October 4, 2024 • 31 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. He gives his best NFL bets for week 5 in the NFL. Plus, 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 Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
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Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
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. We had said this
in the offseason when they signed him and then drafted
Michael Pennix. That's good news. Kirk a pro and I
think last night Jmack, Everybody's always liked Kirk Cousins, but
it felt like last night, passing for over five football
(01:10):
fields in a shootout, that it did feel like a
moment like you could go 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 3 (01:23):
It was pretty special, unbelievable finish good good theater as
well on.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
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 win. 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
(01:48):
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 drive 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.
(02:50):
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 at 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 if 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
(03:33):
know Mahomes is in it, you know. Now we look,
we still don't know if Lamar Jackson's at 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
(03:56):
I'm here to tell you seventy five percent of the
quarterbacks in the NFL can't 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
(04:18):
that is 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
(04:39):
it with one second. That is so much hard. These
rookie quarterbacks they can have good Sundays, they're not doing
that the 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 it too,
(05:01):
but 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 4 (05:20):
There's money in motion with Cousins and they've got a
gun it and it's caught to Daryl Hodgs thirty five
five seven Sacy, Oh my.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Goodness, you've clearly played in a lot of crazy games
in your career.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
What is this one sept for you?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
This is up there. I've played some crazy games.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
I've been a losing end.
Speaker 6 (05:42):
And so to come out with one like this in
overtime walk offs at home on a Thursday night, I
guess a good football team in the division.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
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,
(06:37):
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 Alonzo 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. Hit struck 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 he
and as the team was playing well, Pete hasn't had
(07:19):
a 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
(07:39):
won so many games 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 4 (07:51):
But he.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Wasn't. He wasn't in the family circle. It felt like
he was on his way out. He was leaving the
family of the ninth trailing to nothing. Season about the end,
Jared is, it's at the end, And what do you know?
The big bomber. Pete Alonso steps up.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Here's the pitch, swinging a five ball to right field,
pretty well, hit straight, look back at the wall.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
He jumps.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
That's done. Hate hate that d Peto Alonzo with the most.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Everagal home run of his career, 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, like you know,
your classic big bombs, lot of strikeout guy. And again,
(08:45):
the difference between New York and Saint Louis is the intensity,
the scrutiny and the harshness. But New 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 4 (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 5 (09:13):
Right there. It's a really special.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Moment, biggest home run, biggest hit in 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 the Bills.
Speaker 7 (09:32):
Todrei'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. It's nothing against Milwaukee. By the way, Bob,
(10:06):
you'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 gonna be honest with you, Mets Phillies feels
bigger and did you know this is nuts? So the
(10:27):
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 craziest thing?
(10:49):
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 had a little bit of a break, and baseball
is one of those sports where markets do matter. Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Podres.
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 3 (11:29):
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.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Second half critical, So it's interesting. So I heard the
announcer 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.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Zero pressure is in the first half the all season?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Was it all season or last night?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Last night? For sure?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Okay, And they were talking about how they don't get
a lot of pressure in the first half. So what
they do is get pressure, better pressure in 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 pass rush. They don't.
You know, Vita Villa, I'm watching him just bowl over
people for Atlanta, and Atlanta's got a good offensive line.
(12:24):
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
you go look at how many times Baker threw the
ball and what Kirk Cousins did. As good as Baker's
(12:47):
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 you right now.
Drake London, a USC kid who was a great basketball
player in high school. I can remember when US he
signed him. My buddy Gavin said, this kid's unbelievable. He
wasn't he wasn't a five star guy. He's like, this
(13:08):
guy's a first round NFL receiver. He was like he
was like seventeen eighteen, so he's really athletic. And Kirk
Cousins and Drake London were they were hummin last And.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Can you be honest with me, when Kirk throws the
pick with like two minutes left on fourth and fifteen,
were you like, oh, there's Kirk Cousins primetime showing up.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
He's 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 did didn't like to get off his
schedule because he was so detailed, like I think it
(14:07):
was Tony Dungee once told me or Bill Paulie 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.
(14:30):
And also 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
(14:52):
up in interceptions. As long as it's not in the
red zone or deep in your own territory, it's just
a change of possession. 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
(15:14):
want to a game three, a game four, a 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 it happens.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I see Todd Bowles texting me Jason get Colin to
mention the missed.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
Face mask late in the game.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That really killed it.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
No, I'm just kidding, but that was a bad misscall
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 noon Eastern not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
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 tired. Look at this guy looks like he just
(16:38):
got nine holes to aren't you? I mean it went
to overtime? Aren't you a little beat up this morning?
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Kirk? A little?
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (16:46):
I definitely am.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
I got home about two thirty in the morning last night,
so it was a long night but a fun night.
And now we've got a long weekend to rest up,
and I'll be posted up with my couch watching everybody
else played football.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
So we know basketball players talk about getting into his zone.
We know baseball hitters talk about getting into his zone.
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
(17:22):
too much stuff going on in your head to worry
about that.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
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.
(17:48):
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 you know, a few months.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So you're a veteran quarterback and Stafford's talked about this before.
You're on a very young offense, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, 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 5 (18:18):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 8 (18:19):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
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, Deshaun Jackson.
These guys had double digit years in the league and
I was, you know, in year four, just.
Speaker 8 (18:34):
Trying to figure it out. And hoping they weren't going
to get mad at me.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
So now, as a thirteen year VET working with guys
in year two and three, 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 (18:51):
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 mean, first of all, cognitively clock
young teammates. The way you guys scrambled. The referee, by
(19:12):
the way, did a great job to Pirou went out
of there. They did, did a great job. Take me
to the last minute fourteen? 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 6 (19:30):
Well, I think you you trust your training and you
go back to your process. You know, Koo 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.
Speaker 8 (19:48):
And when you know we have have to clock it.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
So that was executed well 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. We wouldn't
have had a chance. So kudos to them for kind
of getting that dialed in where he just touches the
ball and enables us to operate quickly.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You know, I was looking at this, your coaches, this
is crazy. McVeigh, Shanahan, Lafleur, Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski, Kevin
o'conn 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 defensive coach.
Do you did you take little bits and pieces out
(20:31):
of all of them?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
And I mean you.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
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 8 (20:44):
That's a great question.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
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 a Zach Robinson
(21:05):
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 four Falcons look like,
(21:25):
which is, you know, different from the twenty three Vikings,
different from the twenty three Rams that Zach Robinson was with,
But keep trying to take those steps and innovate and
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 in that list. Big part of having
(21:46):
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 (21:52):
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,
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
(22:13):
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.
(22:34):
They're precise, they're detailed. They don't like to be off
their schedule. Was that true? What happened? What's transformed for you?
Speaker 6 (22:42):
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, that 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.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
Player I was.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
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
and you know, teams that were going to make deep
runs 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,
(23:17):
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
turn the tide when it comes to finding a way
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.
(23:40):
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,
you're going to 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.
Speaker 8 (23:57):
Oh, you're playing well in primetime and I'm thinking.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
Well, well, I'm playing about the same. We're just winning,
and so it leads to a little more praise.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
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. We got forty seconds, but you 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, you know.
Speaker 8 (24:23):
It had less to do with the achilles.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
It had more to do with the fact that I
just hadn't played since Week eight of last year and
I won a red jersey and 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.
And so to be back in the fire for the
first time, I had some rusto to get off.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
And I think each week, the last you.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
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 les
level of anticipation and playing fast last night.
Speaker 8 (25:03):
That is back to kind of my old self.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
That I felt was we were on our way there,
but we hadn't really closed the gap.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
It felled until last night.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
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 8 (25:31):
I think I will call it thank you, appreciated you.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Bet Kirk Cousins on a magical night for him and
the Falcons.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
This league is so close. One more heard. The Herd
streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week
within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. Let's blaze it up, Fire
it up. It's Collins blazing Fuck. Jets versus Likings.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Favorites do very well in London. Vikings minus two and
a half. The better team, the healthier team. Jets are
all banged up, including Aaron Rodgers. They have not trailed
in the last three games against the Niners, Texans and Packers.
Darnold's on fire. They also lead the NFL in sacks,
so they put constant pressure on you. I think the
(26:19):
game will be close. The Jets don't want to be humiliated,
but their two wins this year have been against Jacoby
Brissett and Will Levis, and that Will Levis game came
down to the end. Aaron Rodgers, Morgan Moses Elijah Vera Tucker, CJ. Moseley.
They're banged up. This is not a good spot for
the Jets. Favorites do very well when you go overseas.
(26:40):
Vikings win a competitive game. Twenty seven to twenty lay
the points, Cardinals at forty nine Ers. I'm gonna take
Arizona seven and a half. That's a lot of points.
George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey. Kittle's not going to play. Fred
Warner limited, he may not play. Listen. James Connor McBride
is back, so Trey McBride, the great tight end is back.
(27:02):
Marvin Harrison four touchdowns in three games. Connors become a stud.
And I just like this Arizona offense. They had a
stinker last week, but if you go and look, I
mean Kyler Murray was completing seventy percent of his throws
to the last three games. I like this offense. Niners defense,
third down defense this year stinks. They're all beat up.
(27:24):
I'm gonna take the Niners to win a close one
at home, but seven and a half points per division
game for a pretty desperate Arizona team is too much.
Twenty seven to twenty three nine.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Ers, Giant said Seahawks.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So the wise guys think the numbers at a whack.
It was much better earlier in the week when the
Seahawks were minus like five. But I like Seattle. Here,
Malikite Nighbors is not gonna play Devin Singletary. They can't
run the ball with Devin Singletary. He's all banged up.
Gino Smith's on fire, DK Metcalf on fire minus six
and a half. I can lay the points their defense.
(27:58):
I'm sorry, but I think they're getting a couple of
their defensive linemen back. I think Seattle was really impressive,
like Tampa was last night in a loss in a
standalone game. The Giants only win came against Deshaun Watson,
who looks like he's cooked. They've been held under twenty
points in three of their last four games. Molik Neighbors
(28:19):
is out, by the way. Won Dale Robinson's banged up,
Brian Burns is banged up. This offense is a bb
gun and those numbers are with Molak Neighbors. I'm gonna
take the Seahawks to win twenty eight to twenty.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Cowboys at Steelers.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I like the Steelers. I liked it better when it
was minus one, but I'll take it not getting the
best of the number. Pittsburgh minus three. Okay, they were
beat by the Colts, but they outscored the Colts did
Pittsburgh on the road twenty one to ten in the
second half. This is about Dallas, though, yippie. They beat
the Giants in the Browns. They can't run the ball
seventy five yard rushing a game. They can't run the ball,
(29:00):
and the Steelers have a great run defense, so it's
gonna be very deck reliant. Also, the Cowboys defense since
Week two has been bad. You can run on them.
What does Pittsburgh do run? Brandon Cooks out, Micah Parsons doubtful,
DeMarcus Lawrence out, Trey Von Diggs banged up. This I
get a healthier team at home, and I think Arthur
(29:22):
Smith and Justin Field's been pretty good. I'm gonna take
the Steelers to win again. Competitive game twenty eight to
twenty four.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
Saints said Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I think the Chiefs are gonna win. I'm gonna bet
the number five and a half. The Saints have been
an unlucky team. Their losses have been Falcons and Eagles,
both losses by three points. Or fewer again five and
a half points. Derek Carr PFF has them as the
highest graded quarterback. Alvin Kamara leads the NFL in scrimmage yards.
The Chiefs have trailed by seven or more points in
(29:52):
every game. No Rashi Rice. Their offense has seven giveaways
this season. Only the Eagles and the Titans have more.
It's a sloppy team now without their star volume receiver.
And by the way, Mahomes this season has a passer
rating of one sixteen when targeting Rashee Rice. Everybody else
it's eighty two and he's out. The Saints offense this
(30:13):
season has been pretty robust points per game. First, third
down percentage excellent. Second, I'm gonna take the Saints to cover.
I'm gonna take the points all day. Chiefs win another
close game twenty four to twenty three. Remember Mahomes not
targeting Rashi Rice eighty two passer rating. Jamack Win sing
(30:37):
at that Jets, no, no, no, listen. Just for grading purposes,
I see Steelers at two and a half.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I'm not trying to get in any arguments here, but
you got a bad number there.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
That's gonna be two and a half for grading purpose.
They should be.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I can bet at two and a half right now,
so I think that's a great thing. I think that's
the best bet you've got, and I like you holding
your nose and taking the Arizona Cardinals seven and a half.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I don't I'm not man
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Enough to do that, but that's a good bet for you.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
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. We had said this
in the offseason when they signed him and then drafted
Michael Pennix. That's good news. Kirk a pro and I
think last night Jmack, Everybody's always liked Kirk Cousins, but
it felt like last night, passing for over five football
(01:10):
fields in a shootout, that it did feel like a
moment like you could go 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 3 (01:23):
It was pretty special, unbelievable finish good good theater as
well on.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
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 win. 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
(01:48):
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 drive 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.
(02:50):
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 at 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 if 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
(03:33):
know Mahomes is in it, you know. Now we look,
we still don't know if Lamar Jackson's at 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
(03:56):
I'm here to tell you seventy five percent of the
quarterbacks in the NFL can't 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
(04:18):
that is 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
(04:39):
it with one second. That is so much hard. These
rookie quarterbacks they can have good Sundays, they're not doing
that the 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 it too,
(05:01):
but 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 4 (05:20):
There's money in motion with Cousins and they've got a
gun it and it's caught to Daryl Hodgs thirty five
five seven Sacy, Oh my.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Goodness, you've clearly played in a lot of crazy games
in your career.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
What is this one sept for you?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
This is up there. I've played some crazy games.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
I've been a losing end.
Speaker 6 (05:42):
And so to come out with one like this in
overtime walk offs at home on a Thursday night, I
guess a good football team in the division.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
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,
(06:37):
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 Alonzo 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. Hit struck 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 he
and as the team was playing well, Pete hasn't had
(07:19):
a 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
(07:39):
won so many games 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 4 (07:51):
But he.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Wasn't. He wasn't in the family circle. It felt like
he was on his way out. He was leaving the
family of the ninth trailing to nothing. Season about the end,
Jared is, it's at the end, And what do you know?
The big bomber. Pete Alonso steps up.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Here's the pitch, swinging a five ball to right field,
pretty well, hit straight, look back at the wall.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
He jumps.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
That's done. Hate hate that d Peto Alonzo with the most.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Everagal home run of his career, 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, like you know,
your classic big bombs, lot of strikeout guy. And again,
(08:45):
the difference between New York and Saint Louis is the intensity,
the scrutiny and the harshness. But New 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 4 (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 5 (09:13):
Right there. It's a really special.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Moment, biggest home run, biggest hit in 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 the Bills.
Speaker 7 (09:32):
Todrei'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. It's nothing against Milwaukee. By the way, Bob,
(10:06):
you'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 gonna be honest with you, Mets Phillies feels
bigger and did you know this is nuts? So the
(10:27):
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 craziest thing?
(10:49):
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 had a little bit of a break, and baseball
is one of those sports where markets do matter. Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Podres.
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 3 (11:29):
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.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Second half critical, So it's interesting. So I heard the
announcer 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.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Zero pressure is in the first half the all season?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Was it all season or last night?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Last night? For sure?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Okay, And they were talking about how they don't get
a lot of pressure in the first half. So what
they do is get pressure, better pressure in 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 pass rush. They don't.
You know, Vita Villa, I'm watching him just bowl over
people for Atlanta, and Atlanta's got a good offensive line.
(12:24):
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
you go look at how many times Baker threw the
ball and what Kirk Cousins did. As good as Baker's
(12:47):
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 you right now.
Drake London, a USC kid who was a great basketball
player in high school. I can remember when US he
signed him. My buddy Gavin said, this kid's unbelievable. He
wasn't he wasn't a five star guy. He's like, this
(13:08):
guy's a first round NFL receiver. He was like he
was like seventeen eighteen, so he's really athletic. And Kirk
Cousins and Drake London were they were hummin last And.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Can you be honest with me, when Kirk throws the
pick with like two minutes left on fourth and fifteen,
were you like, oh, there's Kirk Cousins primetime showing up.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
He's 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 did didn't like to get off his
schedule because he was so detailed, like I think it
(14:07):
was Tony Dungee once told me or Bill Paulie 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.
(14:30):
And also 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
(14:52):
up in interceptions. As long as it's not in the
red zone or deep in your own territory, it's just
a change of possession. 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
(15:14):
want to a game three, a game four, a 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 it happens.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I see Todd Bowles texting me Jason get Colin to
mention the missed.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
Face mask late in the game.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That really killed it.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
No, I'm just kidding, but that was a bad misscall
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 noon Eastern not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
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 tired. Look at this guy looks like he just
(16:38):
got nine holes to aren't you? I mean it went
to overtime? Aren't you a little beat up this morning?
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Kirk? A little?
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (16:46):
I definitely am.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
I got home about two thirty in the morning last night,
so it was a long night but a fun night.
And now we've got a long weekend to rest up,
and I'll be posted up with my couch watching everybody
else played football.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
So we know basketball players talk about getting into his zone.
We know baseball hitters talk about getting into his zone.
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
(17:22):
too much stuff going on in your head to worry
about that.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
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.
(17:48):
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 you know, a few months.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So you're a veteran quarterback and Stafford's talked about this before.
You're on a very young offense, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, 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 5 (18:18):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 8 (18:19):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
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, Deshaun Jackson.
These guys had double digit years in the league and
I was, you know, in year four, just.
Speaker 8 (18:34):
Trying to figure it out. And hoping they weren't going
to get mad at me.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
So now, as a thirteen year VET working with guys
in year two and three, 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 (18:51):
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 mean, first of all, cognitively clock
young teammates. The way you guys scrambled. The referee, by
(19:12):
the way, did a great job to Pirou went out
of there. They did, did a great job. Take me
to the last minute fourteen? 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 6 (19:30):
Well, I think you you trust your training and you
go back to your process. You know, Koo 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.
Speaker 8 (19:48):
And when you know we have have to clock it.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
So that was executed well 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. We wouldn't
have had a chance. So kudos to them for kind
of getting that dialed in where he just touches the
ball and enables us to operate quickly.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You know, I was looking at this, your coaches, this
is crazy. McVeigh, Shanahan, Lafleur, Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski, Kevin
o'conn 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 defensive coach.
Do you did you take little bits and pieces out
(20:31):
of all of them?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
And I mean you.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
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 8 (20:44):
That's a great question.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
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 a Zach Robinson
(21:05):
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 four Falcons look like,
(21:25):
which is, you know, different from the twenty three Vikings,
different from the twenty three Rams that Zach Robinson was with,
But keep trying to take those steps and innovate and
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 in that list. Big part of having
(21:46):
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 (21:52):
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,
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
(22:13):
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.
(22:34):
They're precise, they're detailed. They don't like to be off
their schedule. Was that true? What happened? What's transformed for you?
Speaker 6 (22:42):
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, that 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.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
Player I was.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
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
and you know, teams that were going to make deep
runs 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,
(23:17):
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
turn the tide when it comes to finding a way
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.
(23:40):
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,
you're going to 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.
Speaker 8 (23:57):
Oh, you're playing well in primetime and I'm thinking.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
Well, well, I'm playing about the same. We're just winning,
and so it leads to a little more praise.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
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. We got forty seconds, but you 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, you know.
Speaker 8 (24:23):
It had less to do with the achilles.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
It had more to do with the fact that I
just hadn't played since Week eight of last year and
I won a red jersey and 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.
And so to be back in the fire for the
first time, I had some rusto to get off.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
And I think each week, the last you.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
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 les
level of anticipation and playing fast last night.
Speaker 8 (25:03):
That is back to kind of my old self.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
That I felt was we were on our way there,
but we hadn't really closed the gap.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
It felled until last night.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
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 8 (25:31):
I think I will call it thank you, appreciated you.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Bet Kirk Cousins on a magical night for him and
the Falcons.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
This league is so close. One more heard. The Herd
streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week
within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. Let's blaze it up, Fire
it up. It's Collins blazing Fuck. Jets versus Likings.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Favorites do very well in London. Vikings minus two and
a half. The better team, the healthier team. Jets are
all banged up, including Aaron Rodgers. They have not trailed
in the last three games against the Niners, Texans and Packers.
Darnold's on fire. They also lead the NFL in sacks,
so they put constant pressure on you. I think the
(26:19):
game will be close. The Jets don't want to be humiliated,
but their two wins this year have been against Jacoby
Brissett and Will Levis, and that Will Levis game came
down to the end. Aaron Rodgers, Morgan Moses Elijah Vera Tucker, CJ. Moseley.
They're banged up. This is not a good spot for
the Jets. Favorites do very well when you go overseas.
(26:40):
Vikings win a competitive game. Twenty seven to twenty lay
the points, Cardinals at forty nine Ers. I'm gonna take
Arizona seven and a half. That's a lot of points.
George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey. Kittle's not going to play. Fred
Warner limited, he may not play. Listen. James Connor McBride
is back, so Trey McBride, the great tight end is back.
(27:02):
Marvin Harrison four touchdowns in three games. Connors become a stud.
And I just like this Arizona offense. They had a
stinker last week, but if you go and look, I
mean Kyler Murray was completing seventy percent of his throws
to the last three games. I like this offense. Niners defense,
third down defense this year stinks. They're all beat up.
(27:24):
I'm gonna take the Niners to win a close one
at home, but seven and a half points per division
game for a pretty desperate Arizona team is too much.
Twenty seven to twenty three nine.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Ers, Giant said Seahawks.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So the wise guys think the numbers at a whack.
It was much better earlier in the week when the
Seahawks were minus like five. But I like Seattle. Here,
Malikite Nighbors is not gonna play Devin Singletary. They can't
run the ball with Devin Singletary. He's all banged up.
Gino Smith's on fire, DK Metcalf on fire minus six
and a half. I can lay the points their defense.
(27:58):
I'm sorry, but I think they're getting a couple of
their defensive linemen back. I think Seattle was really impressive,
like Tampa was last night in a loss in a
standalone game. The Giants only win came against Deshaun Watson,
who looks like he's cooked. They've been held under twenty
points in three of their last four games. Molik Neighbors
(28:19):
is out, by the way. Won Dale Robinson's banged up,
Brian Burns is banged up. This offense is a bb
gun and those numbers are with Molak Neighbors. I'm gonna
take the Seahawks to win twenty eight to twenty.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Cowboys at Steelers.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I like the Steelers. I liked it better when it
was minus one, but I'll take it not getting the
best of the number. Pittsburgh minus three. Okay, they were
beat by the Colts, but they outscored the Colts did
Pittsburgh on the road twenty one to ten in the
second half. This is about Dallas, though, yippie. They beat
the Giants in the Browns. They can't run the ball
seventy five yard rushing a game. They can't run the ball,
(29:00):
and the Steelers have a great run defense, so it's
gonna be very deck reliant. Also, the Cowboys defense since
Week two has been bad. You can run on them.
What does Pittsburgh do run? Brandon Cooks out, Micah Parsons doubtful,
DeMarcus Lawrence out, Trey Von Diggs banged up. This I
get a healthier team at home, and I think Arthur
(29:22):
Smith and Justin Field's been pretty good. I'm gonna take
the Steelers to win again. Competitive game twenty eight to
twenty four.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
Saints said Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I think the Chiefs are gonna win. I'm gonna bet
the number five and a half. The Saints have been
an unlucky team. Their losses have been Falcons and Eagles,
both losses by three points. Or fewer again five and
a half points. Derek Carr PFF has them as the
highest graded quarterback. Alvin Kamara leads the NFL in scrimmage yards.
The Chiefs have trailed by seven or more points in
(29:52):
every game. No Rashi Rice. Their offense has seven giveaways
this season. Only the Eagles and the Titans have more.
It's a sloppy team now without their star volume receiver.
And by the way, Mahomes this season has a passer
rating of one sixteen when targeting Rashee Rice. Everybody else
it's eighty two and he's out. The Saints offense this
(30:13):
season has been pretty robust points per game. First, third
down percentage excellent. Second, I'm gonna take the Saints to cover.
I'm gonna take the points all day. Chiefs win another
close game twenty four to twenty three. Remember Mahomes not
targeting Rashi Rice eighty two passer rating. Jamack Win sing
(30:37):
at that Jets, no, no, no, listen. Just for grading purposes,
I see Steelers at two and a half.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I'm not trying to get in any arguments here, but
you got a bad number there.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
That's gonna be two and a half for grading purpose.
They should be.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I can bet at two and a half right now,
so I think that's a great thing. I think that's
the best bet you've got, and I like you holding
your nose and taking the Arizona Cardinals seven and a half.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I don't I'm not man
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Enough to do that, but that's a good bet for you.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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