September 18, 2024 • 41 mins
Colin discusses a survey from NFL fans selecting Aaron Rodgers as the "Most Annoying QB in the NFL" and why this should not be a surprise to anyone at this point
He talks to USC head coach Lincoln Riley about their hot start to the season and Caleb Williams struggling so far in the NFL
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go on a Wednesday, Reddy two Roll live
in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us
part of your day. Lincoln Riley of suddenly incredibly relevant
USC playing Michigan this weekend in the biggest Game, Big
ten opener. Joel Klass Mark Sanchez, you know I.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
J meck.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
You know this about me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Actually very happy that Baker Mayfield is now flourishing because
I don't like picking on people. I got kids, I
don't like bullies, and I thought I was hard on Baker.
I thought I was right, and I was right early.
But I do like to see redemption stories. I think
they're great. And mostly I'm an older guy that talks
about younger athletes, So I don't want to be a
bully up here right, like don't it's okay. So I
(01:21):
bring guests on to take shots at me, and I
like to see guys that I was tough on like flourishing.
And I've always had this thing with Aaron Rodgers, and
fans are right, Colin, it's just you and an Aaron
Rodgers thing, And officially today it's not so the Action Network.
I work with the Action Network. My company, the Volume
at top of the line people. They polled more than
(01:43):
three thousand football fans in America. And if there are
many questions, one was who's the most annoying football player?
Aaron Rodgers won by a landslide. Twenty four of thirty
two teams fan bases named it Aaron. It's never been
in me and Aaron thing. It's He's exhausting to everybody.
(02:03):
But it's easy for me to say that I have
an explanation and I think it's right, and I've thought
this and I've shared this with people in the NFL.
So my theory is that Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and
Peyton Manning. But around twenty ten to twenty fourteen, there
was a period of time they were all in the
goat discussion. At that time, it was like Joe Montana was,
but it was Brady Manning and Aaron Rodgers and the
(02:25):
Goat discussion. And of those three, Aaron was the coolest
and Aaron through the prettiest ball by far. Like Manning
and Brady were, you know, almost governed by their teams
to some degree, but Aaron was, you know, He's the
way that ball flies out. He was the cool guy.
But then Brady started stacking trophies. He beats Atlanta that
(02:45):
amazing super Bowl, he beats the Rams. Then he goes
to Tampa and wins. So Brady separates from Aaron, and
about the same time, so does Manning. He gets to
a second super Bowl, he wins the Super Bowl that
he goes to a third and he separates from He
separated now from Aaron Rodgers. And Aaron keeps score on everything.
I'll get to that in a second. He keeps score
(03:07):
on everything. So in the Goat discussion, the cool guy,
Brady and Manning separate from him. Suddenly, Aaron, about twenty
eighteen to twenty twenty one, starts playing really if you
pay attention, safe football.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
He starts.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Leading the NFL in throwaways instead of throwing the ball
down the field. He gets very stats protective, and many
of you have picked up on this the last six
seven years with are he starts leading the NFL in
touchdown interception ratio. But it appears to be like a thing,
like it really matters to him. He's obsessed. And if
(03:44):
he ever throws like a pick or two in a game,
he shuts down. It's not his day. He shuts down.
I remember a Tampa game that was like that. He
just shuts down. And he becomes stat obsessed, and he
leads the league in throwing it away by a mile
instead of throwing the ball down the field, just throws
it away no interceptions. So Brady and Manning have separated
from him, and he becomes like safe lead the league
(04:05):
in touchdown interception ratio. And if you don't think Aaron
Rodgers keeps score on everything and keeps tracking everything, listen
to this bite this week after they beat Tennessee what
this first.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
One is a jet? Technically my second.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We all know that somehow the first one counts, it's
more important place well, I don't know if they count
on that.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Nobody thought that was Aaron's win. That was the best
win in Zach Wilson's career. That's like taking a lot
of credit for being the backup quarterback in the Super
Bowl and saying I won a Super Bowl. Aaron keeps
track of everything. So as Brady and Manning separated, because
Aaron did not used to be like this. Aaron was
not annoying when he came into the league. That was
(04:51):
not who Aaron was. He was cool, he was fun.
He was kind of cocky, but he was He replaced
far it was kind of cool. And then Brady and
Manning pull away. He becomes stats obsessed. He's the NFL
and throwaways gets obsessed plays safe, TDed interception ratio, and
then COVID hits four years ago. This is the second
part of this theory. And as Brady and Manning start
(05:12):
moving into broadcasting in corporate America and dealing in the
media and working for the media once again, Aaron has
to be different and he becomes anti media, an anti
corporate America, and I don't care if I lose my
biggest sponsors. Aaron keeps track of everything, and so if Brady,
Manning and Aaron were compared traditionally, he finishes third in
(05:34):
the goat discussion, so he creates a new measuring stick.
I'm not a shill, I'm not corporate, I'm anti media.
I believe in conspiracy theories. I absolutely believe this is true.
I think he keeps track of everything. That quote after
Tennessee is a classic example. He's been like this forever.
Is that there was if you go back ten twenty fourteen,
it was Manning braiding air. They were all in the
(05:55):
goat discussion. When Brady and Manning pulled away, he started
getting safe, heated interception ratio, obsessed, leading the NFL by
a long shot in throwaways. And then as COVID hit
and Brady and Manning become more corporate, more media, he
goes the opposite again traditional measuring sticks. He'd be third eron.
I wan't to be third at anything. He wants to
(06:17):
be unique. It matters to him. So it's never been
a me and Aaron thing. He was just voted on
most annoying player in the league, and he did not
used to be that way when he was in that
goat discussion.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Aaron was fun.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
He was cocky, but so what Well like a little cocky.
Michael Darton was cocky. We like Michael Barkley was cocky.
We like, we like our cocky guys, but he has
changed and he is more annoying. All right, So I'm
written a story today about a Sam Darnald. Chris sim
said this NFL analyst NBC that Sam Darnald gives the
(06:53):
Vikings offense more potential is the word he used, than
Kirk Cousins. And it's interesting about that. So I always
feel if you compared Sam Darnald to Kirk Cousins, it
would be like comparing a bakeoff to the iron chef.
Baking is more formulaic, following directions, precise, more science chefs.
(07:20):
It's more about improvisation, adapting, freestyling. It's more art. Right,
both are fine. Kirk Cousins is a baker. Donald's more
the chef, a little reckless, a little more juice and
flare and art. Cousins is about intense preparation, getting to
his spot again, steady results. That's not what you get
(07:45):
with Darnol. Donald's got a little Andrew Luck, though not
as talented, and a little Carson Wentz, though not as reckless.
He's an athlete. He improvs, he added libs more dramatic,
upscale touchdowns, but more ugly games. By the way, He's not,
obviously Brett Farv, but Brett Farv when he was in
(08:06):
Minnesota was sort of like that. Brett was a chef.
The two plays I remember from Brett Farv as a
Minnesota Viking, just as a Viking, or that rollout throw
against the San Francisco forty nine ers in the back
of the end zone. It is one of the best
throws I've ever seen in the history of football. It's
just on the money. Only Farv could do that. You're
(08:29):
not getting out with Kirk Cousins. But I also remember
that dreadful interception he threw against the Saints that kept
the Vikings out of the Super Bowl. And that's the chef.
Either a fantastic meal, adapting ad libbing artistry, or you
(08:49):
butchered it, send it back to the kitchen. And that,
to a lesser degree than far that is what the
Vikings have with Darnold. There's no question this offense has
more juice. There's no question Kirk Cousins was steadier, and
I prefer quarterbacks with more juice. Lamar Mahomes, Alan Jalen Hurtz,
(09:13):
Sam Darnold. Now you say, well, well, well, I thought
you like Kirk Cousins going to Atlanta. Listen, Atlanta's been
starving for three years. Offensively, they'll deal with chocolate chip cookies.
They'll take baking. They just want to be competent. They
need a formula. They could deal with a little formulaic.
They can't even cross the fifty yard line last year
(09:33):
in games with Desmond River. But I would say now again,
I would always rather have the chef over the baker.
But Donald does give Minnesota a higher ceiling. I don't
think they're gonna win their division, but we said this
before the season as people were picking them for fourth place.
If they're fourth place, it's gonna be the most talented
offense in the history of the NFL in fourth place.
(09:54):
Here's the coach, Kevin O'Connell on Darnald.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
I think we have two weeks of some pretty tangible
examples some quarterback play from Sam Donald. The amount of
work that goes into that position on your quarterback journey,
when everybody decides that you cannot play. We always believed
in him and felt awesome to watch him go do
that thing. So I'm really proud of Sam Darnam.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I'm not I'm not gonna be cu you know, on
the day Lincoln Riley's coming. I just wanted to bring
up Sam Darnald, the little Wednesday USC love as they're
opening the Big Ten play against Michigan, who's using their
backup quarterback.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
As Lincoln Riley has two weeks to prepare for.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It, so Big Ben has already weighed in on Russell
Wilson justin Fields. Jerry Jones is talking, but I think
he's not making a ton of sense. Jay Mack, we
have Lincoln Riley, Joel Klatt, Mark Sanchez stop by today.
I sat home last night and just why, you know,
I get those occasional games Monday or or Tuesday or Wednesday,
and I just turn on Netflix and watch a bunch
(10:56):
of stuff. Shoho Tani remains unbelievable. You text me last
night on Shoeotani.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah, it's got staggering.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Think about this when McGuire and Sosa, When McGuire and
Sosa were in their home run chase, it captivated the world.
Otani's doing one better and baseball struggling to get attention
because of conference realignment in college football, the NFL over
that ten fifteen year period whenever it was has exponentially grown.
(11:24):
We're a much more distracted audience on our phones more
than ever, on YouTube, more than TVs. So it is
interesting that showey Otani is better than Babe Ruth and
it's not drawing and from a high I would say
a big brand in baseball. Dodgers aren't the Yankees, but
they're in line for second third most popular team and
it's not getting the love you'd think it would.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
Even when Aaron Judge was hitting what he was closed
sixty homers or whatever he was closing on recently, like
he was getting a lot of pub This Sotani stuff
needs to be everything.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
He's going to be a fifty home run, fifty stolen
based guy.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Unbelievable, It's incredible.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
It would be like somebody throwing like what sixty touchdown
passes in the NFL, I don't know, seventy.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And by the way, and playing nickelback and leading the
NFL and picks. I mean, it's it really is unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (12:17):
All Right, welcome back, so it was the most predictable,
messy quarterback situation in the league, and the Pittsburgh Steelers
already have it. Mike Tomlin, the head coach, tentatively named uh,
Justin Field's the starter, A big band of legend obviously,
Bradshaw big Ben your all time quarterback legends in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Big Ben said.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
He'd prefer to just let Justin Field started to beat Denver,
Let's just keep him there.
Speaker 7 (12:44):
If Russ is healthy, I'm sticking with Justin. I like
what I've seen. I like that he's getting into it.
I like he's getting the feel of it. You know,
if you told me they're one to one, row and
two and these are going on honesty, Yeah, we got
to do something. But again, he's not turning the ball
over there two and zero. I think it's got to
stay with him, I really do.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So this is a franchise. To me, they can o line,
run game, offensive coordinator. It always feels like they can't
get it right. And I know people think I bag
on the Steelers, but it's like they've gone the opposite
direction of the league. I mean, everybody else is spending
money on offense. It's all about quarterback. Steelers are the
(13:22):
only franchise. Even when Big Ben got old that the
quarterback's not the start of the team, it was like
their pass rusher TJ. Watt or Mike Tomlin. And so
we kept saying in the off season, Jay McK and
I both felt like Justin Fields would be more popular
in the locker room. He's younger, he's more relatable, he's
(13:43):
more cooler. Russell Wilson, as far as I can tell,
has never been wildly popular in locker rooms.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Okay, I mean you know, I've.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Never heard a star quarterback get whacked by former teammates
and coaches more than Russell Wilson. He had a couple players,
only only a couple that went to his wedding. Really,
like two athletes are two two football players. So what
I can tell, he's not wildly popular in locker rooms.
And Justin Fields was really liked even though he didn't
win games. Usually if you don't win games, nobody likes it.
In Chicago, everybody like Justin Fields. Coaches liked him, players
(14:10):
liked him, so we felt he'd be the more popular.
But what I love about this franchise more than anything,
and I've said this, before Steelers don't fire coaches, tom
will probably be there as long as he wants to.
Mike Tomlin would be a rock star as a broadcaster.
I can remember covering Charles Barkley, and Charles Barkley was
funny when you would go into a locker room after
a game like that, guy's going to be a star.
(14:31):
Like you could see Charles Barkley was going to be
a star. It's the same way with Mike Tomlin. He
has laughed out loud funny. So apparently they gave Russell
Wilson a petty award. You know, I don't know what
exactly that means. I can figure it out, but Tomlin's
answer is so so good. So there was a game
ball given to Russ even though he didn't play. And
(14:53):
Russ remember a couple of weeks it was two weeks
ago that he wore shoulder pads in a game that
he was inactive on the sidelines. He wore shoulder pads.
I've never seen that my entire life. So whatever, I
don't want to take shots at anybody. But and he
got a petty game ball whatever that means. But here's
Mike Tomlin explaining it. Brilliantly.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
There's certain things that go on among teams that I
don't talk about. Whether it gets out or how it
gets out is unimportant to me, and I'm not overly
guarded against it. But it's just certain things as a
leader that I talked to the collective about that I
have zero intentions of sharing with the larger public because
it's about our collective and how we come together and
how we appreciate and support one another. And you know,
(15:38):
I can't give you all the ingredients of a hot dog,
you might not like it.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I do analogies and metaphors. That tops all of them
right there.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
The petty thing are they making fun of Ross for
wearing shoulder pads as an inactive player. I don't know
what it means, but it is a very predictable quarterback
dilemma because Justin Fields is taller, younger, relatable, more athletic,
and athletes like that. I mean, good god, it wasn't
that long ago that they pulled NBA players and they
(16:07):
preferred Westbrook over Steph Curry, and Westbrook's more dynamic, and
Westbrook was like seen as cooler and he was more
he was more athletic, it plays in locker rooms. I
mean to the very end, justin fields in Chicago, everybody
had his back and he had become the worst fourth
quarter quarterback in the NFL by a long shot.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
They weren't winning games. J Maack with the news.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
No news, this is the herd line news.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Let's quickly revisit that Eagles loss to the Falcons on
Monday night. Saquon dropped the pass in the red zone.
Didn't love Siriani's play calling. Bottom line, his Falcons win
the game with.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
An awesome two minute drive.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Well after the loss, Eagles safety Read Blankenship pointed to
Jalen Hurts the leadership in the locker room, saying, Jalen
let everything. No coach said a word. It's a player
led to. At the end of the day, we know
what we did was on us. We made mistakes offense
and defense. It's gonna take everybody. I would actually argue
(17:08):
this isn't on the players. The coaching decisions were awful
from Sirianni. Everybody who has a whiff of analytics knows
you kick field goals early in games and you go
for it late.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You don't kick to go up six with two minutes
and that's.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Just dumb football, right, So I this is not a
good sign for Sirianni.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, coming off the story in the offseason that Hurts
and Sirianni were not close. Now, Brady and Belichick weren't either,
but generally, as a rule, offensive coaches are super close
to their quarterbacks. I can't think of another example of it.
It's not working. I mean, it's always that way unless
you're unless you're getting rid of him and he knows it,
(17:49):
and you have a rough year at the end of
a quarterback's career and the coach has to make a move.
But even Andy Reid and Alex Smith at the end,
Alex Smith is like, yeah, mentor Mahomes, So yeah, that's
it's strange.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
This is also strange. And again, I'm a Jalen Hurts guy.
I believe in him.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I think he's he's super town. Definitely a tough thing.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
He was, by the way, in that game, he got
cooking in that game. He was playing really well.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
And he didn't have his big deep weapon AJ Brebrutt.
But you know, my old neighbor is a big Eagles
fan and he's sending me all these stories like, look,
we're out on Jalen Hurts. A lot of the Philadelphia
Eagles fan base has seen enough of Hurts and they're
starting to sour, and I don't get it. And then
you read the articles and the local media is starting
to turn on Jalen Hurts in Philly.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Yeah, I don't think he's the problem.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I don't either, but I guess people are just starting
to doubt him a little bit.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
He was great, an MVP level guy when he had
a great coordinator.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
So was Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Okay, like everybody benefits from a great coordinator. Look at
Sam Darnold's benefit, look at Jared Goff's career with McVeigh.
Everybody benefits from coordinators. You don't think CJ. Stroud isn't
benefiting from that hot shot young OC in Houston.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Everybody does.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So my take is, yes, Jalen proved when he has
an OC he can be MVP of the league. Then
they hired an OC that did not work whatsoever and
didn't get any more job offers like OC offers, he
wasn't as good. Now it appears he's got a competent OC.
Maybe not Shane Steichen, but a competent OC. Well, what's
he done through two games? He's been very good. So
(19:23):
when he had a great OC was great. When he
has a competent OC, he's very good. And when he
had a stink aoo, he struggled.
Speaker 6 (19:30):
It just goes to show how like six plays in
that game completely changed the narrative.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
If the Eagles run two times and win.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
This game, boom, Eagles two and oh looking.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Good in the NFC, and it's like, oh, Sky is
calling for the Falcons. They got the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
That's what I said yesterday. There's a lot of positives.
I would rather have the Chiefs roster. I would rather
have the Eagles roster than the Falcons roster hundred percent.
So it's everything's good. And I also think now that
New Orleans and Tampa look good, I'd rather play in
the NFC East in the NFC South because New Orleans,
(20:04):
New Orleans looks absolutely for real, and we know Tampa's
got too many good players to stink and that thing's hummon.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So say New Orleans. Look, look who Eagles play this
week at New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
That is a great game.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
A week ago, okay, before.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
The Saints dismembered Dallas and the Eagles choked against the Falcons.
The Eagles were favored on the road by three. It's
now Saints by two and a half. Colin, I guess
people are saying the Saints are real. They're going home
and short week for the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Maybe no, A J B. I think the.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Saints should be favored.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Will toss the Panthers game out? Who cares?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, they destroyed Dallas.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
But we came into the season, so you said Dallas
wasn't a playoff team, so why should.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
We care what they said? Dallas I thought was like
a nine to ten win team. I just I thought
they'd get edged out. I thought they'd be a good team,
and they are a good TEAMID if I was an
odds maker, I would have made the Saints a slight favor.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Well, every time that that line hits for Saints by three,
money comes in on the Eagles because you're giving road. Yeah,
it's going to be a close football. Think it's going
to be a very close So a lot of hard
games this weekend. I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
I know some people are saying, oh, Saints, Saints.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Well, if it's two and a half, I think the
Saints is the play. It is a short week for
the Eagles, and you don't have a coaching edge either way.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I just go back to this, it's just two weeks
before Week one, before the first game of the season.
You looked at this and this was a win on
the road for the Eagles. Correct, And now based on
eight quarters of football, no, no, no, no, no, Saint's got.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
To be favored. So you like you like the Eagles.
I don't know if I'm not.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I don't know if I'm willing to bet it, but
I do kind of lean e Let's go to the
next the forty nine Ers coming off that loss to
the Vikings, trying to bounce back against the depleted Rams.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
They are big favorites at so far this weekend.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Well, Deebo Samuel he's going to miss the game with
a calf stream, but he went on a podcast this
week and was talking about the team's super Bowl.
Speaker 9 (22:01):
Window, Like that's how I kind of look at it,
Like with the guys that we have, like we didn't
I gotta been a part of, you know, the best
team in the NFL for the past going on six years.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah, and so like we always there, like we we
got to get it done.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
No, they had the best roster for six years.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
They have the best team. That's different roster and team
or do different things.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
I think they went to five NF four NFC championship
games in the last five years.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
No, well, what's the trophy room look like a.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Lot of NFC championships too.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
You can't tell me that the Chiefs were a better
team than the Niners last year.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yes, I came on to actually have it's in print.
It's in the NFL record book.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
They won the game. But talent wise, you put the
Niners roster next.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
No, I think the Chiefs roster is underrated because they
had so many good young defensive players that you just
don't understand how good I mean the corners that none
of the nine er corners could have arted for Kansas City.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
You ranked the top ten players in that game, and
I thought it was six four Niners.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, but there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Mahomes against Purty kind of weights it in Kansas. And
also Andy Reid against Shanahan in big games. Andy Reid
has been a better coach than Shanahan in big games.
That's not disputable. Recently, well, Andy Reid in his crime
go ask Bill Belichick, who he couldn't beat consistently. Andy Reid,
nanny was doing it with b quarterbacks and he had Brady.
(23:29):
Andy Reid gave Belichick troubles when Belichick owned the NFL.
Go back to that Super wasn't Andy Reid the coach
of that Super Bowl which t O played with a
broken leg?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Remember that Super Bowl?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Thick?
Speaker 4 (23:41):
So that's way back man, Yeah, I mean you go,
they always play.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Andy and Belichick were in battles for years, but the
NFL was more favorable toward defense back then because the grabbing.
Once the NFL pivoted to an offensive league, Reid controls Belichick.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
There are last dance vibes around the Niners, right because
you're gonna have to pay party.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Well, I think that's Williams.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I think thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
No, I think this is the best they ever were
was last year. I think they've plateaued. I think this
year and then I think next year, because Trent Williams
has like a two or three year deal. But I
think it's it's the thing that's worrisome. The last time
Christian McCaffrey had this many touches like last year, he
was hurt for two years. So last year he put
up one of those Carolina years where he was like
(24:27):
learned the entire offense, and he's hurt again. So I mean,
it's so funny. I've told the story about Christian McCaffrey.
I went to a UFC fight. I go to three
or four UFC fights in the summer when I have time,
and I go there and I take Anne right, my wife,
and we go to it and a bunch of people
are coming up to me and Kyler Marine a bunch
of people, and Christian McCaffrey comes up.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
It's a dark room.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It's a VIP but it's dark, and he has a
hat on and he comes up to me and I'm
high Hi. And my wife we go back to our seats,
and about ten minutes later, they show a picture of
Christian McAffrey on the big screen.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
My wife goes, you blue that guy off, and I
was like, oh my god, I gotta find him.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I did blow him. I didn't know who he was.
My point, so I went back and found him. We
laughed about it. My point being, Christian McCaffrey is not
your classic NFL athlete who carries the ball thirty times.
He's a smaller athlete, so he can take the beating.
But history shows when he does one of these heavy
volume years, and he's had two back to back for
(25:25):
San Francisco, he comes out of it banged up. And
by the way, I get Kyle Shanahan. Every time you
give him the ball, he's six yards. You fall in
love with the guy. So I think my take is
this is a Christian This year, to me is like
a nine to ten game player, which is fine as
long as it's November first on.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
That's what I would do.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
Do you remember how the Detroit Pistons at the end
they had dominated Jordan for like two or three years,
and they went to the finals three years in a
row and then they ran out of gas and the
Bulls swept them.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Off the court.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
I'm not saying the Niners are feeling like those Pistons,
just at the end of a run, exhausted from all
these playoff.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Games, long seasons. But man, the injuries are really mounting
on this team.
Speaker 6 (26:07):
And I'm curious how Brandon Aiyuk, who chirped and complained
all year, got his contract.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
I mean, he's done nothing, nothing through two games.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
Final story is the Baltimore Ravens want them nine teams
to start oh to two and it only gets tougher.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
They're in Dallas this weekend on Fox.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
John Harball was the head coach the last time Baltimore
started OH to two and wants to.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Keep his team grinding instead of shaking things up.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I've heard it.
Speaker 10 (26:32):
Said the the NFL season is a race to improve,
to become the best team that you can over the
course of the long haul. And we had a disappointing
game yesterday. We're not happy about it. We want to
play better. We want to play winning football. We didn't
didn't do the things we need to do to win.
So we've got to keep pounding the rock. And the
(26:53):
rock is going to crack, you know, but that's our
job to keep pound and not get discouraged, not think
all is for nothing, and continue to work and our
reward would be in will.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Be out there in our future.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
You know. Think about this a great record in the NFL,
you'll you'll have a chance to be a number one seed.
If you're twelve and five. I mean, how many teams
win thirteen a year. It's really hard. So if you're
twelve and five, you'll be potentially a number one seed.
If you win ten games, you're absolutely last weekend buying
(27:26):
for a playoff spot. The Ravens are a toe from
one and one. They're okay, they are too well coached,
Lamar's two gifted. They're gonna be fine. They controlled most
of that game against the Raiders.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Raiders deserve a low this week, Dallas at home after
the embarrassing lass.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I'm taking I'm taking Baltimore. I'm taking Baltimore. I get
a coach quarterback advantage. I'm taking Baltimore. Okay, I'm just
I mean, and then and by the way, there's urgency
because after that you play.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Buffalo and after that you play the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yeah, you for Baltimore. This is you can't go in five,
you can go in two. Cincinnati and Baltimore are both
fine as of this morning.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Well, one of us sat here all summer and said, hey,
losing the defensive coordinator, losing all these offensive linemen, losing
all these players, clowney like they're gonna pull back big time.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I'm kind of rooting against the Ravens.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Oh so you're rooting for you to be right?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
To be right? Yeah, yeah, I never do. Is that allowed?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
You never do except on Blazing five. J Mack with
the news.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
We got good stuff today.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Lincoln Riley USC opens up big ten play against Michigan.
Game of the Week coming up.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern non am Pacific.
Speaker 11 (28:48):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to and.
Speaker 12 (28:57):
That's why we have a brand new podcast called over pro.
You see, we're having so much fun in our two
hour show. We never get to everything, honestly because this
guy is over promising things we never have time for.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, you blubber lit me.
Speaker 11 (29:11):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years. Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show,
and we want you to be a part of it.
We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also
gonna talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I
are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time,
it will continue on our after show called over Promised. Well,
if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure
(29:31):
you check out over Promised and also Uncensored, by the way,
so maybe we'll go at it even a little harder.
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
Speaker 12 (29:39):
There you go, over Promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Well, it's gonna be the biggest college football game of
the weekend. I expect a low scoring, very very physical
football game. That's the only way Michigan can win. There's
two teams in college football that I've averaged over forty
points a game over the last two years, Georgia and USC.
Points are going to be harder to come by. Michigan's
got two of the best defensive linemen in college football,
(30:11):
maybe the two best. Lincoln Riley USC coaches now joining
us live. Okay, it's Big Ten football. I hope you
bought a hoodie, right, you got one on this offseason.
Gotta be chilly, so it is different. Big Ten, the
Big House it's a whole.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
It's different.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Have you talked to your team about beyond the football game,
the Big Ten, the Big House, this is Michigan's a
top five program. Ever, have you talked about significance of
entering the new conference we have.
Speaker 13 (30:40):
I think it would be a mistake to totally just
discount that and just say it's another game, right, It's
a historic game. I think not surprising that the Big
Ten from a scheduling standpoint would put you know, these
two iconic teams and brands against each other on the
field here early on in the season. So yeah, I
think understanding those significance about it and embracing that, and
(31:03):
understanding what a great opportunity it is for us to
go get off the great start.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
You know. I had so many USC fans in the
off season say what do you make a Miller Moss
And I'm like, well, he was a great high school player.
So I went and looked at YouTube stuff. I thought
I saw him play Louisville. I said, but bowl games
these days, were they missing starters? You never quite know.
I can't make any big determination. My takeaway is he
always throws to the right place and accurately that's just
(31:27):
my you know, consumer radio guide TV guy watching TV.
What as a coach, Has there been anything about Miller
that he has exceeded even your expectations because he has
been nearly perfect.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
Yeah. I think the toughness and the leadership, which I
think are incredibly important at that position, and sometimes they're
tough to assess. You know, you go watch a running
back in practice or a linebacker, you get to see
the physicality and how they hit and how they compete.
Quarterbacks that are a little bit different. Most people don't
hit their quarterbacks in and you start getting in those
(32:02):
live situations when they're taking shots and they've got to
get up or they've got to stand in there and
makee big throws. I think that's always you know, you
learn a lot about guys in those scenarios. And then
we've been able to see Miller from a leadership standpoint
with last year's group at the end of the year
and then certainly this team. I think he's done a
really nice job leading our guys and being somebody that
our guys want to play for.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
So it's almost I mean, you got some guys in
the transfer portal, you had a really good safety a
really good Mike linebacker. You got some upgrades, but it's
a lot of the same dudes and guys are just better.
And it's not even I mean, like Anthony Lucas looks
like a different player. So take me inside if you
can Layman's terms here. But it's mostly the same personnel
(32:44):
with completely different results. What is Danton Lynn, your DC
from UCLA?
Speaker 4 (32:48):
What is he doing? What's the secret sauce here?
Speaker 13 (32:52):
I think Coach Lynn and really our entire defensive staff
have done a great job in terms of getting the
system installed with our guys, getting them active, made it
and getting us to a point where we can go
out and be confident on the feet on the field.
And then and then there's been a big physical transformation
within within our program in the way that we've developed
these guys from a strength and conditioning and nutrition perspective.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Uh.
Speaker 13 (33:13):
And that was to fit uh, you know, not not
just the new style of defense, but certainly obviously the
new league that we're going into as well. So uh,
you know, it's been a team effort, a group effort.
Danton's done a great job, Our players have done a
great job here up to this point. But we know
obviously a lot of big challenges left ahead.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
You know, it's interesting, you got a whole new defensive staff,
the transfer portals rampant in the sport. You brought in
some freshman, a new class, unlike the NFL, where you
can come back and kind of know. I got these
eight guys that are going to be there. They fit
into the cap College is a turnstile.
Speaker 13 (33:46):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And I've been impressed by the chemistry. I said this
after you beat LSU. I watched your sideline.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
You have all these new coaches and all these new kids,
and all some guys are seniors from South Carolina and
then you got a freshman from Las Vegas or whatever.
And I thought the body language was good. I'm like, God,
they like each other. How do you develop that in
a fall camp. Some of those guys are just shown
up on campus.
Speaker 13 (34:12):
Well, you got to have the right guys first. You
gotta have guys that our team first. That they have
individual goals, but the team comes before it. And I
think we've got a group of people in this program, players,
staff that are really excited about this team, the chance
to go prove ourselves, and that appreciate what it means
to be a USC trojan. I mean, this is a
historic significant place to be able to go to school,
(34:35):
to be able to play football at and people that
appreciate it, I think are are going to bring that
attitude to your locker room. So it's something that's importing us.
We work hard at it. But I give our players
a lot of credit because they're very bought in and
it's a very together team right now.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
You know, I watch these SEC coaches Barkin, those guys
screaming you, and I watch you. I don't even think
I've seen you raise your voice outside of an occasional
official ever. Do you ever? I mean, you know you're
more teacher mentor than authoritarian. But it's you have a
demeanor on the sideline. You don't get worked up over stuff.
(35:11):
Is that always been the thing with you? Or it
just seems to me College coaches sometimes unravel. I'm like, wow,
does he know he's on television?
Speaker 4 (35:20):
That's not your thing?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Where?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Where did you?
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Like?
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Where's that come from?
Speaker 13 (35:26):
I've just trying to be what the team needs me
to be. And I think a lot of times, you know,
for me, you know, losing my mind or getting to
you know, emotional in a moment takes clarity away from
the decisions you got to make as a head coach
and also as a play caller to try to put
the team in best position we can. Now. You know,
I'm guilty of losing it ever now and again, but
(35:47):
I try to. You know, we talk about poise and
all of these things in our program, and I think
I have to be an example of that. And I
don't want you know, me getting emotional, not you know,
making a wrong decision or putting us in a position.
I never want that to hurt on programs. So yeah,
I try to be what they need me to be.
And I've tried. I said, I lose it sometimes. I
(36:07):
try to hang in the.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Hey, if you could give Caleb Williams. All these young
guys are struggling. There's Tom Brady came on the show
and he said, I'd put Drake Man a bench. We
were talking this morning Drake May and Michael Pennix. Maybe
the winners here they can sit and watch pros do it.
They don't have to play. If you could, if you
could give Caleb one piece of advice. You know, he's
not a kid. He's going to do his own thing.
But it's so hard in the NFL, there's so many
(36:30):
everybody's faster. What do you do when a quarterback struggling?
What's the advice at any level you give them.
Speaker 13 (36:37):
I think you got to go back to the basics.
And I think a lot of times the answers that
you're looking for, you know as a player right there.
And sometimes when you get into it and get in
the competitive situations, especially a new league, a new offense,
new coaches around, a new supporting cast, there's gonna be
some growing pains, right You're going to go through some
tough moments, but you got to continue to go back
(36:59):
to the basics, continue to improve, continue to lead, and
most importantly, you can't let it affect your attitude, your mentality,
the way you play, the way you practice. You just
got to keep growing. And Caleb will. He's a fighter.
He's going to continue to learn and grow. And as
painful as some of these, you know, tough moments have been,
you know early in the season that those are all
opportunities to learn and grow. And if he's going to
(37:22):
become the player that we all know he can be
in that league, he's going to have to learn and
progress from them, and I believe you will.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
By the way, Kaylen Bullock's off to a great start. Houston, Texans.
He's playing his butt off. Lincoln Riley, USC and Michigan
this weekend. Can't wait in the big House in inn Arbor.
Good seeing you, Lincoln, you too, you too, fight on
all right? Yeah, it's it's uh Drake May and Michael
Pennox and even JJ McCarthy though it's through an injury,
which is obviously a bad news. But I mean just
(37:48):
sitting watching stuff is okay. It's fine, by the way,
a USC. The toughest part of the USC schedule was
LSU and at Michigan. Then they come home for Wisconsin
and Minnesota. Excuse me, they come home for Wisconsin at
Minnesota home Penn State Maryland. Now Penn State that falls
at home. That's a break because Penn State's good, that
(38:10):
defense is good. But we thought when you looked on
paper LSU and Michigan, LSU was a favorite at Michigan
post Natty, great defensive line at Michigan. I think it's
a total under. I think it's very low scoring. I
think it's I think it's a honestly it's a ten
to seven game at half, and then I think you're
(38:32):
going to have I think USC can slightly pull away.
I think it's very very low scoring. But you know what,
college football's more fun when Texas wins and USC wins
and Miami wins. We've always said those are the three
glamour programs in college football. Miami Hurricanes, Texas Longhorns, USC,
Bama is great, Georgia great, Clemson great. They're not glamour.
(38:52):
They're just big brands and they're you know, it's it's
grinded out football and a lot of great personnel. But
right now, Miami, Texas, USC are players, ratings, ratings are
going up.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Did you see the line for USC has ticked up.
I'm stunned by this five and a half starting to
be some sixes in the desert.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
I guess a lot of people like USC here.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
It's hard for me because I think it's very low scoring.
I think it's a very Listen, Michigan has two of
the top ten players, arguably on the defensive line, and
so it's it's it's gonna you're not gonna run on
Michigan much. You're not gonna have much success running on
Michigan quarterback. Well, you do, but the USC is really
(39:36):
young red shirt freshman left tackle didn't.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Look it against LSU cowhard look very veteran.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Well, that's also you got a month and a half
to work on one game plan.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
Now the game now.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I do think an advantage here for USC his Lincoln
Riley's had two weeks to prepare. I think offensive coaches
who are elite college or pro there is no question
that in the first couple of drive for USC, they're
going to bring out. This is the Andy Reid advantage
and the Shanahan against the Jets advantage. I don't think
defensive coaches have a big advantage in the first couple
(40:09):
of weeks of the season, but I think offensive coaches
on buys or in first games, it feels like at
least a field goal advantage. So I think that if
USC had played a game last week, win or lose,
I wouldn't feel that way. But I like USC because
of the extra time, and I think that gives him
an opportunity to jump out to a lead on the road,
quiets the crowd down, especially the way Michigan got hammered
(40:32):
like this get quiet real fast in college football. You
start watching some of these college games, even some of
these NFL games, you fall behind. The temperature in the
stadium changes.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
I think I might have to ride with you on
USC I bet the what's.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
The over under? Bet the end and a half.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Oh, I bet the under. I'm betting the under. I
can't believe it's that high. I figured to be like
forty two. I mean the game if you if us,
I think it feels like to me, like, seriously, twenty
four to twenty and maybe I don't know if Michigan
can score twenty hour or two next
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 (00:27):
Here we go on a Wednesday, Reddy two Roll live
in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us
part of your day. Lincoln Riley of suddenly incredibly relevant
USC playing Michigan this weekend in the biggest Game, Big
ten opener. Joel Klass Mark Sanchez, you know I.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
J meck.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
You know this about me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Actually very happy that Baker Mayfield is now flourishing because
I don't like picking on people. I got kids, I
don't like bullies, and I thought I was hard on Baker.
I thought I was right, and I was right early.
But I do like to see redemption stories. I think
they're great. And mostly I'm an older guy that talks
about younger athletes, So I don't want to be a
bully up here right, like don't it's okay. So I
(01:21):
bring guests on to take shots at me, and I
like to see guys that I was tough on like flourishing.
And I've always had this thing with Aaron Rodgers, and
fans are right, Colin, it's just you and an Aaron
Rodgers thing, And officially today it's not so the Action Network.
I work with the Action Network. My company, the Volume
at top of the line people. They polled more than
(01:43):
three thousand football fans in America. And if there are
many questions, one was who's the most annoying football player?
Aaron Rodgers won by a landslide. Twenty four of thirty
two teams fan bases named it Aaron. It's never been
in me and Aaron thing. It's He's exhausting to everybody.
(02:03):
But it's easy for me to say that I have
an explanation and I think it's right, and I've thought
this and I've shared this with people in the NFL.
So my theory is that Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and
Peyton Manning. But around twenty ten to twenty fourteen, there
was a period of time they were all in the
goat discussion. At that time, it was like Joe Montana was,
but it was Brady Manning and Aaron Rodgers and the
(02:25):
Goat discussion. And of those three, Aaron was the coolest
and Aaron through the prettiest ball by far. Like Manning
and Brady were, you know, almost governed by their teams
to some degree, but Aaron was, you know, He's the
way that ball flies out. He was the cool guy.
But then Brady started stacking trophies. He beats Atlanta that
(02:45):
amazing super Bowl, he beats the Rams. Then he goes
to Tampa and wins. So Brady separates from Aaron, and
about the same time, so does Manning. He gets to
a second super Bowl, he wins the Super Bowl that
he goes to a third and he separates from He
separated now from Aaron Rodgers. And Aaron keeps score on everything.
I'll get to that in a second. He keeps score
(03:07):
on everything. So in the Goat discussion, the cool guy,
Brady and Manning separate from him. Suddenly, Aaron, about twenty
eighteen to twenty twenty one, starts playing really if you
pay attention, safe football.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
He starts.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Leading the NFL in throwaways instead of throwing the ball
down the field. He gets very stats protective, and many
of you have picked up on this the last six
seven years with are he starts leading the NFL in
touchdown interception ratio. But it appears to be like a thing,
like it really matters to him. He's obsessed. And if
(03:44):
he ever throws like a pick or two in a game,
he shuts down. It's not his day. He shuts down.
I remember a Tampa game that was like that. He
just shuts down. And he becomes stat obsessed, and he
leads the league in throwing it away by a mile
instead of throwing the ball down the field, just throws
it away no interceptions. So Brady and Manning have separated
from him, and he becomes like safe lead the league
(04:05):
in touchdown interception ratio. And if you don't think Aaron
Rodgers keeps score on everything and keeps tracking everything, listen
to this bite this week after they beat Tennessee what
this first.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
One is a jet? Technically my second.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We all know that somehow the first one counts, it's
more important place well, I don't know if they count
on that.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Nobody thought that was Aaron's win. That was the best
win in Zach Wilson's career. That's like taking a lot
of credit for being the backup quarterback in the Super
Bowl and saying I won a Super Bowl. Aaron keeps
track of everything. So as Brady and Manning separated, because
Aaron did not used to be like this. Aaron was
not annoying when he came into the league. That was
(04:51):
not who Aaron was. He was cool, he was fun.
He was kind of cocky, but he was He replaced
far it was kind of cool. And then Brady and
Manning pull away. He becomes stats obsessed. He's the NFL
and throwaways gets obsessed plays safe, TDed interception ratio, and
then COVID hits four years ago. This is the second
part of this theory. And as Brady and Manning start
(05:12):
moving into broadcasting in corporate America and dealing in the
media and working for the media once again, Aaron has
to be different and he becomes anti media, an anti
corporate America, and I don't care if I lose my
biggest sponsors. Aaron keeps track of everything, and so if Brady,
Manning and Aaron were compared traditionally, he finishes third in
(05:34):
the goat discussion, so he creates a new measuring stick.
I'm not a shill, I'm not corporate, I'm anti media.
I believe in conspiracy theories. I absolutely believe this is true.
I think he keeps track of everything. That quote after
Tennessee is a classic example. He's been like this forever.
Is that there was if you go back ten twenty fourteen,
it was Manning braiding air. They were all in the
(05:55):
goat discussion. When Brady and Manning pulled away, he started
getting safe, heated interception ratio, obsessed, leading the NFL by
a long shot in throwaways. And then as COVID hit
and Brady and Manning become more corporate, more media, he
goes the opposite again traditional measuring sticks. He'd be third eron.
I wan't to be third at anything. He wants to
(06:17):
be unique. It matters to him. So it's never been
a me and Aaron thing. He was just voted on
most annoying player in the league, and he did not
used to be that way when he was in that
goat discussion.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Aaron was fun.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
He was cocky, but so what Well like a little cocky.
Michael Darton was cocky. We like Michael Barkley was cocky.
We like, we like our cocky guys, but he has
changed and he is more annoying. All right, So I'm
written a story today about a Sam Darnald. Chris sim
said this NFL analyst NBC that Sam Darnald gives the
(06:53):
Vikings offense more potential is the word he used, than
Kirk Cousins. And it's interesting about that. So I always
feel if you compared Sam Darnald to Kirk Cousins, it
would be like comparing a bakeoff to the iron chef.
Baking is more formulaic, following directions, precise, more science chefs.
(07:20):
It's more about improvisation, adapting, freestyling. It's more art. Right,
both are fine. Kirk Cousins is a baker. Donald's more
the chef, a little reckless, a little more juice and
flare and art. Cousins is about intense preparation, getting to
his spot again, steady results. That's not what you get
(07:45):
with Darnol. Donald's got a little Andrew Luck, though not
as talented, and a little Carson Wentz, though not as reckless.
He's an athlete. He improvs, he added libs more dramatic,
upscale touchdowns, but more ugly games. By the way, He's not,
obviously Brett Farv, but Brett Farv when he was in
(08:06):
Minnesota was sort of like that. Brett was a chef.
The two plays I remember from Brett Farv as a
Minnesota Viking, just as a Viking, or that rollout throw
against the San Francisco forty nine ers in the back
of the end zone. It is one of the best
throws I've ever seen in the history of football. It's
just on the money. Only Farv could do that. You're
(08:29):
not getting out with Kirk Cousins. But I also remember
that dreadful interception he threw against the Saints that kept
the Vikings out of the Super Bowl. And that's the chef.
Either a fantastic meal, adapting ad libbing artistry, or you
(08:49):
butchered it, send it back to the kitchen. And that,
to a lesser degree than far that is what the
Vikings have with Darnold. There's no question this offense has
more juice. There's no question Kirk Cousins was steadier, and
I prefer quarterbacks with more juice. Lamar Mahomes, Alan Jalen Hurtz,
(09:13):
Sam Darnold. Now you say, well, well, well, I thought
you like Kirk Cousins going to Atlanta. Listen, Atlanta's been
starving for three years. Offensively, they'll deal with chocolate chip cookies.
They'll take baking. They just want to be competent. They
need a formula. They could deal with a little formulaic.
They can't even cross the fifty yard line last year
(09:33):
in games with Desmond River. But I would say now again,
I would always rather have the chef over the baker.
But Donald does give Minnesota a higher ceiling. I don't
think they're gonna win their division, but we said this
before the season as people were picking them for fourth place.
If they're fourth place, it's gonna be the most talented
offense in the history of the NFL in fourth place.
(09:54):
Here's the coach, Kevin O'Connell on Darnald.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
I think we have two weeks of some pretty tangible
examples some quarterback play from Sam Donald. The amount of
work that goes into that position on your quarterback journey,
when everybody decides that you cannot play. We always believed
in him and felt awesome to watch him go do
that thing. So I'm really proud of Sam Darnam.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I'm not I'm not gonna be cu you know, on
the day Lincoln Riley's coming. I just wanted to bring
up Sam Darnald, the little Wednesday USC love as they're
opening the Big Ten play against Michigan, who's using their
backup quarterback.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
As Lincoln Riley has two weeks to prepare for.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It, so Big Ben has already weighed in on Russell
Wilson justin Fields. Jerry Jones is talking, but I think
he's not making a ton of sense. Jay Mack, we
have Lincoln Riley, Joel Klatt, Mark Sanchez stop by today.
I sat home last night and just why, you know,
I get those occasional games Monday or or Tuesday or Wednesday,
and I just turn on Netflix and watch a bunch
(10:56):
of stuff. Shoho Tani remains unbelievable. You text me last
night on Shoeotani.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah, it's got staggering.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Think about this when McGuire and Sosa, When McGuire and
Sosa were in their home run chase, it captivated the world.
Otani's doing one better and baseball struggling to get attention
because of conference realignment in college football, the NFL over
that ten fifteen year period whenever it was has exponentially grown.
(11:24):
We're a much more distracted audience on our phones more
than ever, on YouTube, more than TVs. So it is
interesting that showey Otani is better than Babe Ruth and
it's not drawing and from a high I would say
a big brand in baseball. Dodgers aren't the Yankees, but
they're in line for second third most popular team and
it's not getting the love you'd think it would.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
Even when Aaron Judge was hitting what he was closed
sixty homers or whatever he was closing on recently, like
he was getting a lot of pub This Sotani stuff
needs to be everything.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
He's going to be a fifty home run, fifty stolen
based guy.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Unbelievable, It's incredible.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
It would be like somebody throwing like what sixty touchdown
passes in the NFL, I don't know, seventy.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And by the way, and playing nickelback and leading the
NFL and picks. I mean, it's it really is unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
All Right, welcome back, so it was the most predictable,
messy quarterback situation in the league, and the Pittsburgh Steelers
already have it. Mike Tomlin, the head coach, tentatively named uh,
Justin Field's the starter, A big band of legend obviously,
Bradshaw big Ben your all time quarterback legends in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Big Ben said.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
He'd prefer to just let Justin Field started to beat Denver,
Let's just keep him there.
Speaker 7 (12:44):
If Russ is healthy, I'm sticking with Justin. I like
what I've seen. I like that he's getting into it.
I like he's getting the feel of it. You know,
if you told me they're one to one, row and
two and these are going on honesty, Yeah, we got
to do something. But again, he's not turning the ball
over there two and zero. I think it's got to
stay with him, I really do.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So this is a franchise. To me, they can o line,
run game, offensive coordinator. It always feels like they can't
get it right. And I know people think I bag
on the Steelers, but it's like they've gone the opposite
direction of the league. I mean, everybody else is spending
money on offense. It's all about quarterback. Steelers are the
(13:22):
only franchise. Even when Big Ben got old that the
quarterback's not the start of the team, it was like
their pass rusher TJ. Watt or Mike Tomlin. And so
we kept saying in the off season, Jay McK and
I both felt like Justin Fields would be more popular
in the locker room. He's younger, he's more relatable, he's
(13:43):
more cooler. Russell Wilson, as far as I can tell,
has never been wildly popular in locker rooms.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Okay, I mean you know, I've.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Never heard a star quarterback get whacked by former teammates
and coaches more than Russell Wilson. He had a couple players,
only only a couple that went to his wedding. Really,
like two athletes are two two football players. So what
I can tell, he's not wildly popular in locker rooms.
And Justin Fields was really liked even though he didn't
win games. Usually if you don't win games, nobody likes it.
In Chicago, everybody like Justin Fields. Coaches liked him, players
(14:10):
liked him, so we felt he'd be the more popular.
But what I love about this franchise more than anything,
and I've said this, before Steelers don't fire coaches, tom
will probably be there as long as he wants to.
Mike Tomlin would be a rock star as a broadcaster.
I can remember covering Charles Barkley, and Charles Barkley was
funny when you would go into a locker room after
a game like that, guy's going to be a star.
(14:31):
Like you could see Charles Barkley was going to be
a star. It's the same way with Mike Tomlin. He
has laughed out loud funny. So apparently they gave Russell
Wilson a petty award. You know, I don't know what
exactly that means. I can figure it out, but Tomlin's
answer is so so good. So there was a game
ball given to Russ even though he didn't play. And
(14:53):
Russ remember a couple of weeks it was two weeks
ago that he wore shoulder pads in a game that
he was inactive on the sidelines. He wore shoulder pads.
I've never seen that my entire life. So whatever, I
don't want to take shots at anybody. But and he
got a petty game ball whatever that means. But here's
Mike Tomlin explaining it. Brilliantly.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
There's certain things that go on among teams that I
don't talk about. Whether it gets out or how it
gets out is unimportant to me, and I'm not overly
guarded against it. But it's just certain things as a
leader that I talked to the collective about that I
have zero intentions of sharing with the larger public because
it's about our collective and how we come together and
how we appreciate and support one another. And you know,
(15:38):
I can't give you all the ingredients of a hot dog,
you might not like it.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I do analogies and metaphors. That tops all of them
right there.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
The petty thing are they making fun of Ross for
wearing shoulder pads as an inactive player. I don't know
what it means, but it is a very predictable quarterback
dilemma because Justin Fields is taller, younger, relatable, more athletic,
and athletes like that. I mean, good god, it wasn't
that long ago that they pulled NBA players and they
(16:07):
preferred Westbrook over Steph Curry, and Westbrook's more dynamic, and
Westbrook was like seen as cooler and he was more
he was more athletic, it plays in locker rooms. I
mean to the very end, justin fields in Chicago, everybody
had his back and he had become the worst fourth
quarter quarterback in the NFL by a long shot.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
They weren't winning games. J Maack with the news.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
No news, this is the herd line news.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Let's quickly revisit that Eagles loss to the Falcons on
Monday night. Saquon dropped the pass in the red zone.
Didn't love Siriani's play calling. Bottom line, his Falcons win
the game with.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
An awesome two minute drive.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Well after the loss, Eagles safety Read Blankenship pointed to
Jalen Hurts the leadership in the locker room, saying, Jalen
let everything. No coach said a word. It's a player
led to. At the end of the day, we know
what we did was on us. We made mistakes offense
and defense. It's gonna take everybody. I would actually argue
(17:08):
this isn't on the players. The coaching decisions were awful
from Sirianni. Everybody who has a whiff of analytics knows
you kick field goals early in games and you go
for it late.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You don't kick to go up six with two minutes
and that's.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Just dumb football, right, So I this is not a
good sign for Sirianni.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, coming off the story in the offseason that Hurts
and Sirianni were not close. Now, Brady and Belichick weren't either,
but generally, as a rule, offensive coaches are super close
to their quarterbacks. I can't think of another example of it.
It's not working. I mean, it's always that way unless
you're unless you're getting rid of him and he knows it,
(17:49):
and you have a rough year at the end of
a quarterback's career and the coach has to make a move.
But even Andy Reid and Alex Smith at the end,
Alex Smith is like, yeah, mentor Mahomes, So yeah, that's
it's strange.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
This is also strange. And again, I'm a Jalen Hurts guy.
I believe in him.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I think he's he's super town. Definitely a tough thing.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
He was, by the way, in that game, he got
cooking in that game. He was playing really well.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
And he didn't have his big deep weapon AJ Brebrutt.
But you know, my old neighbor is a big Eagles
fan and he's sending me all these stories like, look,
we're out on Jalen Hurts. A lot of the Philadelphia
Eagles fan base has seen enough of Hurts and they're
starting to sour, and I don't get it. And then
you read the articles and the local media is starting
to turn on Jalen Hurts in Philly.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Yeah, I don't think he's the problem.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I don't either, but I guess people are just starting
to doubt him a little bit.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
He was great, an MVP level guy when he had
a great coordinator.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
So was Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Okay, like everybody benefits from a great coordinator. Look at
Sam Darnold's benefit, look at Jared Goff's career with McVeigh.
Everybody benefits from coordinators. You don't think CJ. Stroud isn't
benefiting from that hot shot young OC in Houston.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Everybody does.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So my take is, yes, Jalen proved when he has
an OC he can be MVP of the league. Then
they hired an OC that did not work whatsoever and
didn't get any more job offers like OC offers, he
wasn't as good. Now it appears he's got a competent OC.
Maybe not Shane Steichen, but a competent OC. Well, what's
he done through two games? He's been very good. So
(19:23):
when he had a great OC was great. When he
has a competent OC, he's very good. And when he
had a stink aoo, he struggled.
Speaker 6 (19:30):
It just goes to show how like six plays in
that game completely changed the narrative.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
If the Eagles run two times and win.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
This game, boom, Eagles two and oh looking.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Good in the NFC, and it's like, oh, Sky is
calling for the Falcons. They got the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
That's what I said yesterday. There's a lot of positives.
I would rather have the Chiefs roster. I would rather
have the Eagles roster than the Falcons roster hundred percent.
So it's everything's good. And I also think now that
New Orleans and Tampa look good, I'd rather play in
the NFC East in the NFC South because New Orleans,
(20:04):
New Orleans looks absolutely for real, and we know Tampa's
got too many good players to stink and that thing's hummon.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So say New Orleans. Look, look who Eagles play this
week at New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
That is a great game.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
A week ago, okay, before.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
The Saints dismembered Dallas and the Eagles choked against the Falcons.
The Eagles were favored on the road by three. It's
now Saints by two and a half. Colin, I guess
people are saying the Saints are real. They're going home
and short week for the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Maybe no, A J B. I think the.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Saints should be favored.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Will toss the Panthers game out? Who cares?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, they destroyed Dallas.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
But we came into the season, so you said Dallas
wasn't a playoff team, so why should.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
We care what they said? Dallas I thought was like
a nine to ten win team. I just I thought
they'd get edged out. I thought they'd be a good team,
and they are a good TEAMID if I was an
odds maker, I would have made the Saints a slight favor.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Well, every time that that line hits for Saints by three,
money comes in on the Eagles because you're giving road. Yeah,
it's going to be a close football. Think it's going
to be a very close So a lot of hard
games this weekend. I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
I know some people are saying, oh, Saints, Saints.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Well, if it's two and a half, I think the
Saints is the play. It is a short week for
the Eagles, and you don't have a coaching edge either way.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I just go back to this, it's just two weeks
before Week one, before the first game of the season.
You looked at this and this was a win on
the road for the Eagles. Correct, And now based on
eight quarters of football, no, no, no, no, no, Saint's got.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
To be favored. So you like you like the Eagles.
I don't know if I'm not.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I don't know if I'm willing to bet it, but
I do kind of lean e Let's go to the
next the forty nine Ers coming off that loss to
the Vikings, trying to bounce back against the depleted Rams.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
They are big favorites at so far this weekend.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Well, Deebo Samuel he's going to miss the game with
a calf stream, but he went on a podcast this
week and was talking about the team's super Bowl.
Speaker 9 (22:01):
Window, Like that's how I kind of look at it,
Like with the guys that we have, like we didn't
I gotta been a part of, you know, the best
team in the NFL for the past going on six years.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah, and so like we always there, like we we
got to get it done.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
No, they had the best roster for six years.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
They have the best team. That's different roster and team
or do different things.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
I think they went to five NF four NFC championship
games in the last five years.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
No, well, what's the trophy room look like a.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Lot of NFC championships too.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
You can't tell me that the Chiefs were a better
team than the Niners last year.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yes, I came on to actually have it's in print.
It's in the NFL record book.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
They won the game. But talent wise, you put the
Niners roster next.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
No, I think the Chiefs roster is underrated because they
had so many good young defensive players that you just
don't understand how good I mean the corners that none
of the nine er corners could have arted for Kansas City.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
You ranked the top ten players in that game, and
I thought it was six four Niners.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, but there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Mahomes against Purty kind of weights it in Kansas. And
also Andy Reid against Shanahan in big games. Andy Reid
has been a better coach than Shanahan in big games.
That's not disputable. Recently, well, Andy Reid in his crime
go ask Bill Belichick, who he couldn't beat consistently. Andy Reid,
nanny was doing it with b quarterbacks and he had Brady.
(23:29):
Andy Reid gave Belichick troubles when Belichick owned the NFL.
Go back to that Super wasn't Andy Reid the coach
of that Super Bowl which t O played with a
broken leg?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Remember that Super Bowl?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Thick?
Speaker 4 (23:41):
So that's way back man, Yeah, I mean you go,
they always play.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Andy and Belichick were in battles for years, but the
NFL was more favorable toward defense back then because the grabbing.
Once the NFL pivoted to an offensive league, Reid controls Belichick.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
There are last dance vibes around the Niners, right because
you're gonna have to pay party.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Well, I think that's Williams.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I think thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
No, I think this is the best they ever were
was last year. I think they've plateaued. I think this
year and then I think next year, because Trent Williams
has like a two or three year deal. But I
think it's it's the thing that's worrisome. The last time
Christian McCaffrey had this many touches like last year, he
was hurt for two years. So last year he put
up one of those Carolina years where he was like
(24:27):
learned the entire offense, and he's hurt again. So I mean,
it's so funny. I've told the story about Christian McCaffrey.
I went to a UFC fight. I go to three
or four UFC fights in the summer when I have time,
and I go there and I take Anne right, my wife,
and we go to it and a bunch of people
are coming up to me and Kyler Marine a bunch
of people, and Christian McCaffrey comes up.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
It's a dark room.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It's a VIP but it's dark, and he has a
hat on and he comes up to me and I'm
high Hi. And my wife we go back to our seats,
and about ten minutes later, they show a picture of
Christian McAffrey on the big screen.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
My wife goes, you blue that guy off, and I
was like, oh my god, I gotta find him.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I did blow him. I didn't know who he was.
My point, so I went back and found him. We
laughed about it. My point being, Christian McCaffrey is not
your classic NFL athlete who carries the ball thirty times.
He's a smaller athlete, so he can take the beating.
But history shows when he does one of these heavy
volume years, and he's had two back to back for
(25:25):
San Francisco, he comes out of it banged up. And
by the way, I get Kyle Shanahan. Every time you
give him the ball, he's six yards. You fall in
love with the guy. So I think my take is
this is a Christian This year, to me is like
a nine to ten game player, which is fine as
long as it's November first on.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
That's what I would do.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
Do you remember how the Detroit Pistons at the end
they had dominated Jordan for like two or three years,
and they went to the finals three years in a
row and then they ran out of gas and the
Bulls swept them.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Off the court.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
I'm not saying the Niners are feeling like those Pistons,
just at the end of a run, exhausted from all
these playoff.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Games, long seasons. But man, the injuries are really mounting
on this team.
Speaker 6 (26:07):
And I'm curious how Brandon Aiyuk, who chirped and complained
all year, got his contract.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
I mean, he's done nothing, nothing through two games.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
Final story is the Baltimore Ravens want them nine teams
to start oh to two and it only gets tougher.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
They're in Dallas this weekend on Fox.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
John Harball was the head coach the last time Baltimore
started OH to two and wants to.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Keep his team grinding instead of shaking things up.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I've heard it.
Speaker 10 (26:32):
Said the the NFL season is a race to improve,
to become the best team that you can over the
course of the long haul. And we had a disappointing
game yesterday. We're not happy about it. We want to
play better. We want to play winning football. We didn't
didn't do the things we need to do to win.
So we've got to keep pounding the rock. And the
(26:53):
rock is going to crack, you know, but that's our
job to keep pound and not get discouraged, not think
all is for nothing, and continue to work and our
reward would be in will.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Be out there in our future.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
You know. Think about this a great record in the NFL,
you'll you'll have a chance to be a number one seed.
If you're twelve and five. I mean, how many teams
win thirteen a year. It's really hard. So if you're
twelve and five, you'll be potentially a number one seed.
If you win ten games, you're absolutely last weekend buying
(27:26):
for a playoff spot. The Ravens are a toe from
one and one. They're okay, they are too well coached,
Lamar's two gifted. They're gonna be fine. They controlled most
of that game against the Raiders.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Raiders deserve a low this week, Dallas at home after
the embarrassing lass.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I'm taking I'm taking Baltimore. I'm taking Baltimore. I get
a coach quarterback advantage. I'm taking Baltimore. Okay, I'm just
I mean, and then and by the way, there's urgency
because after that you play.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Buffalo and after that you play the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yeah, you for Baltimore. This is you can't go in five,
you can go in two. Cincinnati and Baltimore are both
fine as of this morning.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Well, one of us sat here all summer and said, hey,
losing the defensive coordinator, losing all these offensive linemen, losing
all these players, clowney like they're gonna pull back big time.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I'm kind of rooting against the Ravens.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Oh so you're rooting for you to be right?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
To be right? Yeah, yeah, I never do. Is that allowed?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
You never do except on Blazing five. J Mack with
the news.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
We got good stuff today.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Lincoln Riley USC opens up big ten play against Michigan.
Game of the Week coming up.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern non am Pacific.
Speaker 11 (28:48):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to and.
Speaker 12 (28:57):
That's why we have a brand new podcast called over pro.
You see, we're having so much fun in our two
hour show. We never get to everything, honestly because this
guy is over promising things we never have time for.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, you blubber lit me.
Speaker 11 (29:11):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years. Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show,
and we want you to be a part of it.
We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also
gonna talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I
are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time,
it will continue on our after show called over Promised. Well,
if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure
(29:31):
you check out over Promised and also Uncensored, by the way,
so maybe we'll go at it even a little harder.
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
Speaker 12 (29:39):
There you go, over Promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Well, it's gonna be the biggest college football game of
the weekend. I expect a low scoring, very very physical
football game. That's the only way Michigan can win. There's
two teams in college football that I've averaged over forty
points a game over the last two years, Georgia and USC.
Points are going to be harder to come by. Michigan's
got two of the best defensive linemen in college football,
(30:11):
maybe the two best. Lincoln Riley USC coaches now joining
us live. Okay, it's Big Ten football. I hope you
bought a hoodie, right, you got one on this offseason.
Gotta be chilly, so it is different. Big Ten, the
Big House it's a whole.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
It's different.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Have you talked to your team about beyond the football game,
the Big Ten, the Big House, this is Michigan's a
top five program. Ever, have you talked about significance of
entering the new conference we have.
Speaker 13 (30:40):
I think it would be a mistake to totally just
discount that and just say it's another game, right, It's
a historic game. I think not surprising that the Big
Ten from a scheduling standpoint would put you know, these
two iconic teams and brands against each other on the
field here early on in the season. So yeah, I
think understanding those significance about it and embracing that, and
(31:03):
understanding what a great opportunity it is for us to
go get off the great start.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
You know. I had so many USC fans in the
off season say what do you make a Miller Moss
And I'm like, well, he was a great high school player.
So I went and looked at YouTube stuff. I thought
I saw him play Louisville. I said, but bowl games
these days, were they missing starters? You never quite know.
I can't make any big determination. My takeaway is he
always throws to the right place and accurately that's just
(31:27):
my you know, consumer radio guide TV guy watching TV.
What as a coach, Has there been anything about Miller
that he has exceeded even your expectations because he has
been nearly perfect.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
Yeah. I think the toughness and the leadership, which I
think are incredibly important at that position, and sometimes they're
tough to assess. You know, you go watch a running
back in practice or a linebacker, you get to see
the physicality and how they hit and how they compete.
Quarterbacks that are a little bit different. Most people don't
hit their quarterbacks in and you start getting in those
(32:02):
live situations when they're taking shots and they've got to
get up or they've got to stand in there and
makee big throws. I think that's always you know, you
learn a lot about guys in those scenarios. And then
we've been able to see Miller from a leadership standpoint
with last year's group at the end of the year
and then certainly this team. I think he's done a
really nice job leading our guys and being somebody that
our guys want to play for.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
So it's almost I mean, you got some guys in
the transfer portal, you had a really good safety a
really good Mike linebacker. You got some upgrades, but it's
a lot of the same dudes and guys are just better.
And it's not even I mean, like Anthony Lucas looks
like a different player. So take me inside if you
can Layman's terms here. But it's mostly the same personnel
(32:44):
with completely different results. What is Danton Lynn, your DC
from UCLA?
Speaker 4 (32:48):
What is he doing? What's the secret sauce here?
Speaker 13 (32:52):
I think Coach Lynn and really our entire defensive staff
have done a great job in terms of getting the
system installed with our guys, getting them active, made it
and getting us to a point where we can go
out and be confident on the feet on the field.
And then and then there's been a big physical transformation
within within our program in the way that we've developed
these guys from a strength and conditioning and nutrition perspective.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Uh.
Speaker 13 (33:13):
And that was to fit uh, you know, not not
just the new style of defense, but certainly obviously the
new league that we're going into as well. So uh,
you know, it's been a team effort, a group effort.
Danton's done a great job, Our players have done a
great job here up to this point. But we know
obviously a lot of big challenges left ahead.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
You know, it's interesting, you got a whole new defensive staff,
the transfer portals rampant in the sport. You brought in
some freshman, a new class, unlike the NFL, where you
can come back and kind of know. I got these
eight guys that are going to be there. They fit
into the cap College is a turnstile.
Speaker 13 (33:46):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And I've been impressed by the chemistry. I said this
after you beat LSU. I watched your sideline.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
You have all these new coaches and all these new kids,
and all some guys are seniors from South Carolina and
then you got a freshman from Las Vegas or whatever.
And I thought the body language was good. I'm like, God,
they like each other. How do you develop that in
a fall camp. Some of those guys are just shown
up on campus.
Speaker 13 (34:12):
Well, you got to have the right guys first. You
gotta have guys that our team first. That they have
individual goals, but the team comes before it. And I
think we've got a group of people in this program, players,
staff that are really excited about this team, the chance
to go prove ourselves, and that appreciate what it means
to be a USC trojan. I mean, this is a
historic significant place to be able to go to school,
(34:35):
to be able to play football at and people that
appreciate it, I think are are going to bring that
attitude to your locker room. So it's something that's importing us.
We work hard at it. But I give our players
a lot of credit because they're very bought in and
it's a very together team right now.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
You know, I watch these SEC coaches Barkin, those guys
screaming you, and I watch you. I don't even think
I've seen you raise your voice outside of an occasional
official ever. Do you ever? I mean, you know you're
more teacher mentor than authoritarian. But it's you have a
demeanor on the sideline. You don't get worked up over stuff.
(35:11):
Is that always been the thing with you? Or it
just seems to me College coaches sometimes unravel. I'm like, wow,
does he know he's on television?
Speaker 4 (35:20):
That's not your thing?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Where?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Where did you?
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Like?
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Where's that come from?
Speaker 13 (35:26):
I've just trying to be what the team needs me
to be. And I think a lot of times, you know,
for me, you know, losing my mind or getting to
you know, emotional in a moment takes clarity away from
the decisions you got to make as a head coach
and also as a play caller to try to put
the team in best position we can. Now. You know,
I'm guilty of losing it ever now and again, but
(35:47):
I try to. You know, we talk about poise and
all of these things in our program, and I think
I have to be an example of that. And I
don't want you know, me getting emotional, not you know,
making a wrong decision or putting us in a position.
I never want that to hurt on programs. So yeah,
I try to be what they need me to be.
And I've tried. I said, I lose it sometimes. I
(36:07):
try to hang in the.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Hey, if you could give Caleb Williams. All these young
guys are struggling. There's Tom Brady came on the show
and he said, I'd put Drake Man a bench. We
were talking this morning Drake May and Michael Pennix. Maybe
the winners here they can sit and watch pros do it.
They don't have to play. If you could, if you
could give Caleb one piece of advice. You know, he's
not a kid. He's going to do his own thing.
But it's so hard in the NFL, there's so many
(36:30):
everybody's faster. What do you do when a quarterback struggling?
What's the advice at any level you give them.
Speaker 13 (36:37):
I think you got to go back to the basics.
And I think a lot of times the answers that
you're looking for, you know as a player right there.
And sometimes when you get into it and get in
the competitive situations, especially a new league, a new offense,
new coaches around, a new supporting cast, there's gonna be
some growing pains, right You're going to go through some
tough moments, but you got to continue to go back
(36:59):
to the basics, continue to improve, continue to lead, and
most importantly, you can't let it affect your attitude, your mentality,
the way you play, the way you practice. You just
got to keep growing. And Caleb will. He's a fighter.
He's going to continue to learn and grow. And as
painful as some of these, you know, tough moments have been,
you know early in the season that those are all
opportunities to learn and grow. And if he's going to
(37:22):
become the player that we all know he can be
in that league, he's going to have to learn and
progress from them, and I believe you will.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
By the way, Kaylen Bullock's off to a great start. Houston, Texans.
He's playing his butt off. Lincoln Riley, USC and Michigan
this weekend. Can't wait in the big House in inn Arbor.
Good seeing you, Lincoln, you too, you too, fight on
all right? Yeah, it's it's uh Drake May and Michael
Pennox and even JJ McCarthy though it's through an injury,
which is obviously a bad news. But I mean just
(37:48):
sitting watching stuff is okay. It's fine, by the way,
a USC. The toughest part of the USC schedule was
LSU and at Michigan. Then they come home for Wisconsin
and Minnesota. Excuse me, they come home for Wisconsin at
Minnesota home Penn State Maryland. Now Penn State that falls
at home. That's a break because Penn State's good, that
(38:10):
defense is good. But we thought when you looked on
paper LSU and Michigan, LSU was a favorite at Michigan
post Natty, great defensive line at Michigan. I think it's
a total under. I think it's very low scoring. I
think it's I think it's a honestly it's a ten
to seven game at half, and then I think you're
(38:32):
going to have I think USC can slightly pull away.
I think it's very very low scoring. But you know what,
college football's more fun when Texas wins and USC wins
and Miami wins. We've always said those are the three
glamour programs in college football. Miami Hurricanes, Texas Longhorns, USC,
Bama is great, Georgia great, Clemson great. They're not glamour.
(38:52):
They're just big brands and they're you know, it's it's
grinded out football and a lot of great personnel. But
right now, Miami, Texas, USC are players, ratings, ratings are
going up.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Did you see the line for USC has ticked up.
I'm stunned by this five and a half starting to
be some sixes in the desert.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
I guess a lot of people like USC here.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
It's hard for me because I think it's very low scoring.
I think it's a very Listen, Michigan has two of
the top ten players, arguably on the defensive line, and
so it's it's it's gonna you're not gonna run on
Michigan much. You're not gonna have much success running on
Michigan quarterback. Well, you do, but the USC is really
(39:36):
young red shirt freshman left tackle didn't.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Look it against LSU cowhard look very veteran.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Well, that's also you got a month and a half
to work on one game plan.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
Now the game now.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I do think an advantage here for USC his Lincoln
Riley's had two weeks to prepare. I think offensive coaches
who are elite college or pro there is no question
that in the first couple of drive for USC, they're
going to bring out. This is the Andy Reid advantage
and the Shanahan against the Jets advantage. I don't think
defensive coaches have a big advantage in the first couple
(40:09):
of weeks of the season, but I think offensive coaches
on buys or in first games, it feels like at
least a field goal advantage. So I think that if
USC had played a game last week, win or lose,
I wouldn't feel that way. But I like USC because
of the extra time, and I think that gives him
an opportunity to jump out to a lead on the road,
quiets the crowd down, especially the way Michigan got hammered
(40:32):
like this get quiet real fast in college football. You
start watching some of these college games, even some of
these NFL games, you fall behind. The temperature in the
stadium changes.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
I think I might have to ride with you on
USC I bet the what's.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
The over under? Bet the end and a half.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Oh, I bet the under. I'm betting the under. I
can't believe it's that high. I figured to be like
forty two. I mean the game if you if us,
I think it feels like to me, like, seriously, twenty
four to twenty and maybe I don't know if Michigan
can score twenty hour or two next
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