October 4, 2024 • 40 mins
Colin gives major props to Kirk Cousins for his thrilling comeback win over the Buccaneers and why it's time to give him respect for being a clutch quarterback in the NFL
Thoughts on the Mets getting to the NLDS
Kirk Cousins joins the show and Colin asks him about performing in high pressure situations after struggling early in his career
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Friday, and what a show it is.
The hero of last night, Kirk Cousins in the NFL
stopping by our show later this hour 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.
(00:47):
One hour from now, the Blazing five forty five minutes
from now. Kirk Cousins of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We had said this in the off season when they
signed him and then drafted Michael Pennix. That's good news.
Kirk's apros and I think last night, j Mac, Everybody's
always liked Kirk Cousins, but it felt like last night,
passing for over five football fields in a shootout, that
it did feel like a moment, like you could go
(01:14):
WHOA that every quarterback needs a moment or two because
the Minnesota miracle was case Keenum. Right, That's right. So
it's like, oh, that this is a Kirk moment.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
It was pretty special, unbelievable finish good theater as well
on a Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
How do people not like sports? That's what I asked
myself last night watching the Mets and the Falcons. So
two takeaways from Atlanta's when I picked this team to
win the division, and I liked when they signed Kirk Cousins.
He's a total pro. Plus, Kirk's been good for a
long time, ten years in the NFL. Nobody doubts that.
But you know, unless you're really into stats, which I
(01:47):
am and I think some of you are, But what
are the big moments? And you know the Minnesota miracle
is actually case Keenum? And so do people know that
he has fifteen game winning drives in the last four years.
Not only is that most in the NFL including Mahomes,
that's four more than any other quarterback. He also has
the greatest comeback in league history for a quarterback, thirty
(02:09):
three points. He's also the first player in NFL history
after last night, to have four hundred and fifty yard
passing games for three different franchises. Reputations are earned, however,
and early in his career, Kirk had a reputation that
he would get in standalone or primetime games. He would
get tight and a little anxious. By the way, that
(02:29):
was Peyton Manning's reputation for years in the NFL first
four or five years. Peyton Manning and Kirk Cousins smart guys, detailed,
very precise, very regimented, and if you could get him
off their game a little bit, it's a long game.
You have to sit around in the hotel at night.
Maybe it was that it got him off their game.
(02:49):
I don't know exactly what it was. Maybe I can
ask Kirk later this hour, But whatever it was, Peyton
Manning eventually broke out of it and was beaten Brady
at the end, and Kirk Cousins has the last several
years broken out of that. And last night, just think
about this, Think how long a football field is. He
passed for over five of them. It was an all
time performance. And by the way, his teammates let him
(03:13):
down a little bit. Now, they made great plays, missed
a couple field goals, a Darnell Mooney drop was six
minutes left, like they lose the game. He was wide open.
That wasn't on Captain Kirk. But he is officially graduated
to clutch quarterback class in this league. We know Mahomes
(03:34):
is in it, you know. Now we look, we still
don't know if Lamar Jackson's in it. We know Brady
was in it. We know guys that are good in
the clutch. Officially, Kirk Cousins, like Peyton Manning, took him
a few years. He's graduated. And I'll tell you that
last night, a minute fourteen, no timeouts, driving down spike
in the ball was a master's class. And I'm here
(03:55):
to tell you seventy five percent of the quarterbacks in
the NFL can do that. I mean, I've watched the
Cowboys and Dak, and Dak's good quarterback, butcher the clock
that last drive. There are not twelve guys on the
face of the earth that can do that. Between the
quarterbacking with Cousins, and look at the efficiency that is
(04:18):
a well schooled team between the coaching in Atlanta and
Kirk Cousins. I mean, we all know, we all watch
every weekend teams that butcher the clock, that is literally
goat stuff. That's Brady that's Manning, that's Mahomes the referee.
Pirouette through puts the ball down, they spike it with
(04:39):
one second. That is so much hard. These rookie quarterbacks,
they can have good Sundays, they're not doing that, these
second and third year guys. I don't think you're doing that.
I mean what you're watching last night is top of
the class stuff. And that's a professional quarterback. So I
mean just all of it watching it. And Baker played great,
and I'll get to that in a bit too, but
(05:00):
you're just watching a guy who has been an absolute
pro for ten years. He laughs at the dad jokes.
He admits his swag is actually that he has none.
But here is the walk off touchdown in overtime and
Kirk Cousins after.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
There's money in motion with Cousins and they've got a
gun it and it's caught to Darryl Hodts thirty five
seven secue. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You've clearly played in a lot of crazy games in
your career. What is this one set for you?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
This is up there.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
I've played some crazy games. I've been a losing end
and so to come out with one like this in
overtime walk offs at home on a Thursday night. I
guess you got the football team in the division. It's
a great, great performance.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Kirk Cousins deserve that, but more importantly, Kirk Cousins had
earned that. He has officially passed Joe Montana in passing
yards and passing touchdowns. The anti swag guy later in
the hour, what a moment, what a game, A standalone
(06:16):
game ahead of the class. All right, Mets, what a
night it was in sports Mets Brewers, I said yesterday
on the show, I was kind of pulling for the
Mets because the Mets in the Phillies along with the
Dodgers and the Padres, it just feels big. Now, Milwaukee's stacked,
(06:36):
Milwaukee's young, Milwaukee's great, and that one that leaves a mark,
that loss. But so here you go with Pete Alonzo
and Pete Alonso is the classic power hitter, great at
the home run derby, big bombs, lots of strikeouts, and
as this team has been on fire since June, Pete
(06:58):
has not had a great season, hitting two four, stuck
out one hundred and seventy two times. You know, the
nickname is the polar Bear. The way he wears his socks,
the high socks. He's really an old school guy. But
he's a free agent and the Mets had offered him
a deal and Pete Alonzo had turned it down, and
as the team was playing well, Pete hasn't had a
(07:18):
great season. It's been a little rocky, right, And so
this is New York. It's not Saint Louis, where everybody's nice.
It's not Minnesota. There's a term Minnesota nice. It's New York.
New Yorkers are nice. But the win. We're paying a
lot for these tickets. The intensity in New York is different.
The Yankees across the street have won so many games
(07:40):
and so many World Series titles. What is it like
twenty seven met fans want you to deliver. You're a
free agent. They made an offer you passed. So I
don't know if the city had turned on him.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
But he.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Wasn't in the family circle. It felt like he was
on his way out. He was leaving the family top
of the night, ninth trailing to nothing, season about the end, Jared,
is it at the end? And what do you know?
The big bomber, Pete Alonzo steps up. Here's the pitch,
(08:15):
swinging a five ball to right field pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well, HiT's Raelick back at the wall.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
He jumps, thanks gone hate hate that at Peto Alonzo
with the most.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Preporable home run of his herrare.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Perfectly New York a bum into a hero in about
six seconds. And that's what New York does. He was
the most popular met for years. It's the home run derby,
the you know, your classic big bombs, lot of strikeout guy.
And again, the difference between New York and Saint Louis
is the intensity, the scrutiny and the harshness. But New
(08:49):
York also gives the best hugs. And when you're a hero,
it's an amazing place. And this has been a clutch
team all season. And Pete Alonso, who's been like one
of the favorite players for years and years. This year
kind of the tide turned and he reels everybody in
the Apple right back in and here he was after.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
It's just been such a great ride all year and
I'm just happy I could come through for my team.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Right there. It's a really special moment.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Biggest home run, biggest hitting his career. And oh, by
the way, not that this is a big deal, but
you can catch the Mets and the Phillies right here
on Fox. Yeah, I mean it helps. I'm not gonna lie.
It pays.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
The Bills, Todre's Dodgers, Mets Phillies here. For those of
you who don't like sports, you lost last night.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You probably talked politics with your friends. We won because
it was a one of the great random Thursdays wild finishes.
The best Thursday night football game I can remember. There's
been some good ones, and I was just about ready.
I mean I was thinking to myself, Oh, come on,
give me a run something against Milwaukee. By the way,
(10:05):
Bob Youger's ninety years old. I was listening to his
final call on the internet this morning. It's like, we
don't nobody has anything against Milwaukee. They've been since the
Doug Melvin years. They've been drafting really well. It's a
good organization. But I'm going to be honest with you,
Mets Phillies feels bigger and did you know this is nuts?
(10:26):
So the Phillies have been around since the eighteen hundreds,
like the first in the National League. I don't know
if they were I think they were called the Quakers initially,
now the Phillies. So the Phillies have been around since
the eighteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds. You know the Mets
been around, you know Casey Stingo Polo Grounds. These two
teams have never met in the playoffs. Is that the
(10:47):
craziest thing? They've never met in the playoffs. The Phillies
weren't the first National League team, but it's eighteen late
eighteen hundreds, so I can't wait for it. And sometimes
at a network we get a little bit of a break,
and baseball is one of those sports where markets do matter. Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Podres.
(11:08):
It kind of feels big.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
J Mac.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
We both liked Atlanta. They could have easily lost that game.
When Darnell Mooney dropped that ball. I thought, oh, Cousins
is having the game of a lifetime and his teammates
wide open and drops it. They miss field goals. But
both Baker and Kirk Cousins put on an absolute clinic
and quarterback clubs.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I wanted to ask you about Baker Mayfield. He had
an amazing first half. He was nearly perfect, three touchdowns.
I think he had like a book thirty and he
threw for like fifty yards of the second half. What
on earth happened to the Tampa Bay offense. What did
they do at halftime? Hey, they score on every single
drive in the first half, touchdown or field goal, second half.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Critical, So it's interesting. So I heard the announcers say this.
Herb Street and Al Michaels talked about this is that
Atlanta because Raheem Morris a defensive coach, Atlanta does not
generate much of a pass rush in the first half
of their games. They had zero in the first half
all season? Was it all season or last night last night?
For sure? Okay, And they were talking about how they
(12:06):
don't get a lot of pressure in the first half.
So what they do is get pressure, better pressure on
the second half. So that tells me as a defensive coach,
Raheem Morris is one of those guys who tweaked stuff
at halftime. So they don't have a prodigious pat pass rush.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
You know, Vita Villa, I'm watching him just bowl over
people for Atlanta, and Atlanta's got a good offensive line.
He just blows through it. So it's just one of
those things where Atlanta didn't generate much of a pass rush.
Baker was on a spot in the second half. He
did have a couple of nice scrambles. Baker's more athletic
than people think. But you know it was also if
(12:41):
you go look at how many times Baker threw the
ball and what Kirk Cousins did. As good as Baker's
night was, it was almost like half in terms of
volume what Kirk Cousins was. And also Kyle Pets had
some moments last night. That guy showing right now, Drake London,
a USC kid who was a great basketball player in
high school. I can remember when US he signed him.
(13:03):
My buddy Gavin said, this kid's unbelievable. He wasn't he
wasn't a five star guy. He's like, this guy's a
first round NFL receiver. It was like it was like
seventeen eighteen. So he's really athletic. And Kirk Cousins and
Drake London were they were hummin last.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
And can you be honest with me, when Kirk throws
the pick with like two minutes left on fourth and fifteen,
were you.
Speaker 8 (13:21):
Like, oh, there's Kirk Cousins Primetime showed up.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Bes honest, No, because they had timeouts left. And also
you and I do the gambling stuff. We've been talking
about this for two years. Kirk had a moment when
standalone games it wasn't his thing. But actually, over the
last three to four years, and this happens by the way, again,
Peyton Manning was really tight. I can remember Bill Poley
(13:45):
and telling me a story. He said that he called
Peyton a teeth clencher. He was really detailed and regimented,
and he hated long halftimes Sunday night games. Well, Peyton
became a star and the Colts were on these Sunday
night games. Peyton didn't like to get off his schedule
because he was so detailed, like I think was Tony
(14:07):
Dungee once told me or Bill Poulie, and they had
a family day on Saturday, as they like family to
show up for practice, and Peyton was like, we got
to go through more run throughs. So Kirk is like Peyton,
very regimented and very precise and detailed, and I think
early in his career he didn't like to, I'm guessing,
get off his spot, get off his schedule. But eventually
Peyton broke through in the last three years. And also
(14:31):
the other thing is when you throw fifty five times.
I've been on this for years, you get a pick.
I've never been bothered. People used to bang on Andrew Luck,
Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck. You know, Aaron Rodgers
and Mahomes are unique. Even Mahomes now has horrible picks weekly.
I think people get way too caught up in interceptions.
(14:53):
As long as it's not in the red zone or
deep in your own territory. It's just a change of possession,
you get. I mean, we're not talking like the Will
Levis situations where it got the game, give up the game.
If you're at the forty yard line, you throw it
down field and it's picked off at the twenty four
yard line, and especially if you have a good defense.
So I don't I think you don't want to a
(15:14):
game three, a game four game. Mahomes the best quarterback
in the planet. He's throwing a stinker every week. This year,
Brady had a pick six in a Super Bowl. We
both love Matt Stafford. He has some of the worst picks.
He had won this past weekend at Chicago that was
one of Matt Stafford's worst throws as a pro.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
It happens.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I see Todd Bowles texting me, Jason get Collin to
mention the missed face mask late in the game.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
That really killed it. And I'm just kidding, but that
was a bad miscall you got, admit. I could see
it on the TV.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Listen if you if you look at pass interference over
the course of a game, there has never been a
game in league history where I can't argue on the
other side of three to four pis over the course
of a game. So if a ref misses a hand
in a face mask, you can go to games and
go to every ball down the sideline with bumping. That
(16:03):
stuff is a coin flip every time.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
So I thought Baker Mayfield looked like Oklahoma sooners. Baker
Mayfield last night finished with one hundred and thirty seven
passer rating, had a remarkable first half, only five incompletions
all night, a lot of good scrambling, three touchdown passes.
He's gonna win a lot of games in Tampa. That's
a good roster. They're gonna win a lot of games
this year. And they had that thing last night. It
felt like sealed up for a while. Eleven tds, two
(16:36):
picks on the season. Mike Evans is Hall of Fame stuff,
So his mobility has gotten better, I think this year
than previous years. He's moving, he's lost a little weight
that looks like he was feeling it, and he's a
guy that really feeds off of motion. I don't think Baker, Gino,
and Sam Darnold's a fluke. They're all first or second
round picks. They're all good, good players. They're all well traveled,
(16:57):
so they dealt with different coordinators, different cultures, different coaches.
I mean the Kirk Cousins, who's better than Baker and
Sam and Gino. But you bounce around the league a
couple of times. I mean, you start playing with different coordinators,
different coaches, and you compartmentalize that stuff. So now Baker's
got all those callouses and he's always had the tools,
(17:19):
He's got all that knowledge, and now he's got the tools.
So I mean, there's two quarterback classes that are winning
in the NFL. Number one is the Superstars, but they
have skimpier supporting casts. And the second are really talented guys. Gino,
Baker and Sam Donald, and they've got loaded wide receiver groups.
(17:39):
In fact, I looked up this morning. If you go
to Donald Baker and Gino, the receivers they play with
have twelve Pro Bowls and nine to All Pros. They're
Hall of Fame guys. Kansas City's been trying to figure
out the wide receiver room for years. Okay, Baltimore finally
has a good, not great wide receiver room and Josh
(18:00):
Allen they had to move off Stefan Diggs. So there's
two ways to win in this league consistently, and we're
really seeing the second way this year, which is give
a veteran, well traveled guy that that maybe not be Mahomes,
isn't a Kirk Cousins, but his darn close and on
good nights, is feeling it. And you know, by the
(18:20):
way Baker smiled after the game at an Atlanta coach,
he knew very well, give me a break, folks, when
you've been rejected, when you've been demoted, this guy, Baker
Mayfield was behind p J. Walker and Caroline at one point,
give me a break. Baker has earned the right to
hug a coach, tell them, man, love you man, you're
(18:42):
one of the best guys I've ever worked with. I
don't want to hear that that bothers you. Here's Baker,
after all.
Speaker 9 (18:48):
I care about his wins.
Speaker 8 (18:49):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So got to find a.
Speaker 9 (18:51):
Way to finish that game out on offense, have to
make the players when they're there, and then in the
second half, just got to take care of the foot
and then gotta finish on offense.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Listen, I was hard on Baker to begin with. I
totally supported Tampa. I said, you got to sign him.
He's earned it. And the only reason we're not leading
our show with Baker is Kirk Cousins had one of
the greatest standalone games in league history. So Baker was
really good. And whatever it is, I don't know what
it is. Pilates, I don't know. He feels more mobile
(19:25):
to me the last couple of years than he was previously.
Maybe he's just finally healthy. He got dinged up in Cleveland.
Maybe he's finally healthy. But Baker slinging it, Gino slinging it,
Darnold's slinging it, and they're all gonna win a lot
of games this year. J Mack with a.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
News no, no turn on the news. This is the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
All Right, you remember last week Jordan Love down twenty
eight nothing to the Vikings. He ended up throwing the
ball fifty four times Colin In his first game back
from an mcl injury, Love did set career hising completions, attempts,
passing yards and touchdowns. Lafleur says the work was good
for Love in his return.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
It looks like he's just getting back into the groove.
Speaker 9 (20:06):
And like I mentioned the other day, I mean not
that we want to throw fifty some odd times in
the game, but I thought the more we threw, the
better he got.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I'm gonna stay away from the Rams saying Packers, I'm
gonna stay away. I believe what we saw in the
first half against the Vikings was hasn't played enough yet
against the great defensive coordinator. And the second half was Okay,
Jordan's getting his reps, He's ready to go. My gut
feeling is the Packers are gonna come out here to
Los Angeles and you're gonna see more of the second
(20:37):
half Jordan Love. Now, Christian Watson is banged up. The
young kid. I think it's Wicks not playing particularly well,
so the receiving corps isn't quite what it needs to be.
But a lot of this is he just did not
get the reps. He's working his way into form. I
think this is the last game where the Packers will
(20:58):
feel a little vulnerable, and then I think they're gonna
get on their way and start reeling off winning streaks.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
We'll see.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Actually, Wicks was good. It was Romeo Dobbs got di
didn't do anything. Wi's had two touchdowns. He looks like
he might be there number one now with Watson out. Yes,
the Rams injury report is getting better, but I'm with you,
I don't get this game.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
I do know.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
The last time we saw the Packers on a fast
surface was that Cowboys playoff game. And Jayden Reid in
space is just I mean, the Rams secondary is not
very good. It's not so I don't know what to
do with this game. But I'm curious about the Packers
defense coming. If Sam Darnold could carve them up, well,
hed he carved them up in the first half. A
(21:39):
lot of that's on script. They got up to a
huge lead. I mean, that was a tale of Jack Staffer,
who has a coach quarterback advantage here.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Well, but remember no Pooka and Cooper Cupp. You had
a Jordan Jefferson, I mean Jordan jeff Justin Jefferson. Justin
Jefferson was insane against green Bay, absolutely insane. So there there,
there's you're talking about. Now the Rams, yea, they're at home.
That crowd will be sixty to forty Packer fans, maybe more,
maybe it could be seventy thirty Packer fans. And I
(22:07):
mean Wisconsin travels for bowl games and they travel for
the Packers. So my take is, don't don't compare Minnesota's.
Minnesota is one of the deepest offensive teams in this league.
Remember before the season, we both said if they finished fourth,
it will be the greatest offensive personnel in league history
to finish fourth. And they're not going to finish fourth.
(22:28):
So I don't think. I think this is actually a
low scoring game.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I don't see. I mean, it's to two out Wells,
their go to guy, Christian Watson's banged up. You're right,
it is Romeo Dobbs, the receiving core for them. It
just doesn't quite feel like it's there yet. So I
just it's a stay away game. For me, it's also
a game I want to watch and not be all,
you know, worried about the line.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Next up is the Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes. He's
still on the struggle by sorry, casey fan Mahomes career
lows in passing yards instead a career high in interceptions.
Speaker 8 (23:05):
That was last year they did win the Super Bowl.
This year he's struggling.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
And Mahomes here's what he had to say about the
experience of last year helping him this year. That's why
I think it's special and what we're doing early in
the season, not playing our best football, but finding ways
to win because a lot of these games could be losses.
We could be looking at a way different rest of
the year, Mahomes said.
Speaker 8 (23:24):
Now here's the interesting part.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
You notice this, not only are they four to zero
this year in one score games, but the last seven
games have been all one score games and they've won
them all.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
Colin, I don't need to remind you that ain't sustainable.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
This game against the Saints, like it seems like there's
a tug of war going on with the line.
Speaker 8 (23:44):
It was six and then it went down and now
it's back up to six.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I'm on the back downs, are you?
Speaker 8 (23:49):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
In fact, if you My friend Chad Millman always says this.
There is what you call a luck rating in the NFL.
So there are teams that are lucky and unlucky. Based
on some stats, the Saints are the unluckiest team in
the league. If you really look at statistically what they're doing,
they should be a much I mean, this is a
team that humiliated Dallas in Dallas should have beaten Philadelphia, right,
(24:14):
So I don't know about that. I will say this,
Derek Carr is having a very good year. Kansas City
now has had to spend a week figuring out who
do we throw to? And as you're you're pointing out,
they're falling behind every week. And what the problem with
that at home is the crowd gets real quiet. When
you're down ten to nothing or seven, nothing, everything comes down.
(24:35):
So I don't I think this. I think to your point,
Kansas City's gonna lose one of these games. You cannot
keep It's not sustainable. It's like fumbles. Some teams have
years they fumbled, they don't that stuff. It never sustains.
You either have a there's luck. The Saints have been
an unlucky team.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
So we know what Car doesn't like, and that's pressure
up the middle. Member Philadelphia went with the five defensive
linemen and Car could do nothing.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
I mean he had a bad game.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
They could run the football. Now you gotta face Chris Jones.
Where's he going to dominate up the middle against your
backup center. So I am worried about, you know, Chris
Jones simply wrecking this game.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
Spatola wants to develop Blitzay.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Derek Carr is the highest granted quarterback in the league
according to PFS. I'm just telling you what they're sitting.
Speaker 8 (25:17):
Loaded up on the first two games.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Basically, well they count too.
Speaker 8 (25:21):
Well, the Panthers and Cowboys.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah, and then you face the Eagles and they got
out game by like two hundred yards.
Speaker 8 (25:28):
This is tough. So you're is this blazing five for you? Yes?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Oh, I get Derek Carr, that offense five and a
half against the Kansas City team that can't beat anybody badly.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
So, the guy who loves to look at coaching quarterback matchups,
you're riding with Dennis Allen and Derek Carr against Andy
Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Are you watching What's Happening last week, Matt Lafleur and
Caleb Williams beat Matt Stafford and Sean McVay.
Speaker 8 (25:51):
Well, somebody's smart here called that game early last week,
but I don't know who that was.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Let's go to the final story, and that's DeVante Adams.
He was with the Raiders, remember, because he wanted to
play with Derek Carr, his buddy from Fresno. Of course,
then the Raiders moved on from Carr, and now Adams
is stuck with Jimmy Garoppolo An O'Connell, and now they're
on Gardner minshew. It's just a poo poo platter of quarterbacks. Well,
Carr said he wouldn't mind a reunion.
Speaker 8 (26:16):
With his old college teammate.
Speaker 10 (26:18):
I think all.
Speaker 7 (26:19):
Thirty two quarterbacks would love to play with Demonta, you know,
you know, we would would welcome that. I don't know
if I get trouble to say that. I just I
think it's just everyone kind of knows that. I think
everyone would love to play with Tay, and I would.
I would, obviously, you know, welcome play with him again
if if that ever worked out in our careers.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
I kind of like Derek Carr, I do know something
about he just got like an aw shucks nature.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
Do you see why he's talking. He's always he.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Ended up at Fresno State second round guy, so he's
always had a little chip on his shoulder and he
he'll bark at teammates like there's leadership stuff there. He'll
bark at teammates. Very talented guy. Guy reminds me of
I think he's more talented than Andy Dalton, who also
went in the second round, but kind of has an
Andy Dalton feel where he's not that elite but he's
below it and he's been really good for a long time.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Where are you any movement on your thoughts on DeVante
Adams here?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I think it's three of the affair. If if you
know how certain times like you look for things, do
they check boxes. Let's say you're in your family're gonna
move cross country? You put in are we close to family?
Does the morning work? How are the schools for the kids?
If you're putting down boxes to check for the Jets,
it's like coach needs to win, offense needs a spark.
(27:29):
Davante's work with Aaron The Jets are the one that
make total sense. I can see Buffalo doing it to
play keep away from Kansas City, but I don't think
Buffalo needs him. I think they're gonna win a lot
of games this year in the division without Davonte Adams.
The Jets are on the precipice. Go look at their
schedule like they're on the precipice of this thing unraveled.
Speaker 8 (27:52):
And I told you they got bills next week's which
is not good.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Okay, they gotta win this So Vikings bills also, Mets won.
They'll be playing the Phillies at the Yankees playoffs. Nick's
trade season about to open. NBA. You know how Woody
Johnson is. Relevance matters. You get housed by Minnesota, you
are off the back page. That stuff matters. I never
used to think it matters. It matters in New York.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
If you wouldn't mind putting on your conspiracy theory had
for a second. Did you see the Chiefs yesterday announced
rareshe Rice is going on injured reserve, no other details.
Speaker 8 (28:25):
Well does that do anything for you?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
And by the way, no reporter, none of the credible
guys that everybody knows, has come out and said the
Raiders are not trading him in the division that has
not been uttered.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
You would think that would be right out of the gate.
Do you hate sorry Chargers?
Speaker 10 (28:39):
Sorry?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Do you have to take shots at reporters?
Speaker 8 (28:43):
No, No, that's not a shot.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
I'm saying the Raiders would have fed this information to
the reporters to let everybody know that's off the table.
Speaker 8 (28:49):
Stop talking about it. So was she Rice? I are
that's not out for the season. That's just four games.
We still don't know what's going on with Rice.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
And then you've got DeVante Adams in the division, and
you know he's a game changer.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
You want a three P.
Speaker 8 (29:03):
I think DeVante Adams locks up the three P right.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Do you know what Tom te LESCo the Raiders would
ask to give him up in division?
Speaker 8 (29:12):
Do you know what the Chiefs first round pick to
be the first team to three peat in NFL history?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I would want to know.
Speaker 8 (29:17):
That's something the Patriots did not do. Calling you know,
you talk what I want Belichick? How about that? I
want Andy redversus Belichick. Andy Reid has a three peace,
I want.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
A first round pick and I want Rashi Rice.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
Well, stop, that's insane.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
I don't think that should be out of the The
first round pick for Kansas City's gonna be like twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Anyway, could be thirty two, could be thirty.
Speaker 8 (29:39):
Two, and you've got the three P. I don't see
why the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Would tell you about conspiracy theories. It's that that Oklahoma
guy got bigfoot on camera and that's a that's a
conspiracy theory. That's the one I want.
Speaker 8 (29:50):
To talk about. I'm waiting for the Lockness monster to
pop up in Scotland or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
And you talk about going seventies to me J Mack
with the news.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herd.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Well, only one other player in the history of football,
one other quarterback has had a game like Kirk Cousins
had last night in primetime over five hundred yards. Think
about that, five football fields, four touchdowns. Kirk Cousins and
Tom Brady in a primetime standalone game that was an
all time performance. He's joining us live. He doesn't even
look tiny. Look at this guy, looks like he just
(30:30):
got nine holes to aren't you a I mean it
went to overtime. Aren't you a little beat up this morning?
Speaker 8 (30:36):
Kirk? A little?
Speaker 10 (30:38):
Oh, I definitely am.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
I got home about two thirty in the morning last night,
so it was a long night but a fun night.
Speaker 10 (30:47):
And now we've got a long weekend to rest up, and.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
I'll be posted up with my couch watching everybody else
play football.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
So we know basketball players talk about getting into his own.
We know baseball hitters talk about getting into his own.
And I'm watching you, and by the way, Baker played
a heck of a game, but you're on You're passing
like fifty five plus times. So do quarterbacks get into zones?
I mean, you've always been accurate, but did you did
you have something extra last night? Or is it there's
(31:14):
too much stuff going on in your head to worry
about that.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
I think you certainly can get to a place where
you feel like the game slows down and you've got
good anticipation. I think that for me, what troubled me
to start the year was I didn't feel like I
had that anticipation or that sense of where things were going.
And each week I've improved, and then I felt like
last night, our offense and my own play kind of
took a big jump forward where I was anticipating better.
(31:40):
I was playing fast, I was quick, but I wasn't
in a hurry, and that's really where you want to
be all the time. But it's just taken me a
few weeks to get there, and now the challenges can
we sustain over the next few months.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
So you're a veteran quarterback and Stafford's talked about this before.
You're on a very young offense, Drake London, Kyle Pits, Bijon.
These are kids and you are you are You're like
a coach. Is that hard? Is it refreshing? How does
that land for you?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 10 (32:11):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
I think it gives me a chance to assert myself
more as a leader. When I was in Washington, I
was playing with players who were twice my age at
those skill positions, you know, Vernon Davis, Pierre garcon De,
Shaun Jackson. These guys had double digit years in the
league and I was, you know, in year four, just
trying to figure it out and hoping they weren't going
to get mad at me. So now as a thirteen
year VET working with guys in year two and three,
(32:34):
it gives me a great chance to be an encourager
to kind of help them hopefully get to where they
want to go and be a part of that. So
I enjoy that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
So I want you to take me because I said
the start of the show, there's not seven eight guys
in the world right now playing quarterback that could have
done that last minute fourteen no timeouts. That is really hard.
That is it's you to me, first of all, cognitively,
clock young teammates the way you guys scrambled. The referee,
(33:04):
by the way, did a great job to pirow it
out of there. Yeah, they did, did a great job.
Take me to the last minute fourteenth? Is there ramped
up anxiety? What are you looking for? Everybody was clearly
on the same page. Is that Do you get more
focused in those little micro moments?
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Well, I think you trust your training and you go
back to your process. You know, Kou being the kicker,
you know that you have some grace as to how
far you need to go to get that field goal.
And then you know, we're pretty well coached on you know,
those situations of when the ball's got to be out
of bounds or to the end zone. And when you know,
we have have to clock it. So that was executed well.
(33:45):
And to your point, the referees have gotten a lot better. Yeah,
allowing people to clock the ball quickly. I think two
or three years ago that ref might have taken too long.
Speaker 10 (33:55):
We wouldn't have had a chance.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
So kudos to them for kind of getting that dialed
in where he just touched the ball and enables us
to operate quickly.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
You know, I was looking at this, your coaches, this
is crazy. McVeigh, Shanahan, Lafleur, Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski, Kevin o'conne.
You have had smart dudes. You've probably and I think
Raheem Morris for a defensive coach is he was mcvay's buddy.
He's probably better than average for a defensive coach. Do
you did you take little bits and pieces out of
(34:24):
all of them?
Speaker 8 (34:25):
And I mean you.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Could you say, yeah, McVeigh showed me this, Kevin O'Connell,
or if you've always been kind of the same guy,
have you borrowed things? Do you take things when you
have that many good coaches around you.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
That's a great question. Many of them came from the
same tree. And so they were often in the same
room and as a result, we sort of speak the
same high level language with all of them. That being said,
has been fascinating to see as they've gone their separate ways,
They've each kind of put their own spin on things.
And so I've gotten back with a Kevin O'Connell or
(34:56):
a Zach Robinson after being with Sean McVeigh and being
away from Sean for several years and then learning how
Sean and their group evolved it from where we were
when I was with Sean has been really cool to see.
And then each person kind of puts their own creative
spin on it, and you know, now in Atlanta, we're
kind of trying to evolve into what the twenty twenty
(35:16):
four Falcons look like, which is, you know, different from
the twenty three Vikings, different from the twenty three Rams
that Zach Robinson was with, but.
Speaker 10 (35:24):
Keep trying to take those steps and innovate.
Speaker 5 (35:26):
And then also as a copycat league, so you try
to steal from the good ideas you see on tape.
But I've been very fortunate to be around a lot
of great coaches. I throw Gary Kubiak and Clint Kubiak,
and Rick Dennison into that list. Big part of having
success at the quarterback position is who are your coaches?
And for thirteen years I've been able to be around
a lot of good ones.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
You have a lot more records than people realize, most
game winning drives in the history of the league in
a single season eight And you know I said this earlier.
You and Peyton Manning are very detailed, precise guys. You're smart.
You're detailed. Early in both of your careers, sometimes instead
of the one o'clock game, you go to these primetime games.
You're sitting around all day in a hotel and early
(36:05):
in your career and Peyton's people said, well, kurtin primetime games,
isn't the same quarterback? Well that's changed, and it changed
for Peyton. You go back to your first, second, third
year in the league and now what have you done?
Because something's different. You're now one of the best in
the league. So was Peyton at the end. But in
the first couple of years there was a label Kirk Peyton.
(36:26):
They're precise, they're detailed, they don't like to be off
their you know, schedule. Was that true? What happened? What's
transformed for you.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
You know, it's hard to say, I think when you'll
beck and look at it, I had a couple of
clunkers in primetime when I was a young player, But
to be honest, if those games have been played at
noon or one o'clock, it probably would have been a
clunker anyways, because of how young of a player I was.
But the reality was I was playing on teams that
were five hundred teams, and in primetime we often got
scheduled to play defending super Bowl champs and division champs
(36:57):
and you know, teams that were going to make deeper
in the playoffs, and so it was unlikely we were
going to win going into the game, and then when
we lost, it became a you know, Kirk's not great
in primetime, but if you really look at the production,
I was pretty much the same player from just a
statistical standpoint. In those primetime games, we just weren't winning.
And as of late, we've been able to kind of
(37:17):
turn the tide when it comes to finding away at
the end of the game to win. But if you know,
a call doesn't go away last night, or a break
doesn't go our away, you know, yes we lose, but
I don't walk away saying I didn't play well. I
just walk away saying we didn't do enough to win.
And I understand it's all about winning, but you know,
I wouldn't have changed my approach as to how I
played or how I prepared. So, you know, as a quarterback,
(37:39):
you're gonna always kind of get too much praise, too
much criticism, and I think some of that showed up
with the primetime narrative. But I'm kind of on the
other side of it now, where now people view me as, oh,
you're playing well in primetime and I'm thinking, well, I'm
playing about the same.
Speaker 10 (37:53):
We're just winning, and so it leads to a little
more praise.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, clutch Kirk Cousins. By the way, about forty five
seconds left first game off of surgery, people said, look
at Kirk, he doesn't trust his body. Second game, Everybody's like,
Kirk's back forty seconds but you've can't. I mean, it
did look like that first game you were kind of
feeling your body out. How do you feel now? How
do you feel?
Speaker 10 (38:14):
You know it had less to do with the achilles.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
It had more to do with the fact that I
just hadn't played since Week eight of last year, and
I had won a red jersey in practice all these
months and I didn't play in a preseason game, and
practice oftentimes we were going against the twos and there
was just a lot of simulated things that weren't the
real deal.
Speaker 10 (38:32):
And so to be back in.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
The fire for the first time, I had some rusto
to get off. And I think each week, the last
you know, several have been an improvement, and I think
last night we took a big step forward. But now
the challenges is can we continue to maintain that standard
as we move forward. But I did feel a different
level of anticipation and playing fast last night. That is
(38:55):
back to kind of my old self. That I felt
was we were on our way there, but we hadn't
really closed the gap. It felled until last night.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
By the way, Zach Robinson, maybe only throw fifty four
times next week, not fifty eight, five hundred and nine
yards four touchdowns. It's just it was remarkable, and congratulations.
You've earned it. You not only deserve it for your career,
you've earned it, and I appreciate you doing this. Go
take an afternoon nap on us. We appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
I think I will call thank you appreciate you bet.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Kirk Cousins on a magical night for him and the Falcons.
This this league is so close. They had it, they
lost it. They had it, they lost it, they had it.
I mean, when Mooney drops that ball, I'm thinking, oh,
why don't. But he got a second chance.
Speaker 6 (39:43):
What a night.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Kirk Cousins, crazy, absolutely crazy, all right, blazing fives around
the corner. I got a rebound. Nice stunk last week?
Speaker 8 (39:54):
How was it one? Not good? Okay, we'll just leave
it at that. Bounce back. It's all of us. We
all got a bounce back in life.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Come on, you got this.
Speaker 8 (40:01):
Just pick the Jets. You'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
All right, it's the hurt.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Friday, and what a show it is.
The hero of last night, Kirk Cousins in the NFL
stopping by our show later this hour 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.
(00:47):
One hour from now, the Blazing five forty five minutes
from now. Kirk Cousins of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We had said this in the off season when they
signed him and then drafted Michael Pennix. That's good news.
Kirk's apros and I think last night, j Mac, Everybody's
always liked Kirk Cousins, but it felt like last night,
passing for over five football fields in a shootout, that
it did feel like a moment, like you could go
(01:14):
WHOA that every quarterback needs a moment or two because
the Minnesota miracle was case Keenum. Right, That's right. So
it's like, oh, that this is a Kirk moment.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
It was pretty special, unbelievable finish good theater as well
on a Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
How do people not like sports? That's what I asked
myself last night watching the Mets and the Falcons. So
two takeaways from Atlanta's when I picked this team to
win the division, and I liked when they signed Kirk Cousins.
He's a total pro. Plus, Kirk's been good for a
long time, ten years in the NFL. Nobody doubts that.
But you know, unless you're really into stats, which I
(01:47):
am and I think some of you are, But what
are the big moments? And you know the Minnesota miracle
is actually case Keenum? And so do people know that
he has fifteen game winning drives in the last four years.
Not only is that most in the NFL including Mahomes,
that's four more than any other quarterback. He also has
the greatest comeback in league history for a quarterback, thirty
(02:09):
three points. He's also the first player in NFL history
after last night, to have four hundred and fifty yard
passing games for three different franchises. Reputations are earned, however,
and early in his career, Kirk had a reputation that
he would get in standalone or primetime games. He would
get tight and a little anxious. By the way, that
(02:29):
was Peyton Manning's reputation for years in the NFL first
four or five years. Peyton Manning and Kirk Cousins smart guys, detailed,
very precise, very regimented, and if you could get him
off their game a little bit, it's a long game.
You have to sit around in the hotel at night.
Maybe it was that it got him off their game.
(02:49):
I don't know exactly what it was. Maybe I can
ask Kirk later this hour, But whatever it was, Peyton
Manning eventually broke out of it and was beaten Brady
at the end, and Kirk Cousins has the last several
years broken out of that. And last night, just think
about this, Think how long a football field is. He
passed for over five of them. It was an all
time performance. And by the way, his teammates let him
(03:13):
down a little bit. Now, they made great plays, missed
a couple field goals, a Darnell Mooney drop was six
minutes left, like they lose the game. He was wide open.
That wasn't on Captain Kirk. But he is officially graduated
to clutch quarterback class in this league. We know Mahomes
(03:34):
is in it, you know. Now we look, we still
don't know if Lamar Jackson's in it. We know Brady
was in it. We know guys that are good in
the clutch. Officially, Kirk Cousins, like Peyton Manning, took him
a few years. He's graduated. And I'll tell you that
last night, a minute fourteen, no timeouts, driving down spike
in the ball was a master's class. And I'm here
(03:55):
to tell you seventy five percent of the quarterbacks in
the NFL can do that. I mean, I've watched the
Cowboys and Dak, and Dak's good quarterback, butcher the clock
that last drive. There are not twelve guys on the
face of the earth that can do that. Between the
quarterbacking with Cousins, and look at the efficiency that is
(04:18):
a well schooled team between the coaching in Atlanta and
Kirk Cousins. I mean, we all know, we all watch
every weekend teams that butcher the clock, that is literally
goat stuff. That's Brady that's Manning, that's Mahomes the referee.
Pirouette through puts the ball down, they spike it with
(04:39):
one second. That is so much hard. These rookie quarterbacks,
they can have good Sundays, they're not doing that, these
second and third year guys. I don't think you're doing that.
I mean what you're watching last night is top of
the class stuff. And that's a professional quarterback. So I
mean just all of it watching it. And Baker played great,
and I'll get to that in a bit too, but
(05:00):
you're just watching a guy who has been an absolute
pro for ten years. He laughs at the dad jokes.
He admits his swag is actually that he has none.
But here is the walk off touchdown in overtime and
Kirk Cousins after.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
There's money in motion with Cousins and they've got a
gun it and it's caught to Darryl Hodts thirty five
seven secue. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You've clearly played in a lot of crazy games in
your career. What is this one set for you?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
This is up there.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
I've played some crazy games. I've been a losing end
and so to come out with one like this in
overtime walk offs at home on a Thursday night. I
guess you got the football team in the division. It's
a great, great performance.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Kirk Cousins deserve that, but more importantly, Kirk Cousins had
earned that. He has officially passed Joe Montana in passing
yards and passing touchdowns. The anti swag guy later in
the hour, what a moment, what a game, A standalone
(06:16):
game ahead of the class. All right, Mets, what a
night it was in sports Mets Brewers, I said yesterday
on the show, I was kind of pulling for the
Mets because the Mets in the Phillies along with the
Dodgers and the Padres, it just feels big. Now, Milwaukee's stacked,
(06:36):
Milwaukee's young, Milwaukee's great, and that one that leaves a mark,
that loss. But so here you go with Pete Alonzo
and Pete Alonso is the classic power hitter, great at
the home run derby, big bombs, lots of strikeouts, and
as this team has been on fire since June, Pete
(06:58):
has not had a great season, hitting two four, stuck
out one hundred and seventy two times. You know, the
nickname is the polar Bear. The way he wears his socks,
the high socks. He's really an old school guy. But
he's a free agent and the Mets had offered him
a deal and Pete Alonzo had turned it down, and
as the team was playing well, Pete hasn't had a
(07:18):
great season. It's been a little rocky, right, And so
this is New York. It's not Saint Louis, where everybody's nice.
It's not Minnesota. There's a term Minnesota nice. It's New York.
New Yorkers are nice. But the win. We're paying a
lot for these tickets. The intensity in New York is different.
The Yankees across the street have won so many games
(07:40):
and so many World Series titles. What is it like
twenty seven met fans want you to deliver. You're a
free agent. They made an offer you passed. So I
don't know if the city had turned on him.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
But he.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Wasn't in the family circle. It felt like he was
on his way out. He was leaving the family top
of the night, ninth trailing to nothing, season about the end, Jared,
is it at the end? And what do you know?
The big bomber, Pete Alonzo steps up. Here's the pitch,
(08:15):
swinging a five ball to right field pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well, HiT's Raelick back at the wall.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
He jumps, thanks gone hate hate that at Peto Alonzo
with the most.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Preporable home run of his herrare.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Perfectly New York a bum into a hero in about
six seconds. And that's what New York does. He was
the most popular met for years. It's the home run derby,
the you know, your classic big bombs, lot of strikeout guy.
And again, the difference between New York and Saint Louis
is the intensity, the scrutiny and the harshness. But New
(08:49):
York also gives the best hugs. And when you're a hero,
it's an amazing place. And this has been a clutch
team all season. And Pete Alonso, who's been like one
of the favorite players for years and years. This year
kind of the tide turned and he reels everybody in
the Apple right back in and here he was after.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
It's just been such a great ride all year and
I'm just happy I could come through for my team.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Right there. It's a really special moment.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Biggest home run, biggest hitting his career. And oh, by
the way, not that this is a big deal, but
you can catch the Mets and the Phillies right here
on Fox. Yeah, I mean it helps. I'm not gonna lie.
It pays.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
The Bills, Todre's Dodgers, Mets Phillies here. For those of
you who don't like sports, you lost last night.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You probably talked politics with your friends. We won because
it was a one of the great random Thursdays wild finishes.
The best Thursday night football game I can remember. There's
been some good ones, and I was just about ready.
I mean I was thinking to myself, Oh, come on,
give me a run something against Milwaukee. By the way,
(10:05):
Bob Youger's ninety years old. I was listening to his
final call on the internet this morning. It's like, we
don't nobody has anything against Milwaukee. They've been since the
Doug Melvin years. They've been drafting really well. It's a
good organization. But I'm going to be honest with you,
Mets Phillies feels bigger and did you know this is nuts?
(10:26):
So the Phillies have been around since the eighteen hundreds,
like the first in the National League. I don't know
if they were I think they were called the Quakers initially,
now the Phillies. So the Phillies have been around since
the eighteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds. You know the Mets
been around, you know Casey Stingo Polo Grounds. These two
teams have never met in the playoffs. Is that the
(10:47):
craziest thing? They've never met in the playoffs. The Phillies
weren't the first National League team, but it's eighteen late
eighteen hundreds, so I can't wait for it. And sometimes
at a network we get a little bit of a break,
and baseball is one of those sports where markets do matter. Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Podres.
(11:08):
It kind of feels big.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
J Mac.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
We both liked Atlanta. They could have easily lost that game.
When Darnell Mooney dropped that ball. I thought, oh, Cousins
is having the game of a lifetime and his teammates
wide open and drops it. They miss field goals. But
both Baker and Kirk Cousins put on an absolute clinic
and quarterback clubs.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I wanted to ask you about Baker Mayfield. He had
an amazing first half. He was nearly perfect, three touchdowns.
I think he had like a book thirty and he
threw for like fifty yards of the second half. What
on earth happened to the Tampa Bay offense. What did
they do at halftime? Hey, they score on every single
drive in the first half, touchdown or field goal, second half.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Critical, So it's interesting. So I heard the announcers say this.
Herb Street and Al Michaels talked about this is that
Atlanta because Raheem Morris a defensive coach, Atlanta does not
generate much of a pass rush in the first half
of their games. They had zero in the first half
all season? Was it all season or last night last night?
For sure? Okay, And they were talking about how they
(12:06):
don't get a lot of pressure in the first half.
So what they do is get pressure, better pressure on
the second half. So that tells me as a defensive coach,
Raheem Morris is one of those guys who tweaked stuff
at halftime. So they don't have a prodigious pat pass rush.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
You know, Vita Villa, I'm watching him just bowl over
people for Atlanta, and Atlanta's got a good offensive line.
He just blows through it. So it's just one of
those things where Atlanta didn't generate much of a pass rush.
Baker was on a spot in the second half. He
did have a couple of nice scrambles. Baker's more athletic
than people think. But you know it was also if
(12:41):
you go look at how many times Baker threw the
ball and what Kirk Cousins did. As good as Baker's
night was, it was almost like half in terms of
volume what Kirk Cousins was. And also Kyle Pets had
some moments last night. That guy showing right now, Drake London,
a USC kid who was a great basketball player in
high school. I can remember when US he signed him.
(13:03):
My buddy Gavin said, this kid's unbelievable. He wasn't he
wasn't a five star guy. He's like, this guy's a
first round NFL receiver. It was like it was like
seventeen eighteen. So he's really athletic. And Kirk Cousins and
Drake London were they were hummin last.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
And can you be honest with me, when Kirk throws
the pick with like two minutes left on fourth and fifteen,
were you.
Speaker 8 (13:21):
Like, oh, there's Kirk Cousins Primetime showed up.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Bes honest, No, because they had timeouts left. And also
you and I do the gambling stuff. We've been talking
about this for two years. Kirk had a moment when
standalone games it wasn't his thing. But actually, over the
last three to four years, and this happens by the way, again,
Peyton Manning was really tight. I can remember Bill Poley
(13:45):
and telling me a story. He said that he called
Peyton a teeth clencher. He was really detailed and regimented,
and he hated long halftimes Sunday night games. Well, Peyton
became a star and the Colts were on these Sunday
night games. Peyton didn't like to get off his schedule
because he was so detailed, like I think was Tony
(14:07):
Dungee once told me or Bill Poulie, and they had
a family day on Saturday, as they like family to
show up for practice, and Peyton was like, we got
to go through more run throughs. So Kirk is like Peyton,
very regimented and very precise and detailed, and I think
early in his career he didn't like to, I'm guessing,
get off his spot, get off his schedule. But eventually
Peyton broke through in the last three years. And also
(14:31):
the other thing is when you throw fifty five times.
I've been on this for years, you get a pick.
I've never been bothered. People used to bang on Andrew Luck,
Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck. You know, Aaron Rodgers
and Mahomes are unique. Even Mahomes now has horrible picks weekly.
I think people get way too caught up in interceptions.
(14:53):
As long as it's not in the red zone or
deep in your own territory. It's just a change of possession,
you get. I mean, we're not talking like the Will
Levis situations where it got the game, give up the game.
If you're at the forty yard line, you throw it
down field and it's picked off at the twenty four
yard line, and especially if you have a good defense.
So I don't I think you don't want to a
(15:14):
game three, a game four game. Mahomes the best quarterback
in the planet. He's throwing a stinker every week. This year,
Brady had a pick six in a Super Bowl. We
both love Matt Stafford. He has some of the worst picks.
He had won this past weekend at Chicago that was
one of Matt Stafford's worst throws as a pro.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
It happens.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I see Todd Bowles texting me, Jason get Collin to
mention the missed face mask late in the game.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
That really killed it. And I'm just kidding, but that
was a bad miscall you got, admit. I could see
it on the TV.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Listen if you if you look at pass interference over
the course of a game, there has never been a
game in league history where I can't argue on the
other side of three to four pis over the course
of a game. So if a ref misses a hand
in a face mask, you can go to games and
go to every ball down the sideline with bumping. That
(16:03):
stuff is a coin flip every time.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
So I thought Baker Mayfield looked like Oklahoma sooners. Baker
Mayfield last night finished with one hundred and thirty seven
passer rating, had a remarkable first half, only five incompletions
all night, a lot of good scrambling, three touchdown passes.
He's gonna win a lot of games in Tampa. That's
a good roster. They're gonna win a lot of games
this year. And they had that thing last night. It
felt like sealed up for a while. Eleven tds, two
(16:36):
picks on the season. Mike Evans is Hall of Fame stuff,
So his mobility has gotten better, I think this year
than previous years. He's moving, he's lost a little weight
that looks like he was feeling it, and he's a
guy that really feeds off of motion. I don't think Baker, Gino,
and Sam Darnold's a fluke. They're all first or second
round picks. They're all good, good players. They're all well traveled,
(16:57):
so they dealt with different coordinators, different cultures, different coaches.
I mean the Kirk Cousins, who's better than Baker and
Sam and Gino. But you bounce around the league a
couple of times. I mean, you start playing with different coordinators,
different coaches, and you compartmentalize that stuff. So now Baker's
got all those callouses and he's always had the tools,
(17:19):
He's got all that knowledge, and now he's got the tools.
So I mean, there's two quarterback classes that are winning
in the NFL. Number one is the Superstars, but they
have skimpier supporting casts. And the second are really talented guys. Gino,
Baker and Sam Donald, and they've got loaded wide receiver groups.
(17:39):
In fact, I looked up this morning. If you go
to Donald Baker and Gino, the receivers they play with
have twelve Pro Bowls and nine to All Pros. They're
Hall of Fame guys. Kansas City's been trying to figure
out the wide receiver room for years. Okay, Baltimore finally
has a good, not great wide receiver room and Josh
(18:00):
Allen they had to move off Stefan Diggs. So there's
two ways to win in this league consistently, and we're
really seeing the second way this year, which is give
a veteran, well traveled guy that that maybe not be Mahomes,
isn't a Kirk Cousins, but his darn close and on
good nights, is feeling it. And you know, by the
(18:20):
way Baker smiled after the game at an Atlanta coach,
he knew very well, give me a break, folks, when
you've been rejected, when you've been demoted, this guy, Baker
Mayfield was behind p J. Walker and Caroline at one point,
give me a break. Baker has earned the right to
hug a coach, tell them, man, love you man, you're
(18:42):
one of the best guys I've ever worked with. I
don't want to hear that that bothers you. Here's Baker,
after all.
Speaker 9 (18:48):
I care about his wins.
Speaker 8 (18:49):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So got to find a.
Speaker 9 (18:51):
Way to finish that game out on offense, have to
make the players when they're there, and then in the
second half, just got to take care of the foot
and then gotta finish on offense.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Listen, I was hard on Baker to begin with. I
totally supported Tampa. I said, you got to sign him.
He's earned it. And the only reason we're not leading
our show with Baker is Kirk Cousins had one of
the greatest standalone games in league history. So Baker was
really good. And whatever it is, I don't know what
it is. Pilates, I don't know. He feels more mobile
(19:25):
to me the last couple of years than he was previously.
Maybe he's just finally healthy. He got dinged up in Cleveland.
Maybe he's finally healthy. But Baker slinging it, Gino slinging it,
Darnold's slinging it, and they're all gonna win a lot
of games this year. J Mack with a.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
News no, no turn on the news. This is the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
All Right, you remember last week Jordan Love down twenty
eight nothing to the Vikings. He ended up throwing the
ball fifty four times Colin In his first game back
from an mcl injury, Love did set career hising completions, attempts,
passing yards and touchdowns. Lafleur says the work was good
for Love in his return.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
It looks like he's just getting back into the groove.
Speaker 9 (20:06):
And like I mentioned the other day, I mean not
that we want to throw fifty some odd times in
the game, but I thought the more we threw, the
better he got.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I'm gonna stay away from the Rams saying Packers, I'm
gonna stay away. I believe what we saw in the
first half against the Vikings was hasn't played enough yet
against the great defensive coordinator. And the second half was Okay,
Jordan's getting his reps, He's ready to go. My gut
feeling is the Packers are gonna come out here to
Los Angeles and you're gonna see more of the second
(20:37):
half Jordan Love. Now, Christian Watson is banged up. The
young kid. I think it's Wicks not playing particularly well,
so the receiving corps isn't quite what it needs to be.
But a lot of this is he just did not
get the reps. He's working his way into form. I
think this is the last game where the Packers will
(20:58):
feel a little vulnerable, and then I think they're gonna
get on their way and start reeling off winning streaks.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
We'll see.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Actually, Wicks was good. It was Romeo Dobbs got di
didn't do anything. Wi's had two touchdowns. He looks like
he might be there number one now with Watson out. Yes,
the Rams injury report is getting better, but I'm with you,
I don't get this game.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
I do know.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
The last time we saw the Packers on a fast
surface was that Cowboys playoff game. And Jayden Reid in
space is just I mean, the Rams secondary is not
very good. It's not so I don't know what to
do with this game. But I'm curious about the Packers
defense coming. If Sam Darnold could carve them up, well,
hed he carved them up in the first half. A
(21:39):
lot of that's on script. They got up to a
huge lead. I mean, that was a tale of Jack Staffer,
who has a coach quarterback advantage here.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Well, but remember no Pooka and Cooper Cupp. You had
a Jordan Jefferson, I mean Jordan jeff Justin Jefferson. Justin
Jefferson was insane against green Bay, absolutely insane. So there there,
there's you're talking about. Now the Rams, yea, they're at home.
That crowd will be sixty to forty Packer fans, maybe more,
maybe it could be seventy thirty Packer fans. And I
(22:07):
mean Wisconsin travels for bowl games and they travel for
the Packers. So my take is, don't don't compare Minnesota's.
Minnesota is one of the deepest offensive teams in this league.
Remember before the season, we both said if they finished fourth,
it will be the greatest offensive personnel in league history
to finish fourth. And they're not going to finish fourth.
(22:28):
So I don't think. I think this is actually a
low scoring game.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I don't see. I mean, it's to two out Wells,
their go to guy, Christian Watson's banged up. You're right,
it is Romeo Dobbs, the receiving core for them. It
just doesn't quite feel like it's there yet. So I
just it's a stay away game. For me, it's also
a game I want to watch and not be all,
you know, worried about the line.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Next up is the Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes. He's
still on the struggle by sorry, casey fan Mahomes career
lows in passing yards instead a career high in interceptions.
Speaker 8 (23:05):
That was last year they did win the Super Bowl.
This year he's struggling.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
And Mahomes here's what he had to say about the
experience of last year helping him this year. That's why
I think it's special and what we're doing early in
the season, not playing our best football, but finding ways
to win because a lot of these games could be losses.
We could be looking at a way different rest of
the year, Mahomes said.
Speaker 8 (23:24):
Now here's the interesting part.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
You notice this, not only are they four to zero
this year in one score games, but the last seven
games have been all one score games and they've won
them all.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
Colin, I don't need to remind you that ain't sustainable.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
This game against the Saints, like it seems like there's
a tug of war going on with the line.
Speaker 8 (23:44):
It was six and then it went down and now
it's back up to six.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I'm on the back downs, are you?
Speaker 8 (23:49):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
In fact, if you My friend Chad Millman always says this.
There is what you call a luck rating in the NFL.
So there are teams that are lucky and unlucky. Based
on some stats, the Saints are the unluckiest team in
the league. If you really look at statistically what they're doing,
they should be a much I mean, this is a
team that humiliated Dallas in Dallas should have beaten Philadelphia, right,
(24:14):
So I don't know about that. I will say this,
Derek Carr is having a very good year. Kansas City
now has had to spend a week figuring out who
do we throw to? And as you're you're pointing out,
they're falling behind every week. And what the problem with
that at home is the crowd gets real quiet. When
you're down ten to nothing or seven, nothing, everything comes down.
(24:35):
So I don't I think this. I think to your point,
Kansas City's gonna lose one of these games. You cannot
keep It's not sustainable. It's like fumbles. Some teams have
years they fumbled, they don't that stuff. It never sustains.
You either have a there's luck. The Saints have been
an unlucky team.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
So we know what Car doesn't like, and that's pressure
up the middle. Member Philadelphia went with the five defensive
linemen and Car could do nothing.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
I mean he had a bad game.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
They could run the football. Now you gotta face Chris Jones.
Where's he going to dominate up the middle against your
backup center. So I am worried about, you know, Chris
Jones simply wrecking this game.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
Spatola wants to develop Blitzay.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Derek Carr is the highest granted quarterback in the league
according to PFS. I'm just telling you what they're sitting.
Speaker 8 (25:17):
Loaded up on the first two games.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Basically, well they count too.
Speaker 8 (25:21):
Well, the Panthers and Cowboys.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah, and then you face the Eagles and they got
out game by like two hundred yards.
Speaker 8 (25:28):
This is tough. So you're is this blazing five for you? Yes?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Oh, I get Derek Carr, that offense five and a
half against the Kansas City team that can't beat anybody badly.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
So, the guy who loves to look at coaching quarterback matchups,
you're riding with Dennis Allen and Derek Carr against Andy
Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Are you watching What's Happening last week, Matt Lafleur and
Caleb Williams beat Matt Stafford and Sean McVay.
Speaker 8 (25:51):
Well, somebody's smart here called that game early last week,
but I don't know who that was.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Let's go to the final story, and that's DeVante Adams.
He was with the Raiders, remember, because he wanted to
play with Derek Carr, his buddy from Fresno. Of course,
then the Raiders moved on from Carr, and now Adams
is stuck with Jimmy Garoppolo An O'Connell, and now they're
on Gardner minshew. It's just a poo poo platter of quarterbacks. Well,
Carr said he wouldn't mind a reunion.
Speaker 8 (26:16):
With his old college teammate.
Speaker 10 (26:18):
I think all.
Speaker 7 (26:19):
Thirty two quarterbacks would love to play with Demonta, you know,
you know, we would would welcome that. I don't know
if I get trouble to say that. I just I
think it's just everyone kind of knows that. I think
everyone would love to play with Tay, and I would.
I would, obviously, you know, welcome play with him again
if if that ever worked out in our careers.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
I kind of like Derek Carr, I do know something
about he just got like an aw shucks nature.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
Do you see why he's talking. He's always he.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Ended up at Fresno State second round guy, so he's
always had a little chip on his shoulder and he
he'll bark at teammates like there's leadership stuff there. He'll
bark at teammates. Very talented guy. Guy reminds me of
I think he's more talented than Andy Dalton, who also
went in the second round, but kind of has an
Andy Dalton feel where he's not that elite but he's
below it and he's been really good for a long time.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Where are you any movement on your thoughts on DeVante
Adams here?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I think it's three of the affair. If if you
know how certain times like you look for things, do
they check boxes. Let's say you're in your family're gonna
move cross country? You put in are we close to family?
Does the morning work? How are the schools for the kids?
If you're putting down boxes to check for the Jets,
it's like coach needs to win, offense needs a spark.
(27:29):
Davante's work with Aaron The Jets are the one that
make total sense. I can see Buffalo doing it to
play keep away from Kansas City, but I don't think
Buffalo needs him. I think they're gonna win a lot
of games this year in the division without Davonte Adams.
The Jets are on the precipice. Go look at their
schedule like they're on the precipice of this thing unraveled.
Speaker 8 (27:52):
And I told you they got bills next week's which
is not good.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Okay, they gotta win this So Vikings bills also, Mets won.
They'll be playing the Phillies at the Yankees playoffs. Nick's
trade season about to open. NBA. You know how Woody
Johnson is. Relevance matters. You get housed by Minnesota, you
are off the back page. That stuff matters. I never
used to think it matters. It matters in New York.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
If you wouldn't mind putting on your conspiracy theory had
for a second. Did you see the Chiefs yesterday announced
rareshe Rice is going on injured reserve, no other details.
Speaker 8 (28:25):
Well does that do anything for you?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
And by the way, no reporter, none of the credible
guys that everybody knows, has come out and said the
Raiders are not trading him in the division that has
not been uttered.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
You would think that would be right out of the gate.
Do you hate sorry Chargers?
Speaker 10 (28:39):
Sorry?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Do you have to take shots at reporters?
Speaker 8 (28:43):
No, No, that's not a shot.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
I'm saying the Raiders would have fed this information to
the reporters to let everybody know that's off the table.
Speaker 8 (28:49):
Stop talking about it. So was she Rice? I are
that's not out for the season. That's just four games.
We still don't know what's going on with Rice.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
And then you've got DeVante Adams in the division, and
you know he's a game changer.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
You want a three P.
Speaker 8 (29:03):
I think DeVante Adams locks up the three P right.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Do you know what Tom te LESCo the Raiders would
ask to give him up in division?
Speaker 8 (29:12):
Do you know what the Chiefs first round pick to
be the first team to three peat in NFL history?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I would want to know.
Speaker 8 (29:17):
That's something the Patriots did not do. Calling you know,
you talk what I want Belichick? How about that? I
want Andy redversus Belichick. Andy Reid has a three peace,
I want.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
A first round pick and I want Rashi Rice.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
Well, stop, that's insane.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
I don't think that should be out of the The
first round pick for Kansas City's gonna be like twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Anyway, could be thirty two, could be thirty.
Speaker 8 (29:39):
Two, and you've got the three P. I don't see
why the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Would tell you about conspiracy theories. It's that that Oklahoma
guy got bigfoot on camera and that's a that's a
conspiracy theory. That's the one I want.
Speaker 8 (29:50):
To talk about. I'm waiting for the Lockness monster to
pop up in Scotland or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
And you talk about going seventies to me J Mack
with the news.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herd.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Well, only one other player in the history of football,
one other quarterback has had a game like Kirk Cousins
had last night in primetime over five hundred yards. Think
about that, five football fields, four touchdowns. Kirk Cousins and
Tom Brady in a primetime standalone game that was an
all time performance. He's joining us live. He doesn't even
look tiny. Look at this guy, looks like he just
(30:30):
got nine holes to aren't you a I mean it
went to overtime. Aren't you a little beat up this morning?
Speaker 8 (30:36):
Kirk? A little?
Speaker 10 (30:38):
Oh, I definitely am.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
I got home about two thirty in the morning last night,
so it was a long night but a fun night.
Speaker 10 (30:47):
And now we've got a long weekend to rest up, and.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
I'll be posted up with my couch watching everybody else
play football.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
So we know basketball players talk about getting into his own.
We know baseball hitters talk about getting into his own.
And I'm watching you, and by the way, Baker played
a heck of a game, but you're on You're passing
like fifty five plus times. So do quarterbacks get into zones?
I mean, you've always been accurate, but did you did
you have something extra last night? Or is it there's
(31:14):
too much stuff going on in your head to worry
about that.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
I think you certainly can get to a place where
you feel like the game slows down and you've got
good anticipation. I think that for me, what troubled me
to start the year was I didn't feel like I
had that anticipation or that sense of where things were going.
And each week I've improved, and then I felt like
last night, our offense and my own play kind of
took a big jump forward where I was anticipating better.
(31:40):
I was playing fast, I was quick, but I wasn't
in a hurry, and that's really where you want to
be all the time. But it's just taken me a
few weeks to get there, and now the challenges can
we sustain over the next few months.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
So you're a veteran quarterback and Stafford's talked about this before.
You're on a very young offense, Drake London, Kyle Pits, Bijon.
These are kids and you are you are You're like
a coach. Is that hard? Is it refreshing? How does
that land for you?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 10 (32:11):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
I think it gives me a chance to assert myself
more as a leader. When I was in Washington, I
was playing with players who were twice my age at
those skill positions, you know, Vernon Davis, Pierre garcon De,
Shaun Jackson. These guys had double digit years in the
league and I was, you know, in year four, just
trying to figure it out and hoping they weren't going
to get mad at me. So now as a thirteen
year VET working with guys in year two and three,
(32:34):
it gives me a great chance to be an encourager
to kind of help them hopefully get to where they
want to go and be a part of that. So
I enjoy that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
So I want you to take me because I said
the start of the show, there's not seven eight guys
in the world right now playing quarterback that could have
done that last minute fourteen no timeouts. That is really hard.
That is it's you to me, first of all, cognitively,
clock young teammates the way you guys scrambled. The referee,
(33:04):
by the way, did a great job to pirow it
out of there. Yeah, they did, did a great job.
Take me to the last minute fourteenth? Is there ramped
up anxiety? What are you looking for? Everybody was clearly
on the same page. Is that Do you get more
focused in those little micro moments?
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Well, I think you trust your training and you go
back to your process. You know, Kou being the kicker,
you know that you have some grace as to how
far you need to go to get that field goal.
And then you know, we're pretty well coached on you know,
those situations of when the ball's got to be out
of bounds or to the end zone. And when you know,
we have have to clock it. So that was executed well.
(33:45):
And to your point, the referees have gotten a lot better. Yeah,
allowing people to clock the ball quickly. I think two
or three years ago that ref might have taken too long.
Speaker 10 (33:55):
We wouldn't have had a chance.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
So kudos to them for kind of getting that dialed
in where he just touched the ball and enables us
to operate quickly.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
You know, I was looking at this, your coaches, this
is crazy. McVeigh, Shanahan, Lafleur, Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski, Kevin o'conne.
You have had smart dudes. You've probably and I think
Raheem Morris for a defensive coach is he was mcvay's buddy.
He's probably better than average for a defensive coach. Do
you did you take little bits and pieces out of
(34:24):
all of them?
Speaker 8 (34:25):
And I mean you.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Could you say, yeah, McVeigh showed me this, Kevin O'Connell,
or if you've always been kind of the same guy,
have you borrowed things? Do you take things when you
have that many good coaches around you.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
That's a great question. Many of them came from the
same tree. And so they were often in the same
room and as a result, we sort of speak the
same high level language with all of them. That being said,
has been fascinating to see as they've gone their separate ways,
They've each kind of put their own spin on things.
And so I've gotten back with a Kevin O'Connell or
(34:56):
a Zach Robinson after being with Sean McVeigh and being
away from Sean for several years and then learning how
Sean and their group evolved it from where we were
when I was with Sean has been really cool to see.
And then each person kind of puts their own creative
spin on it, and you know, now in Atlanta, we're
kind of trying to evolve into what the twenty twenty
(35:16):
four Falcons look like, which is, you know, different from
the twenty three Vikings, different from the twenty three Rams
that Zach Robinson was with, but.
Speaker 10 (35:24):
Keep trying to take those steps and innovate.
Speaker 5 (35:26):
And then also as a copycat league, so you try
to steal from the good ideas you see on tape.
But I've been very fortunate to be around a lot
of great coaches. I throw Gary Kubiak and Clint Kubiak,
and Rick Dennison into that list. Big part of having
success at the quarterback position is who are your coaches?
And for thirteen years I've been able to be around
a lot of good ones.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
You have a lot more records than people realize, most
game winning drives in the history of the league in
a single season eight And you know I said this earlier.
You and Peyton Manning are very detailed, precise guys. You're smart.
You're detailed. Early in both of your careers, sometimes instead
of the one o'clock game, you go to these primetime games.
You're sitting around all day in a hotel and early
(36:05):
in your career and Peyton's people said, well, kurtin primetime games,
isn't the same quarterback? Well that's changed, and it changed
for Peyton. You go back to your first, second, third
year in the league and now what have you done?
Because something's different. You're now one of the best in
the league. So was Peyton at the end. But in
the first couple of years there was a label Kirk Peyton.
(36:26):
They're precise, they're detailed, they don't like to be off
their you know, schedule. Was that true? What happened? What's
transformed for you.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
You know, it's hard to say, I think when you'll
beck and look at it, I had a couple of
clunkers in primetime when I was a young player, But
to be honest, if those games have been played at
noon or one o'clock, it probably would have been a
clunker anyways, because of how young of a player I was.
But the reality was I was playing on teams that
were five hundred teams, and in primetime we often got
scheduled to play defending super Bowl champs and division champs
(36:57):
and you know, teams that were going to make deeper
in the playoffs, and so it was unlikely we were
going to win going into the game, and then when
we lost, it became a you know, Kirk's not great
in primetime, but if you really look at the production,
I was pretty much the same player from just a
statistical standpoint. In those primetime games, we just weren't winning.
And as of late, we've been able to kind of
(37:17):
turn the tide when it comes to finding away at
the end of the game to win. But if you know,
a call doesn't go away last night, or a break
doesn't go our away, you know, yes we lose, but
I don't walk away saying I didn't play well. I
just walk away saying we didn't do enough to win.
And I understand it's all about winning, but you know,
I wouldn't have changed my approach as to how I
played or how I prepared. So, you know, as a quarterback,
(37:39):
you're gonna always kind of get too much praise, too
much criticism, and I think some of that showed up
with the primetime narrative. But I'm kind of on the
other side of it now, where now people view me as, oh,
you're playing well in primetime and I'm thinking, well, I'm
playing about the same.
Speaker 10 (37:53):
We're just winning, and so it leads to a little
more praise.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, clutch Kirk Cousins. By the way, about forty five
seconds left first game off of surgery, people said, look
at Kirk, he doesn't trust his body. Second game, Everybody's like,
Kirk's back forty seconds but you've can't. I mean, it
did look like that first game you were kind of
feeling your body out. How do you feel now? How
do you feel?
Speaker 10 (38:14):
You know it had less to do with the achilles.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
It had more to do with the fact that I
just hadn't played since Week eight of last year, and
I had won a red jersey in practice all these
months and I didn't play in a preseason game, and
practice oftentimes we were going against the twos and there
was just a lot of simulated things that weren't the
real deal.
Speaker 10 (38:32):
And so to be back in.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
The fire for the first time, I had some rusto
to get off. And I think each week, the last
you know, several have been an improvement, and I think
last night we took a big step forward. But now
the challenges is can we continue to maintain that standard
as we move forward. But I did feel a different
level of anticipation and playing fast last night. That is
(38:55):
back to kind of my old self. That I felt
was we were on our way there, but we hadn't
really closed the gap. It felled until last night.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
By the way, Zach Robinson, maybe only throw fifty four
times next week, not fifty eight, five hundred and nine
yards four touchdowns. It's just it was remarkable, and congratulations.
You've earned it. You not only deserve it for your career,
you've earned it, and I appreciate you doing this. Go
take an afternoon nap on us. We appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
I think I will call thank you appreciate you bet.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Kirk Cousins on a magical night for him and the Falcons.
This this league is so close. They had it, they
lost it. They had it, they lost it, they had it.
I mean, when Mooney drops that ball, I'm thinking, oh,
why don't. But he got a second chance.
Speaker 6 (39:43):
What a night.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Kirk Cousins, crazy, absolutely crazy, all right, blazing fives around
the corner. I got a rebound. Nice stunk last week?
Speaker 8 (39:54):
How was it one? Not good? Okay, we'll just leave
it at that. Bounce back. It's all of us. We
all got a bounce back in life.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Come on, you got this.
Speaker 8 (40:01):
Just pick the Jets. You'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
All right, it's the hurt.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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