is better at it. And
I got into this discussion a couple of months ago
and somebody said, God, Harball's really lightened up. He's like
funny and likable. And I'm like, because Jim sees what
(10:17):
he's never seen before, which is a top five quarterback
in a rebuild. He usually had to go trade for one,
find one, recruit one. Now he's got one, and that's
why he's so happy, happier than ever as he embarks
on a weekend one against the Raiders. J Mac, who's
(10:40):
got it better than us, who has got nobody has
got it better than us?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah, I'll agree. I'll go ahead and agree with you there,
except the only problem is I don't know what to
do with the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Ravens kid tonight you might be right.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Yesterday you were like, just watch it, it's gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I might take is Kansas City Steve Spagnola, who
is in a short list of the best defensive coordinators
in the league with a very good defense almost all
of them returning, has had a little bit of wizardry.
He's had Lamar's number in the matchups. That's an advantage,
that's a coordinator advantage. They've had a lot of time
(11:16):
to prepare for a quarterback they've had success with. Also,
Kansas City lost this game last year to Detroit, so
they're not overlooking anybody. They got nipped last year. Remember
they weren't quite ready to go. They've also, I think
upgraded their receiving corps. Rareshie Rice established himself. You got
worthy of the ket out of Texas. They like a lot.
They brought in Juju Smith Schuster that knows their offense.
(11:39):
I would go Kansas City here. I think it's close,
maybe a little low scoring. It's a feeling out process
in the first quarter. But this is what the NFL
does better than any league, and the NBA is pretty
good at it too. They understand they're a TV product.
This is the game you'd want for Week one. This
is the game.
Speaker 6 (11:58):
The problem is all wealked about for the Chiefs all
summer is Super.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Bowl three peat.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Can they do it?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (12:04):
This gamemate circled on the calendar. But Baltimore, you know,
is locked in after getting destroyed and kind of embarrassed
in the AFC was You're at home.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
It was a clunker, terrible game plan.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
You know, the offensive coordinator even hardball by the way,
I saw Harball twelve and four against the spread in
week one games in his career, like he's going to
be dialed in, They're going to be ready. I don't
know if there's urgency for the Chiefs in week one
to show up and we got to win this game,
you know fair enough.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in New Eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
You're now entering the No Bull Zone sponsored by Credible
Great rates none of the bowls. So all distractions in
the NFL are not equal. And the Kansas City Chiefs
open the season at home against Baltimore tonight, and there's
this sense that it's been a very noisy off season
for Kansas City. And I would argue again, not all
(13:00):
distractions are equal. Take Kansas City and the Jets. The
Jets issues could be disruptive. They need a pass rusher
and he's held out. They thought they had him and
then they didn't, and then he held out, and he's
still not starting. And they have an offensive coordinator that
they strongly considered hiring another coach to call plays for him.
(13:23):
The quarterback took a shot at the coach. Coach took
a shot at the quarterback, rebuilding the old line. Those
are disruptions that could affect a locker room or an outcome.
Kansas City's issues, to me, aren't disruptive. Rashid Rice. In
the offseason, a young kid did something stupid. It's called
(13:43):
your twenties. The players had his back and so did
the team. Harrison Butker politics. Most of the players agree
with him. It's politics. Nobody cares in that locker room.
What about Travis Swift Travis Kelsey, Well, it could be
you know, Travis Kelcey, the Swifties, What are we gonna
(14:05):
Nobody cares. Just Hollywood and fun and music. Nobody cares.
The Jets have real disruptions, the Chiefs. You know, it's
a difference between on your couch scrolling on your phone
and in your car in traffic scrolling on your phone.
One has consequences. One's just wasting time and screwing off.
(14:26):
So h Taylor Swift, Travis Kelcey means nothing. Harrison Butker
means nothing. Rashie Rice doesn't mean nothing. But young players
in the league make mistakes, even big ones. You'll find
overwhelmingly that Kansas City from the first moment on had
his back, scold him, have his back. Those are not
(14:47):
outcome changers. Those are not locker room dividers. The media
thinks Harrison Butker is a locker room divider. I'm here
to tell you zero zero influence. So and Kansas City
is also built for this owner A plus GM president
quarterback coach experienced A plus plus. They're built to overcome
(15:12):
any little fissure in the chemistry, any little speed bump
driving to the stadium. They have stars at GM coach quarterback.
The Jets owners are the disruptors, are the chaos creators.
(15:33):
Big difference. They don't have proven leadership. Aaron makes a
situation that's noisy, noisier, he responds to everything. He's got
rabbit ears. Sala responds to everything. Woodie Johnson and Sala
apparently had some shouting match last year. That's not what
Kansas City is going through. So Kansas City is the
model of leadership in this league, top down, and that
(15:56):
means you're built to handle a Rashi rice a hair
and Butker, Travis Kelcey, I mean Andy Reid's appearing in commercials.
Everybody's all in New England had some stuff in the offseason,
but they had such great leadership with Craft early days,
Poli and Belichick and Brady A that stuff got in
(16:19):
the way of winning. That's the great advantage Baltimore's had issues.
It never gets in the way of winning. Little tiny
fissures with the Jets implode because they don't handle it.
They don't have leadership in the locker room. They don't
have it at quarterback, coach owner over the last twenty
five years. So not all distractions are equal. I'm reading
(16:41):
Diana Russini as a column today talking about the off
season for the Chiefs, and there's been a lot of
turbulence in movement. But it's the world's most well, it's
America's most popular sport, and Andy reads the best coach,
and Mahomes is the biggest star, and Travis Kelsey's hanging
out with Taylor Swift. There's gonna be turbulence. Is not
gonna be a cross country flight without an air pocket.
(17:03):
You gonna bounce around, although you go spell coffee. But
Kansas City's built to withstand anything, just like New England
was for twenty years. And you can go back to
the late Gayton spy Gayton. They had all sorts of
stuff never got in the way of wins. I watched
the documentary on New England they won a Super Bowl
and the player said, it was the hardest season we
ever had. It wasn't any fun. They hoisted a trophy.
(17:26):
Remember last year at the end of the year for
Kansas City, players said this was the hard one. This
was exactly. I mean, you got Travis Kelcey and Andy
reading the Super Bowl, banging heads, banging head set and
they hoisted a trophy. Greatness is not just playing catching
footballs throwing football. It's leadership and the teams like the
Baltimore's and San Francisco Kansas City, they're built for the bumps.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon easternn a EM Pacific.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
He's Mike Carmen, I'm Dan Byern.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want Your.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
That's right, Dan.
Speaker 7 (18:01):
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sit starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
the competition.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Carmon and
met Dan Beyer on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast and
wherever you beet your podcasts, here we go. Greg Cosel
forty five years NFL fills every Thursday, top of the hours,
second hour, and he is joining us now live. So
I think one of the more compelling games. And I've
said this before Greg, I can like a team, but
(18:32):
not like him. In Week one. Rams have had some
offensive line issues in camp. Little musical chairs here. I
don't love that. Here comes a team Detroit stacked healthy,
did lose a kicker, but the Lions play fourteen indoor
games this year. Do you expect it's almost Taylor made
for Goff his style indoor games. I would imagine the
(18:54):
film tells you this is a super Bowl worthy team.
Speaker 8 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I would say that defense would be the question.
Speaker 8 (19:03):
They knew that they had to address the corner position
because Aaron Glenn at his core, he's their defensive coordinator Colin.
He would like to pressure and when he's pressured in
the past he didn't quite have the back end play
to accommodate that. But he's very good Aaron Glenn with
pressure concepts. I think that's the way he wants to go,
So I think much will depend on their defense. Offensively,
(19:27):
they've got a really good all line. You know Goff,
He's from the West Coast. Goff is one of your
classic pocket quarterbacks. It's a really well schemed passing game.
They do a great job with the spacing of routes
to attack and defeat z own coverage. So this is
a really good pass game and Goff is as good
a pure pocket thrower as there is in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Matt Stafford in the Rams. They're young on the defensive side,
five of their top six defense, but I thought last year,
by the end of the year, it was a really
interesting unit. They've got the weapons. The kid out of
Michigan Corum running back will give them a tandem with
Kyron Williams and Blake Coreum. I like this team a lot.
Your thoughts on the Rams, I'm high on them.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Well, they've got the best quarterback in the NFC, in
Matthew Stafford. They revamped their O line.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
They've gotten bigger, and I think that's a function of
how they want their run game to look. They run
inside much more than they did, let's say, in the
McVeigh years. When they had Todd Gurley, when outside zone
was the foundation.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Now they run inside a lot more, more gap.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
Scheme runs with pulling linemen more what we call duo
Those are inside runs with double teams inside. That fits
Kyron Williams, it will fit Blake Coreum if he gets
meaningful snaps. And as I said, they've got the best
quarterback in the NFC. If Stafford can stay healthy, this
is a contending team.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So Jim harbaught Stanford. He took over a mess one
and eleven. First year. He beat USC as a forty
point dog. He did it at San Francisco they were
a mess. He did it at Michigan. But he's never
entered rebuild with a great franchise guy. And Justin Herbert,
what do you expect year one?
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Well, you know they obviously hired Greg Roman as their OC,
so you know that he wants to establish a physical
nature to his offense. That he does want to run
the ball. That's been his history. He's not going to change.
I think what you'll see a lot of is the
play action pass game with Herbert. Put him under center.
Make the run game in the pass game look similar.
We know that Greg Roman is as good a run
(21:29):
game designer as there is in the NFL, So I
think the offense will look different than it's looked. But
you're dealing with a quarterback in Herbert as you suggested,
and it's true in terms of pure physical traits, he's
top three to four in the league.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So the question is, how's the rest of the team
going to look?
Speaker 8 (21:47):
You know, I think the sense is that Herbert can
be the kind of guy that can carry a team
at times. I think people have questions about that, but
physically traits wise, he.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Can do that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins are coming off Achille injuries.
Aaron is always the more nimble, twitchy athlete. Do you
either one of them you expect more or less from?
Speaker 3 (22:14):
You know, I've always been a big Kirk Cousins guy.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
I know a lot of people look at him and
think he hasn't played in a lot of big games,
or when he does, he doesn't play well.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
But he is a very efficient quarterback.
Speaker 8 (22:24):
You know, He's one of those guys that if you
reduce the quarterback position to simplest terms, to you know,
throw to the right receiver with the right kind of
throw at the right time. He is really good at that.
You know, he makes good decisions and he throws it
straight and that's pretty much what she wants your quarterback
to do. So he's a very professional quarterback. I think
an overlooked element of the Falcons Colin is they have
(22:46):
a really good offensive line and everybody's back. You couldn't
make the argument their old Lion is top five in
the NFL, and I would expect Bijon Robinson in that
offense with Zach Robinson, who is now the OC there,
I would expect them to run the ball very efficiently.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Aaron Rodgers, I'm very anxious to see. He's older.
Speaker 8 (23:06):
He's coming off a pretty significant injury two years ago.
When he played, I thought his legs were not quite
the same. And I don't mean running around. I just
mean the way that he played the game. His legs
were not quite there the same way. But the bottom
line is we may have never seen anybody in the
history of the league throw the ball better than Aaron Rodgers.
And if he can be protected, if Tyron Smith can
(23:27):
stay healthy, then he may not have to move around
a lot and he can certainly throw the ball.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
And they've got.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Weapons Okay, Philadelphia when they had Shane Stiken, Sirianna gave
up play calling was magic. So here comes Kellen Moore
with Jalen Hurts. You know both Hurts and Kellen's tendencies.
What do you expect in that relationship?
Speaker 8 (23:50):
Hard to know, but I would say that what you're
going to see is an offense that we think of
more like the way the league is trending. You're going
to see more motion, You're going to see think a
little more creativity in the offense. You know, obviously they
have a great O line coach in Jeff Stallin and
a great O line, and I think they want to
still count on that as a big factor. The question
(24:11):
to me, and there's so much speculation as you know, Look,
we have sixteen new O season the league, seventeen new dcs,
so there's a lot of guesswork right now. But I'm
very curious to see what the balance is going to
be run pass Saquon Barkley is there. You don't sign
Barkley to carry the ball eight or nine times. We'll
see how they plan on using him within the context
(24:34):
of a complete offense. But I think you're going to
see more creativity and definitely more motion in their offense.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay, so Jordan Love it was a young offense. We
saw him be great for about eight to nine weeks.
There were questions out of Utah State, but I watched
him and I watched him go to Dallas, and I'm like, boy,
there is a lot to like when you watch the
film during last year in the offseason, is there another level?
(25:02):
I always I feel he's a little more far than Rogers's.
He's kind of willing to let it, let it rep.
You know, he's got a gun slinger a little bit.
Do you think there's another level or and by the way,
if there's not, that's okay, it's very good. What do
you think we'll see with Jordan Love her too as
a starter?
Speaker 8 (25:19):
Well, there's always going to be another level because of
the mental part, just getting more and more reps and
seeing things, So there's always another level mentally. You're talking
about a quarterback that in terms of physical traits is
top five in the NFL without question, because of his
size and his athleticism and.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
His throwing ability.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
And I think what really stood out last year in
the second half of the season was the mental parts
started to get much better, better recognition of what the
defense looked like pre snap, better understanding of how to
use his cadence to make the defense declare all the
little things, the subtleties, the nuances that go into quarterback
play that go beyond just the physical traits. That's so
(25:56):
much of what the quarterback position is at this level
where defense are Defenses are constantly trying to confuse you
with what they do with disguise before the snap and
then the late movement post snap. I thought Love really
got better in those areas and that's the kind of
thing that will continue to improve. And then just managing
a game, Colin, knowing when you take a shot, knowing
(26:17):
when you don't take a shot, the things that no
one really talks about that are so critical to quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's easy for guys like me to say, Wow, c J.
Stroud is good, But when did you last year? Wow?
I mean, what did you see that? His comp was
Jared Goff out of college, which I said, that's a
good comp. Jared made a super Bowl. He's got a
little more juice athletically, obviously, But what makes c J. Stroud?
(26:44):
I mean, we know Lamark and Ronner Josh is big
and strong, but what's his secret sauce to you?
Speaker 8 (26:52):
And it's funny you mentioned that because it was Week
two last year against the Indianapolis Colts when I watched
that tape and I said wow, because the anticipation that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
He threw the ball with was otherworldly.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
You know, we always talk about playmaking from the pocket,
at playmakers outside the pocket, guys that can run around
and make plays. Well, you can be a playmaker from
the pocket if you have tremendous anticipation. And I remember
seeing a throw it was to Nico Collins, who also
had a great year, where he hit him on an
inbreaking route a dig ball against the Colts Week two,
(27:28):
and I just ran that back ten fifteen times because
he threw the ball when Collins was on the numbers okay,
and he caught it between the hashes. And I just
said to myself that is high level quarterback play. And
so it was Week two last year when I just
saw the anticipation. And part of anticipation is also recognition
(27:48):
of coverage. He is an outstanding windows thrower, which you
don't see a lot in college tape because the game
is not like that. The college game is not like that,
but the NFL game is because the hash marks are
closer together. So that's when it really hit me that, Wow,
this guy really is something special throwing the football.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Good for the Texans fans. They deserve it. Let's now
deep dive on Kansas City hosting Baltimore tonight. Maybe it's
just spags. I do think it's pretty clear Lamar's twenty
and one against the NFC. And I said this yesterday,
It's like it's like driving on icy roads. If you
grew up in San Diego. You can read a manual
until you've done it, you can't experience it right. Like
(28:27):
if you don't play Lamar regularly, you have no idea
what you're getting the first time. But Kansas City has
seen him multiple times now, and it does appear they
have a little bit of a game plan. I'm guessing
that's it, because he just literally eats NFC teams for lunch,
even good teams, well coached. What does Kansas City do
(28:47):
against Lamar?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
A lot of pressure?
Speaker 8 (28:51):
I mean, you can just go back last year to
the AFC Championship Game, Colin, and I think he dropped
back forty six times, which of course is not exactly
what the race won.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
And I think on.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
Nineteen or twenty of those the chief splitz they rush
five or more and they posed major problems.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Now, one thing to keep in mind, a.
Speaker 8 (29:09):
Critical critical piece of the way the Chiefs have played
the last couple of years under Steve Spagnolo has been
Lagerius sneid because Steve Spagnolo believes in press coverage as
the way the NFL is trending, and he does not
have sneed who's a top two or three press man
corner in this league. And now it's going to be
interesting to see if he continues to play that way
(29:32):
because that goes along with his pressure concepts, and Spags's
pressure concepts can be a little different and a little
more difficult to kind of figure out. So what happens
is Lamar drops back and he has to figure it
out as he's dropping back.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
So we'll see. But pressure has been a major factor,
and it's not only Lamar, it's obviously the entire offense.
So we'll see.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
You know that they have been working on that from
the day the schedule came out, So we'll see tonight
how that plays out.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Okay, in Kansas City's offense. It looks like they've upgraded
it receiver, but I worry about their tackles. I worry
about their tackles. Yeah, what do you think the offense
looks like it's funny. I think it'll be better on
the perimeter. I'm not sure if it's better near the football.
What say you?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (30:19):
Well, one of the things people may not be aware
of with the Chiefs the last couple of years is
how much they play with multiple tight ends. I mean,
I think the last couple of years they're second or
third in the league in terms of percentage of offensive
snaps with two and three tight ends. So that's really
foundational to the way they play now. Obviously, they do
not have Marquise Brown tonight. If they had him, who knows.
(30:41):
Maybe they're going to go to more eleven personnel with
three wide receivers as the year progresses, but I think
you'll see them continue to play with multiple tight ends.
They're playing against a different defensive coordinator obviously in Baltimore,
zach Ors replaced Mike McDonald.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
That's an unknown.
Speaker 8 (30:58):
They probably are keeping a lot of the same concepts
and principles, but you just don't know how Zachor is
going to call a game.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, And finally Baltimore Kansas City the Greg Cosell Play
of the Week.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah. I went back to the AFC Championship game last year.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
I figure Week one, Colin, we needed some marquee, you know,
So we're gonna we're gonna get the swift.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
He's all excited here.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
We're gonna show the Travis Kelcey touchdown, you know from
I think it ended the first drive last year. So
let's go to that play and show it because it
was basically an unbelievable throw by Mahomes and we're used
to seeing him make these throws. And as I said,
it was early in the game, so let's take a
look at this. There's there's some real nuance to this play.
So what you're going to see here is you're gonna
(31:41):
see Mahomes in the gun. It's twelve personnel. Like I said,
you're seeing two tight ends on the field. Now there's
going to be three potential rushers to the left side
of the formation. There, you see it, So they have
three blockers for that three offensive linemen. Okay, but there's
also going to be three potential rushers to the right side.
(32:01):
But there's only two offensive linemen. So what does Mahomes do.
He moves Isaiah Pichecko to that side of the formation
to make sure he's protected. That's the nuance in the
detail of playing quarterback. That's critical. So now you had
Pacheco in position for the stacked linebacker if he were
to come.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
So now what do you get. You get the two
tight ends.
Speaker 8 (32:22):
It's man to man the matchup to Look at is
Kelsey versus Kyle Hamilton, one of the best safeties in
the league.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Now look at it right here.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
As it freezes, you're going to see the fact that
Hamilton has really good coverage. But he's on the inside
of Kelsey. So where does this ball have to be thrown?
To the outside. That's the only place to throw this ball,
and it requires precise ball location, a trait that's not
talked about enough quite frankly, when you talk about quarterback play.
(32:51):
And you can see it right here. Look where that
ball is placed. Wow, that is about as perfect as
it gets.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
And we know Mahomes can do that.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
To spend a lot of time talking about how great
Patrick Mahomes is, but that's a big time throw.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, that's one of my favorite plays of the year
because I get Mahomes, Kelsey and the best young safety
in football. That's just if Kyle Hamilton can't defend it,
you can't defend it. That's well defended. He's a brilliant
safety with great range. That's just does Hall of Fame
talent three of them on one play.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Yeah no, and changing the protection was so critical.
Speaker 8 (33:26):
That was That's a nuance that young quarterbacks, you know,
they're trying to learn all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Greg Azol was forty five years every Thursday at this time.
I really look forward to it. You nailed it again.
Good seeing you, my man.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Thanks kylein look forward to it every week.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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