November 11, 2024 • 44 mins
Colin looks at the wins pulled off by both the Lions and the Chiefs and what this tells us about their hopes of contending for a Super Bowl. He tells you why he was right about Jim Harbaugh and wrong about the Steelers. Plus, 3-time Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck joins the show in studio to diagnose the issues the Bears are having on offense after another ugly game for QB Caleb Williams
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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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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we go on a Monday. We are officially past
the halfway point in the NFL live in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd wherever you may be. However you may
be listening one hour from now. Where Colin was right,
where Colin was wrong. Thank you for joining us on
Veterans Day today. You know, you can tell there are
(00:49):
certain things Jmac that separate the halves in this league
from the have nots. Often it's a great coach, which
they don't have in Chicago. Often it's a great quarterback.
But I thought yesterday very symbolic of a real separation.
You can tell yesterday was the ultimate sign for all
(01:11):
you fans out there. Are we a have or we
have none? And so we'll start the show with that.
Three teams, San Francisco did not play well, yet one
on the road. Detroit didn't play well at all, Yet
on the road beat a pretty good team Kansas City
at home did not play well and yet won. Niners
(01:34):
Lions Chiefs did not play well and survived. And that
is the difference. Chicago played poorly at home, blown out.
Dallas played poorly at home, blown out. Not competitive Jets
on the road. You don't have to ask, you don't
have to argue. The good teams in this league, the
(01:57):
special ones can go on the road play their worst
game of the year. By Let's talk about Detroit. Jared
Goff has five picks. This is a team built around
their offensive line. In run game, they got pushed all
over the field. It felt like a Super Bowl for Houston,
even though they were missioning their best rush in they
got massive energy, tons of juice. Golf off his game.
(02:18):
Golf was behind receivers. Nothing worked in the first half.
Even early in the third quarter, Detroit gets a pick,
They give the ball right back their dominant offensive line.
First half getting pushed around the field. They could not
play worse, and yet their last three possessions enough playmakers.
Golf settles down touchdown field goal, field goal, and they win.
(02:41):
They are good on third down. They have playmakers. You know,
total yards, they had far more total yards. They get
to homor on Saint Brown. They're running backs, their tight end.
They just figured out away. Put on the life preserver,
stay afloat, get down the field, kick field goals. Let's
get out of here. This was a team Detroit that
(03:03):
had played at such a high level for two months.
A stinker was coming against a good team on the
road Sunday night football, standalone game, and they won. Go
look at Kansas City short week, off an overtime game.
They looked fatigued, big favorite at home, trailed going into
(03:26):
the fourth quarter. Here were the Kansas City Chiefs. Did
not play very well. Bo Nicks was super comfortable. Forget
the last drive on third down. Sean Payton felt like
he caught Kansas City a tired team flat footed. They
couldn't run the ball, could the Chiefs. Their leading receiver
was Kareem Hunt. Nothing went right. You know those day
(03:49):
games when the crowd's not quite as lubricated, it's not
as loud an arrowhead. And here's Kansas City off their
game short week, little banged up the Chiefs scored one
touchdown in four red zone trips. Just didn't play well.
They weren't very efficient wide receivers, couldn't cut loose yet
(04:09):
yet when they go to block a field goal, it
was crazy. It was like they had thirteen to fifteen
guys on the field. Everybody burst through. It was the
classic what they call the jail break, Like everybody got
through the Denver Bronco offensive like just shut blown away.
So here's the best big moment team in the league.
They're great third down, they're great and big moments. It's
(04:32):
goal line stands and that is what the really special
teams do. And I've been saying this about Detroit and
Kansas City now for weeks. It feels inevitable. But yesterday
was different. Neither one of them. One played late Sunday
night in Houston, a stinker. Kansas City plays at home
day game. Here comes rookie Bonnicks driving down the field.
(04:55):
A lot of time, receivers open. Everything's clicking for a
team den that's probably about a year away. And that's
the separator. Niners, Chiefs, Lions then play well couple on
the road and they pick up do W's and Dan
Campbell knew what he went through.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Man, that's the definition of resiliency. You guys just kept
banging away, right. We did whatever we had to do,
and we just bought our time. This is what great
teams do. Even when you're having an off day. You
find a way, man, You freaking find a way and
you will it to happen. That's what you did today.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yep, that's what Kansas City's been doing. It feels like
now for about three years. They let Tyreek Hill go,
they're not as dynamic offensively. They draft Xavier Worthy. He
you know, he's not gonna be a high volume guy.
That's why they go get d Hop, That's why they
cape Ju Smith. Schuster comes back. He's a bit of
a gadget guy. He may end up making the play
(05:51):
of the game in the Super Bowl, the AFC Championship.
You're not gonna rely on him as a big part
of the offense. They don't have their top running back there,
just Kareem Hunt leads and receiving, and it feels like
Kansas City's been doing this for three years. Detroit finally,
I don't think Detroit wins this game two years ago
playing like that, I don't think Detroit wins that game
last year on the road against the Houston level team
(06:13):
planned like that the ultimate sign that Detroit has arrived,
the ultimate sign you can stink up the joint and
beat C. J. Stroud in the Texans in Houston Sunday night.
This is the best, honestly, I've ever felt about Detroit.
A stinker. Jared Gott's not throwing five picks again, forget
(06:34):
the rest of the season, of the rest of his career.
I watched Detroit and I'm like, that's a great team.
Anybody can roll over the Cowboys, Anybody can beat the Jets,
anybody can, you know, make the Titans look incompetent to
win that game. For Detroit, good for you. You've arrived.
Now here's a team that may never arrive. I mean
they've arrived at a really low level, the Chicago Bears.
(06:57):
So I'm looking at the stats this morning through the
first games the last two years, all those offensive pieces,
new quarterback Keenan Allen, same team. Awful fact they're worse.
And you can really see in the NFL, we all
think there's a big gap between like the best quarterbacks
and the worst quarterbacks. It's the same in ownership, it's
(07:19):
the same in coaching. I mean, Jim Harball. The Bears
can't even higher, right, They could have had Jim Harball.
They passed on that could have had Cliff Kingsbury, and
I passed on that. They can't even higher.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Look what Harball has done to the Packers, to the
Chargers defense worse than the league to first same guys.
This is a poorly coach team. There is such a
gap in competency in this league. I mean, now, Caleb Williams,
I knew he would go through some rookie struggles. Did
everybody did the rookies. It usually doesn't look like Jayden Daniels.
(07:52):
We all knew he would struggle a little. He's a rookie.
We all knew coming out of college he could be
a little bit too, you know, playmaker. He could be
a little hit and miss on his accuracy. You knew that.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
I knew that.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Those were the scouting reports. But now he has become
the most sacked quarterback in the league with his mobility,
the most mobile guy arguably in the league outside of
Lamar Jackson at quarterback, He's the most sacked guy in
the league. It's the only team where the opponent has
scored first in every game. I don't know what their
identity is. I mean I can't. They're so bad on
(08:25):
third down, one for fourteen on third down against New England,
one of the weaker rosters, a team that could, you know,
probably draft them in the top three. You'd think they
could scheme some layups. They could scheme some completions. That's
what Sean Payton's doing for bow Nicks. He's scheming easy catches,
six or seven, eight completions a game, just scheming some layups.
(08:48):
Jaden Daniels first couple of weeks, they're scheming some layups.
Make him get confident. Chicago can't do that. They can't
scheme laps and one for fourteen on third down. So
and when they try to get clever, they handed to
a backup center at the goal line. Even their attempts
at creativity are awful. There's just this, there's this huge
(09:10):
gap in the league between the best gms, Howie Roseman
or Brett Veach and the worst. It is a mile why.
It's just not quarterbacks. I mean, the NFL is not calculus,
it's not even algebra. But it is addition and subtraction.
You gotta be able to scheme up some easy completions
for a quarterback, some layups. Everybody does this. I mean,
(09:35):
Denver's doing it every week, you know. Or if a
guy comes off the bench in the middle of a game,
you scheme open. You got a couple of set plays,
couple of easy layups, get the confidence of the quarterback up.
They can't even do.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
That, right.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I mean, I'm watching New England yesterday, rookie coach. We
don't know if he's any good, rookie quarterback. We don't
know if he's any good. I'm watching him grow and well.
Drake May today Drake May a month ago. You feel
totally different if you live in Boston about Drake May
this morning than a month ago. I'm like, he didn't
have anything to throw to. He's kind of good. He's
starting to look like the comps. The comps were like
(10:11):
Justin Herbert, but not as polished out of college. That's
what they said about Drake May. Got some Justin Herbert
in him. He's not ready to play like Herbert was.
And all of a sudden yesterday I'm like, last two weeks,
I'm like, oh, I see it. He getting better bo
Nicks today from a month and a half ago. Oh,
you see it. I see it, everybody sees it. He
getting better. Jaden Daniels may have lost, He's better than
(10:33):
he was in the opener. Caleb William's going backwards. When
you have talented players, they're young and they're getting worse,
that's a coaching thing. Don't blame the kid. And I'm
not saying Caleb's perfect, but I mean I watched Bryce
Young yesterday. Bryce Young has a new coach. Last two weeks.
I've watched Bryce Young. He's getting better, He's getting more comfortable.
That tells me the coaching is confident. Caleb's had three
(10:55):
straight games now where he is completing under fifty four percent.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Folks, this is a team that can't scheme layups. You
got to give the kid six seven, maybe eight to nine,
give him easy ones, and then ask him to make
twelve tough NFL throws.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They can't do that. And Caleb did what leaders do
after the loss, he defended the coach.
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Am I confident in my head coach? Yes, I'm confident
my head coach. You know they brought me here for
a reason. They brought all of us here for a reason.
As players, when we're in the locker room, we know
how good we are, we know how good we can be.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
And right now we're not executing.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
We're not hitting all cylinders.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Hey, hands in the air. And this is a front
office in Chicago that said, hey, this last week, this
leaked out. Eber Flus is safe now and next year.
And for the record, I'm not a guy that likes
to get coaches fired. I defended Matt Naggy the entire
time he was in Chicago. He got Mitch Trupisky to
the playoffs twice, and that was with Aaron Rodgers and
(12:02):
Matt Stafford in his division in their prime, and Naggy
got twice. Mitched Trubisky, not nearly as talented as Caleb believes,
got him into the playoff twice. And the NFC was
better then than now. So at some point you got
to be honest about this thing. If you can't scheme
six or seven easy completions, they don't even use his mobility.
(12:26):
I mean, Caleb may not be great. I don't know
how it turns out, but it's not this. This is
not what it should look like. J Mack colin Wright
Colin wrong top of next hour. There's so much to
talk about today. I gotta be honest, and it's kind
of funny what happens. People like cool Aaron Rodgers is
cool and everybody's trying to hold on to his greatness.
(12:49):
Russell Wilson's seen is not as cool. He's actually playing great.
So isn't it funny? I'm trying. People are trying to
convince me cool Aaron is still good. He's washed. People
are out on Russ Wilson the minute that Hacket year.
Russell's actually gone back to a slightly less version of
the Seattle Russ. He moves, he's great in the deep ball,
he doesn't make any turnovers. I'm not staying there the Seahawks,
(13:12):
but that Pittsburgh has become Seattle. The defensive coach, tough
at home, physical, great pass rush, over the top offense,
consistent run game. I'm not saying there that team. But
Pittsburgh didn't bring him in to be a savior. They
brought him into be ninety eighty five percent of the
(13:33):
old Russ. That's what I'm watching. Three game sample size.
He's done well.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Pretty frustrating as a Jets fan to see Mike Williams,
who could do nothing with the Jets, plays nine snaps
and catches the game winning touchdown literally first target as
a Steeler, and it's like, that's all.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
He can do.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Run straight line, go route, Russ, perfect ball.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
It's funny, Amaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Could not hit him with a perfect go ball.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Interesting how that works out?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
All right, we got a lot of stuff to talk
about that's wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers, right. I'd be
honest with you. I was wrong on Pittsburgh. I thought
Russ was done. Both are know this interesting team. How
good is Pittsburgh. Let's just ask the question, how good
are they? They're good? The question is how good are they?
We're gonna talk about that next. Be sure to catch
(14:18):
live editions of The Herd Weekdays and neon eastern nine
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the
iHeartRadio app. Where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong.
On a Monday, where Colin was right, I said, for years,
can somebody just give Justin Herbert the right coach? He'll
be magnificent eleven touchdowns, one pick. I also said, I
(14:39):
think Jim Harball is on a short list of the
greatest football coaches we've ever had in the Jimmy Johnson, Belichick,
Andy Reid, Colleger, pro doesn't matter. He has literally changed
the entire franchise in the culture in ten weeks. This
was something we said. I thought the Chargers, just with
a coaching change and a couple of draft picks could
go from the worst team in the league to eleven wins.
(15:02):
And here we are where Colin was rough. I thought
Kayleb Williams would have rough spots. I didn't think it
would dissolve into this. It is a mess. Some of
it's on him. Listen, all of his weaknesses are coming
to the surface, and his straints they apparently as a
staff can't coach him up, but guys off a by
(15:24):
his passer rating last three weeks is sixty four. Like
he's completing in that we're getting too the t bow
category like fifty four percent. Like it's again he's a
rookie quarterback. I didn't think it was gonna be pretty.
I didn't think it would ever look like this.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I told you you better not fire Robert sala He
is the best coach by a long shot on that
staff and the defense has gotten worse. I also said
this would not be a playoff team. Aaron Rodgers is talented,
He's not a savior. Lamar Jackson's good enough to win
you games, you shouldn't. Aaron Rodgers at this point is
(15:58):
a forty year old off the surgery. Even last year
is last year in Green Bay. He wasn't a dominant player.
The Jets are worse than I thought, but I never
saw him as a playoff team. Where Colin was raw.
The Georgia Bulldogs with a dud. They got hammered by
Old Miss. They're just a really uneven football team. And
you take out Lad McConkie and Brock Bauers and Carson Beck.
(16:22):
He's just a guy. Even with their talent, seventeen touchdowns,
twelve picks, they don't protect the passer particularly well. Listen,
Old Miss is a good team. There's no shame in
losing to Ole Miss and Lane Kiffen. But Georgia is
a much more uneven football team than I thought they were.
Where Colin was right, I said last two weeks. If
(16:42):
I was the Cowboys, I would go with a soft tank.
I think this is a three win team that should
end up with four. They put Trey Lanton in the
third quarter. I think Jerry sees it. There's no point here.
Look at the games remaining. I don't think he'll be Carolina.
Keep your eye on the injury list. I think Dallas
pulls starters yesterday, no reason to get people hurt. I'm
not sure if I played Micah Parsons from this point out.
(17:05):
I'm dead serious. I think this team is eight to
nine players away from being as good as Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore.
I don't think they're close. And you saw it yesterday
where Colin was right Colorado second place in the Big twelve.
The minute I called them the fake idea of college football,
they apparently turned twenty one. They're getting into the club legitimately.
(17:26):
Now they're over five. Dion Sanders is over five hundred.
Deserves total credit because remember how bad the first year was.
They're throwing tortillas of truth apparently at them. They beat
Texas Tech. Listen, they do a lot of things right.
Warren Sap tip of the captain, Warren Sapp as defensive
line coach. That's been like the issue in the program.
(17:47):
They've got that solved. So I like shado Her Sanders.
That's never been the question. I thought this program was
a lot of sizzle, not a lot of steak. They
got both. Now where Colin was right, you know, I
love me some bo Nicks. I kept saying when he
was struggling early. He's good. There's some Drew Brees here.
He's mobile, he's poised, he's efficient. He's not making the
(18:07):
mistakes he did early. He had a great final drive
and that's a real Kansas City defense here. He's not
making the mistakes he was. I think this kid can
really play. This is not a great roster, and that
is a great Kansas City roster. That final drive is
an indication that the Denver Broncos and Sean Payton they
found their guy. He may not have the upside of
blah blah blah, but I'm telling you from efficiency, smarts, mobility,
(18:32):
he's athletic. They got their guy.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
The Warriors are eight and two, the number one rebounding
team in the league. They're better defensively now without Klay Thompson.
I didn't think they'd be a playoff team. They're playing
twelve players, so Steph Curry is fresher. They're better defensively,
they just they're deep. A twelve man rotation is unheard
of in the NBA. They've beaten both the Celtics and OKC.
(18:58):
Those are my picks for the two best team in
the league, the teams and teams that will meet in
the finals. So I didn't think they were a playoff team.
I thought they should just start over. But their depth,
their freshness, Steph isn't having to play forty minutes tonight.
I was wrong on the Warriors so far, where Colin
was right. Love me some Kyler Murray seventeen straight completions.
(19:18):
I've said, I think he's a better version of Russell
Wilson in his prime. He's a better athlete, and Russell
was a great athlete. I think the kid throws the
prettiest ball in the league this year, seventy percent completions
during the four game winning streak, seven touchdowns. You tell me,
how do you defend him? I mean, it's just he
is one of those guys that if you're a defensive coordinator,
(19:38):
there's no complete answer to how to stop him. And
now he's got Harrison and McBride and Connor. Give this
organization credit, but it all starts with Kyler Murray. I
know the video game stuff. I know, maybe he's not coachable.
Well you know what, maybe it was the people that left.
They can't all be on the kid. I've loved him
for years. I've supported him. I hear the critics. But
(20:01):
when I watch games with him starting, and you watch
him and Aaron Rodgers, it doesn't look like the same sport.
I mean that that kid's energy, that kid's mobility, that
kid's accuracy even when he's running, is something special. Where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong on a Monday.
And with that, eighteen years, three Pro Bowls, the Super Bowl,
Matt Hasselbeck is joining us in studio. I didn't even
(20:24):
know we were going to get him live today. I mean,
on what a what a gift. It's like a yeah,
we don't get many of those, so let's start with this.
It's that the Nat Hackett year, when Russell went to Denver,
he was going to kind of be the savior, and
I think that stuff's hard. Matt Stafford wasn't asked to
save the Rams. They were good, even Tampa and tom
(20:47):
They had a lot of good players. I mean they
were an offensive machine there were number three in scoring.
He just had to clean him up. But Russell goes
to Denver and it's like, save us. They don't have
the right coach, you know, they gave up draft capital.
I watch him in Pittsburgh. I get the good deep ball,
I get the optimism, I get some of the mobility.
It's pretty good team, right.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Yeah, this is a great fit. And I would say
it's kind of it's more similar to what he was
in Seattle. Like I don't know if it was like
save us as much as it was he got there
and he was like, hey, I'm here to save you.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
You know.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
I think there was like some humility that needed to
happen there for him as well.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
But this is the perfect situation for him.
Speaker 8 (21:23):
I mean, you got a great defense, you have an
iconic head coach who like just screams leadership, and I
think Russell Wilson screams leadership. Also, he brings a lot
of steadiness, of veteran presence, and he's got one of
the best deep balls in the game. Despite the lack
of mobility that he has now compared to what he
once was, he's still excellent at the line of scrimmage,
(21:44):
and that deep ball with the new receivers that he's
got with Pickins and now Mike Williams, that's just a
perfect fit for him.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
You know, it's interesting that you know, Russell. It may
not be for everybody, but I will say this, we
know because of his size. I saw it a couple
times yesterday. He's not as great in the pocket and
some guys are just when you're when you're five to
eleven and the offensive linemen are six eight, it's hard.
I mean, you're you're I'm six two. You're taller than me.
Sometimes it is hard to see things. There is that
(22:13):
why he so good at the deep ball that it
has become kind of his life preserver when he struggles
to see stuff.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Well, I would say this like height is no longer
a thing. Like when I was coming out in the
draft class of ninety eight, Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf, you
had to be six foot four taller or they wouldn't
even really consider you.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
But there's some shorter quarterbacks that play tall. And the
ball jumps out of Russell Wilson's hands like the ball
gets up and down, and specifically on the deep ball.
You know how when I was in the NFL how
we would get graded on the deep ball. It wasn't
like if it was completed or all that. There was
a lot that went into it. But basically, if the
nose of the ball was turning coming down when the
ball was halfway there, that was like a plus grade.
(22:50):
If the nose of the ball was up, that was
a minus grade. Really didn't even matter if the.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Ball was completing.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You want some altitude on it.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
You need the altitude and you need that ball turning over.
Think three point shooter with good arc on the ball.
And like that's what you saw on the touchdown pass
to Mike Williams. He had like great air, the receiver
can find the ball, it comes down the chimney, so
to speak.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
And that one wasn't like.
Speaker 8 (23:09):
Great coverage on that play, But that's an example even
when it is great coverage.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
You saw Russell Wilson do this for years.
Speaker 8 (23:16):
You know, that's exactly what you're looking for from a
quarterback on a deep ball, and he's got that. I
don't care how tall you are, it's how you throw
the football.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So this is where you have a real value for
our audience. And I love this. It's easy for me
to just blame eber Flus, but it can't be this
bad without also being Caleb. Like it just now, I
don't think they're scheming up as many layups as they could,
but his accuracy has not been good. So when you
watch this, some of it's on Caleb too, right.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
I would say ninety percent of it is on the quarterback.
Like if I'm coaching the quarterback and they were at
nine sacks yesterday, I'm putting at least six of those
on the quarterback. And just like with Russell Wilson, like
we're sitting here talking about the deep ball to Mike Williams,
he knows like that's a blitz situation. Like Caleb, he's
a young quarterback. So I'm not trying to throw stones
at him because of the mistakes. I'm not surprised by
(24:08):
the mistakes.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I think just.
Speaker 8 (24:09):
Expectations are going to be higher because you do have
guys like Jayden Daniels playing such good football. Bo Nicks
is playing good football. Drake May's even playing good football,
and so I think the Boo Birds are going to
be out with Caleb. But to sit there and to
say that it's you know, there aren't places to go
with the ball or there aren't ways to avoid.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Sacks missing like that ball, do a dunde in the
end zone. He missed it badly.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
And listen, people are going to miss throws.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
The greatest quarterback in the world, Patrick Mahomes misses guys
who are open like it's gonna happen. But just understanding,
Like the growth of a quarterback, it always starts with
pass protection.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Always. It's not about throwing the ball.
Speaker 8 (24:47):
It's really just about pass protection least the number one thing,
and understanding how to avoid sacks, how to help your team,
how to help your defense, how to help your offensive line,
and like right now, like one of the reasons why
you don't play a quarterback early because you don't want
him to get shook. You don't want him dropping his
eyes and looking at the rush. You don't want him
moving around and scrambling when there's no reason to scramble.
(25:09):
And that's the danger with a young quarterback. And I
just think they got to be careful how they treat
this guy because he's got a ton of talent, but
clearly the confidence is not there like it was at USC.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
It's just not there.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah. Well, for the record, I had two executives tell
me before they drafted him. They said, listen, he's erratic.
Both said, I think with the right coach, you can
coach it out of him. But he misses. He misses
some easy stuff.
Speaker 8 (25:33):
Well, and I think if you just take a quick
look at like sort of what Sean Payton did with
bo Nix yesterday, it was up tempo, you know, gets
the up tempo, gets the defense to chill out a
little bit. Yeah, Caleb and the Bears were at the
line of scrimmage for a long time. Just about every
play the New England Patriots have a chance to audible.
They have a chance to recognize the formation and say, Okay,
(25:55):
this is the formation. Here's what we're gonna do, you know,
And so like, I just think tempo is a secret weapon.
Like Mike Congren was so good about this, Bill Waltsh
was so good about this. Andy Reid's really good about this.
You know, Sean Payton did a great job using the tempo,
using basically the fact that you know what the play
is on offense and the defense needs time to react,
(26:15):
like using that as a weapon. You saw Sean McVeigh
do it when he first got to LA. It's such
a tool.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
That people use. Some people use it well.
Speaker 8 (26:23):
Some people just give it away and they don't. They
don't use it as a weapon. And I think it's
just it makes it a lot tougher for a young
quarterback to now behind the center and kind of redirect protection,
know where you're hot, you know, all those kinds of things.
It's you know, I think there are some things that
they could do to help them.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So I was saying, Detroit's been on a heater for
about eight weeks. I think I was most impressed with
him last night to play like that. It was clear
Houston doesn't get a lot of standalone games Sunday night
football in Houston. They got the new unis Like you
could feel it. It feel like a playoff game, and they
were I mean, even their old line, which is the
best in the league, kind of got pushed around in
the first time like that. You could tell they just
(27:01):
didn't match the energy of Houston and they were just
back on their heels. But to be able to go
touchdown field, goalfield, go, let's get it right, let's make
some plays. I thought it was really impressive.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Yeah, I'm glad you said it.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
I would say it felt like a playoff game to Houston,
like Houston came out with as the more physical team.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Question.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
You know, Detroit didn't look like they were showing up
for a playoff game, like they looked like they were
sleepwalking lat footage. That was bad, you know, but Houston
brought it. They had the energy the prime time like
you mentioned. And you know, but I do think just
talking about Detroit, this was awesome for Detroit. It is
so good that they played like this in won because
you know what they do. They going at halftime and
(27:39):
I remember being in games like this, like I remember
a wildcard game. I'm with the Indianapolis Colts Andrew Lux
the quarterback, were down like twenty eight points and we
coming at halftime, and what do we say, Andrew and
everybody saying the same thing, like, hey, there's no such
thing as a fourteen point touchdown. There's no such thing.
We'll get the ball one play at a time, one
drive at a time, one touchdown at a time. And
(28:00):
we said it like exactly how we said it. Chuck
Pagonell gets in there and he's like, hey, one play
at a time, all you got sixty minutes.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
That's what we said, pregame.
Speaker 8 (28:07):
Don't judge the scoreboard every play, you know, let's see
what happens, and we win the game. And like, I
just think even though we played like trash like and
they played terrible, Detroit did for the first part of
that game. Now, when they get in that situation again,
and they will, they will, cause it's the it's the NFL.
They'll go in there and guys will say that same thing. Hey,
(28:29):
sixty minutes all you got one play at a time.
Don't judge that kind of conversation. No one's gonna roll
their eyes like you saw guys you know, lip reading
this year, Like, oh man, we you know we stink, right,
So they're not going to have that, not in that
locker room.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
That locker room's different. That locker room, Like, yeah, we've
been here before. We're good.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Our quarterback throws five interceptions, we can still win, no
big deal. Like we're sticking together. When things get hard,
what do we do we pull apart? No, we stick together.
And and I was just one other thing on like
five interceptions. To me, it was four interceptions and a
second quarter Hail Mary. But I believe, I believe and
I know this was true on teams that I was on.
When your quarterback is willing to just throw a hail
(29:10):
mary interception in the second quarter instead of caring too
much about his passer rating and throwing it out of bounds,
Like I just think to some people in that locker room,
it's kind of like, Yeah, this guy's not about himself.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Andrew luck had that quality.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
There's a lot of guys. Eli Manning had that quality.
He was like the king of second quarter hail mary interceptions.
But he was putting it on the line for the team.
And like, there's some quarterbacks who don't do that. There's
some quarterbacks that would rather run out of bounds for
a one yard sack than throw the ball away because
of their rating and the offensive line, Like they don't
respect it.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Your teammates don't respect it.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
And I think Jared Goff's a guy that's continuing to
earn the respect of the people around him. And like
I said, I just think it's going to pay dividends
later on for this team.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
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 you know,
go back to the final couple years. So I don't
think all athletes do this, and maybe Aaron doesn't, but
it's so bad now it kind of does like sour
(30:13):
the legacy a little.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Like the New York thing is a mess. Like it's
bad they've got like players, it's blowouts. Now we've got
a he got the coach fired. Whether he did or not,
it's not it's a stain. And I wonder when you
got to the end of your career did you care
about that or did you just like, Hey, I like football,
somebody's paying me. But the New York thing, I don't
think anybody thought it would be this. It's a mess.
(30:38):
I mean, Farv had juice. If you remember he came in,
they won games, and then he went to Minnesota and
you're like, there's Aaron doesn't look like it's old man football.
It doesn't look pretty. Do you think he would contemplate
like shutting it down into the season and just saying
I don't want.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
To get hurt. No, no, I don't think so.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
You think he's too much of a competitor, But he
probably wonders what the right thing to do. I think
all athletes when you get to be in your forties,
you wonder like, Okay, what's the right thing?
Speaker 5 (31:03):
How do I handle this situation?
Speaker 8 (31:05):
You know what I saw yesterday though, I just see
a guy that doesn't have the mobility that he used
to have, right, and that was just such a weapon.
I mean, he obviously is a super talented quarterback, that
was such a weapon. And basically, defensive coordinators, I think
defensive players feared playing Aaron Rodgers. They feared it the
way that people fear going against the Kyler Murray. Like
they fear it like, oh man, hey keep this guy
(31:26):
in the pocket, Hey stay back, like he's dangerous. One
play and he can like turn this, you know, game
to a different game. Like they don't fear that. And
so what you see now is people are coming after him.
And I when I played, I used to absolutely hate
when TV commentators or people would say like, oh, this
is his fault or that's his fault, because like, how
do you know, Like there's really no way to know
what someone's assignment is on every play? But you can't
(31:48):
watch the New York Jets and leave saying that they
are an assignment correct football team. And now like I
don't know whose fault you know, I don't know, Well,
maybe was that on the quarterback?
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Was that on the alignment? Was that on the receiver?
Speaker 8 (32:01):
But there's no doubt that someone is wrong, and so
like that happens on teams, but you're trying to minimize that.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
You can see it on TV.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
Well yeah, I mean listen, like they're bringing seven, you
have six. So someone has to do something. Quarterback has
to throw hat, he has to redirect the production, the
receiver has to run a shorter route, like something needs
to happen. I'm not sure what the right answer was,
but like someone's assignment wrong here, Like there's no doubt
about that. And then what you see Aaron doing, which
you know, I got coached this way one time when
(32:30):
we had new players on our team in Seattle. My
quarterback coach said to me, Jim Zorn. He said to me, hey, listen,
here's the coaching point for you this week. Throw it
to where the receivers are, not to where you think
they should be.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
And I was like, what kind of coaching point is that?
But like it was very helpful to me.
Speaker 8 (32:47):
And when I watch the New York Jets right now,
right or wrong, I feel like Aaron Rodgers is throwing
the ball to where the receiver is supposed to be
instead of where they are, you know. But like it's
not about that, about finding a way to get completions
and be successful. And like I said, like I told
you probably last week, this looks like a team that's
being punished, and their punishment as they have to continue
(33:09):
to play. If they could just call it a season,
they probably would prefer to do that, like, hey, you
know what, let's get it next year. But that's not
the reality. The reality is you got to come together.
They're fighting, they're kicking their claw and they're scratching. But
it's been bad football lately.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So I was saying earlier. Kansas City is a very
good roster. They look a little offensive light, a little
Baltimore Detroit feel a little defensive light. With Hutchison out.
I watched Philadelphia. They've got great older players, great players
in their prime, and then they've got like Jalen Carter,
Mitchell the corner from Toledo, Dean the linebacker. I'm like,
they got three defensive guys they're not even in their
(33:47):
prime and they're ballers. Like I look at the Philadelphia
roster when you get three levels of great Hall of Fame,
old right in their prime, young guys emerging as stars.
I think Philadelphia is the best roster in the league.
What do you see.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
That's a strong statement.
Speaker 8 (34:04):
You know, everyone was booming him and like just saying, hey,
these guys are the worst, trying to get Sirianni fired,
Like I don't get it. I think Sirianni's a great coach.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
You do listen.
Speaker 8 (34:12):
I mean he's different and like before I met him,
I thought, like, who is this guy?
Speaker 5 (34:18):
You know, like what is he doing?
Speaker 8 (34:20):
You know he's just but you when you learn more
about him, know where he came from. He was a
wide receiver at Mount Union. Like he's just like all
this stuff, Like it just the personality fits.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
I think it's perfect.
Speaker 8 (34:31):
I think Nick Sirianni and his brashness with Jalen Hurts
in his smooth, steady like you can't get him too high,
you can't get him too low. He is perfect. I
think it's a great match. Now here's where I think
they struggled early on. They've got new coordinators, they got
Kellen Moore, they got Vic Fangio. But eventually, like Vic
Fangio's tough, like he's gonna get that defense a shoot,
(34:53):
he already did. That defense is legit. That defense is legit.
I think they're gonna be okay. I think the weakness
of this team is if they don't have aj Aj
Brown and they don't have DeVante Smith, they are not
the same team. Try they need those two guys to
be who they're supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
And this is not a criticism of Jalen Hurts because
I like him. I like what they've done in the
last month. They said we're gonna left, We're gonna have
your throw about twenty two times. They were getting kind
of loose. It was kind of like thirty one, and
you're like, it's not a criticism, Like, I like what
he is now.
Speaker 8 (35:23):
It's a little bit of Kellen Moore though, right, Like
Kellen's a pass happy guy. Think about where he came from.
I remember this kid I was playing for the Seahawks.
He was a high school quarterback in Prosser, Washington. He'd
score like sixty three points a game, throwing it all
over the field.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
Callens.
Speaker 8 (35:37):
Yeah, he's not like a Jim Harbaugh type guy. I'm
not gonna like run it into the ground.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
It's not him. Boise State, you know it's not him.
Speaker 8 (35:44):
So like I just think, like, like, if let me
say it this way, If the tush push can't be
a dominant play for the Philadelphia Eagles, this is not
their year.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
It needs to be a part of it.
Speaker 8 (35:54):
They need to be a team that when the rest
of the league has to get ten yards for a
first down, they got to get like eight and a
half because the tush push is automatic. If that's not
a part of their team and not part of their identity,
if it's not part of what they're doing, because I
believe this is a Saquon team now, it's a Jalen
Hurts running the ball and throwing the ball team right now.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
They just need to be a physical team.
Speaker 8 (36:14):
If they're not the most physical team, I don't think
it's the I don't think it's the best thing for them.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
I think a Matt Hasselbeck for our radio audience eighteen years,
three Pro Bowls every Monday with us in the NFL
because you have a regulated level of violence. You can
see this in hockey too. Dynasties close fast. I mean
if KD would have stayed with the Warriors, it would
have lasted another four years. Usually in the NBA it's ego,
it's I want my shots, and then stuff closes, or
(36:40):
it's a salary thing. In the NFL, these things generally,
you know, unless you get Reid Mahomes, Brady Belichick, Walsh Montana,
most of the time it closes pretty quick. Guys get hurt,
guys are free agents. And then I watch the Niners
and I feel like the windows closing. They're getting old
(37:00):
key spots. They've missed on a few draft picks. There's
a disregard for special teams that is annoying. Some coaches
already care about it. Slater with the Patriots for sixteen years.
Some coaches, I mean, Belichick would draft your left footed
punters like you really cared about it. Some of the
young coaches are more into their wizardry on offense or defense.
(37:22):
I really feel when I watch San Francisco, I think
they had about a four or five year where I
was like, they're punishing people. I don't think they intimidate.
I think half the league's running that offense. Matt, They're
not the debo jet sweeps, aren't catching people off. It
feels like it's closed to me.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
Yeah, you could be right, you could be right, but
this is a team. They're in a division that's winnable.
You know, Arizona's playing good football. The Rams you can't
count out with Stafford. Seattle's in enigma right now. But
san Franz right there, I just think they're a different
team with Christian McCaffrey and the special teams blunders and
all that, like that's fixable stuff.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
Kittle's still a beast.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
I think he's one of the best in the game,
if not the best, like real tight end in the
game of the end zone.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
He's so good so in the chemistry.
Speaker 8 (38:07):
The part that bothers me more actually is the debo
going after the kicker and going after the long snapper.
Like I mentioned earlier, Detroit, what's so great about Detroit.
Someone's struggling, your brother's struggling, your teammates struggling. We can
either pull apart or we can pull together. Right, there's
a great there's a great there's a great quote from
the movie Gladiator, right, maxims Russell Crowe.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
He's in there.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
He's like, our only chance to survive this thing is
to stick together. And that's what it is. In an
NFL locker room. It's a roller coaster season. There's ups
and downs. You got to pull together, not pull apart.
And I just thought, like that's the kind of thing
that needs to be kind of like figured out, like
man to man. You know, I saw everyone quoted afterwards.
I watched it, and like, you know, did you guys
(38:50):
talk it out? Like ah nah, but I'm sure we're good,
Like like hey, I know your dudes, and you don't
want to talk about it. You just want to give
each other the Pez you know, like the Pez candy dispatcher,
like you see him in the locker room after the game,
like like we're good, Like you know, it's a little
head nod, like we're good, right like that it's not enough.
Speaker 5 (39:06):
I think it might.
Speaker 8 (39:07):
Be almost enough because they won the game, But like
I don't think, like I mentioned earlier about like do
people in the locker room respect everything that you're doing.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
I think respect is just a big thing.
Speaker 8 (39:19):
Like you got to respect how hard it is to
be the holder, the kicker, the snapper, just like you
got to respect how hard it is to be the
wide receiver. Like I just think respect is an important
thing and that's the job of the head coach. The
job of the head coach and the job of the
leadership on the team is kind of pulled together. I
would expect that this team would pull together, but but before.
Speaker 5 (39:37):
They got on that airplane, it hadn't happened.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
So that's the kind of stuff that like, as you
go through a long season, it's the same people. I
don't think it matters so much, like how many you know,
like whatever, like their windows closing. It's basically just like
egos and like are you going to be a great
teammate and are you going to be there for your brother?
And like pick a guy up. The Detroit Lions picked
up their quarterback yesterday. Eventually the Niners sort of picked
(40:01):
up their kicker situation and gave him another chance. But
you know, that's the kind of stuff that I would
look for. I think that stuff's important.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Hey, I want to ask you about a young quarterback,
mostly because I was right. I said, I love how
you say that. You know, I never missed an opportunity.
There you go. When I watched bon Nix in college,
I said, Sean Payton's drafting him. I'm not saying he's
Drew Brees, but there are qualities. Yeah, Drew Brees early
(40:30):
was a little more athletic than he got credit for,
a little better athlete than you thought. Accuracy like intense.
Bo Nix was snaps like he snapped back at Sean
Drew Brees intense in person. The bo Knicks thing I
thought yesterday in a losing effort, that last drive against Spags,
I thought it was like, that's a great losing effort drive.
(40:51):
I thought it was a really a moment. I thought
he's growing. But I thought like, well that could win,
that could win an narrow hit.
Speaker 5 (40:57):
It did win.
Speaker 8 (40:58):
I mean honestly, like it's it's actually did. When they
they're bad at field goal protection, you know there's blood
in the water there. You see it on film. You
know where you can attack a weakness on field goal
and they got it done. Dave Tobe got it done
like the special teams coach for Kansas City. No, but
I completely agree with you, and I would say even
bo Nick's a little bigger and probably more athletic than
Drew Brees. And Drew Brees a great, great quarterback. It's
(41:19):
a perfect fit for him at the combine. Watching those guys,
all those quarterbacks throw at the combine, bow Knicks did
not stand out, right, he did not stand out throwing
in a shirt in shorts.
Speaker 5 (41:29):
That wasn't his thing. But he's a football player.
Speaker 8 (41:31):
He had a lot of reps in college, played for
you know, the extra year there, and you.
Speaker 5 (41:36):
Know, I just thought he was set up for success.
The go route there. You know, when are you going
to take a go.
Speaker 8 (41:40):
Route on on Spags on in short yardage third and one,
Like that's when I know that. I know that, I
know it's going to be cover one, bumping run press
man and that he's been throwing a press fade since
he was a high school freshman. So like he just
kind of simplified the game. I mentioned tempo earlier, Yes,
I think tempo is such a weapon. You even heard
(42:01):
Sean Payton talk about it at halftime. He came in,
he said, here's what we're doing to slow down Spags
because Spags is exotic with his blitz schemes and his looks.
We're using tempo or just getting up. So a lot
of times you in your playbooks you go, here's what happens.
When you go into a game. You have like a
play it'll be like, okay, I'm gonna run ninety three
blasts alert to ninety eight handoff solid kills to two
hundred jet dragon. It's a run to the left, alert
(42:22):
to a run to the right, killed to a pass,
and it's a lot you gotta you want.
Speaker 5 (42:26):
To be right.
Speaker 8 (42:26):
Well, sometimes you go into a game and you're just like, hey,
screw it, just freaking run the play. We call running back.
There might be an extra guy that's unblocked.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
He's yours. That's why we pay you all that money.
Speaker 8 (42:38):
Tempo, Okay, we don't want our offensive lineman sitting up
there in a three point stance for like nine seconds
and then you got to block Chris Jones. Get in
your stance and let go. Okay, if it doesn't work,
that's on me, the play caller. You just run the
play and play fast. I want I don't want us thinking.
I want us just to be the aggressor. And now
all of a sudden, you are the aggressor and the
(42:59):
defensive court is not the aggressor. And it's just a
good thing for a quarterback. You're like, oh, shoot, I'm
just tempo. I'm going quick, I'm going fast. I'm not
worried about getting a minus on my grade sheet. Because
the free safety was at seven and a half yards
instead of eight and a half yards.
Speaker 5 (43:12):
We're just gonna go.
Speaker 8 (43:14):
And then the coach, I think Sean Payton does a
great job of this, like, hey, here's what I think.
But you're out there playing whatever you decide in the game.
You're right here we go, and I just I think
you saw a quarterback who's playing confidently, getting the ball
out of his hands quick. Not a lot of negative plays.
Not third and eleven's very very tough.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Key. That's key those young quarterbacks. You get into third
and long, it's a mess.
Speaker 8 (43:34):
And it helps everybody. It helps your defense, it helps
your O line. It's good for confidence morale.
Speaker 5 (43:39):
You know.
Speaker 8 (43:39):
There's like a couple sayings that I think Sean Payton
probably lives by, you know.
Speaker 5 (43:43):
I know they helped me.
Speaker 8 (43:44):
Like completions before a kicking play are all good, even
if it's a punt, No big deal. You say to
the young quarterback, Hey, you worry about just getting us completions.
I'll worry about third down conversions, you know, And it's
just nice. It just takes some stuff off your plate.
You're able to play fast and comp and I think
that's just like a nice thing. Bo nix Is should
be very very happy he's with Sean Payton and vice versa.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah, love having you here. You know, if how about
we buy a lunch? Fly the family out everywhere?
Speaker 8 (44:14):
A fun fact here about Fox Studios here, amazing cafeteria
like amazing, the smoothie bar, like.
Speaker 5 (44:20):
All of it. Strong.
Speaker 8 (44:21):
I was here for Parents Weekend Ucla another big win
for UCLA football.
Speaker 5 (44:25):
Yeah, three in a row. I think shock maybe, but
uh yeah, we need more parents weekends. Had good, had
a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
I signed, I re signed here just on the smoothie bar.
Speaker 5 (44:34):
What's your favorite smoothie?
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I do the blueberry and I also do the the
green in the morning, blueberry afternoon solid.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
What's better than that? Nothing?
Speaker 1 (44:42):
You don't get ripped like this at sixty just eating
burgers Matt Hasselback is absolute. My love having you on
the show.
Speaker 5 (44:49):
Appreciate it.
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 (00:26):
Here we go on a Monday. We are officially past
the halfway point in the NFL live in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd wherever you may be. However you may
be listening one hour from now. Where Colin was right,
where Colin was wrong. Thank you for joining us on
Veterans Day today. You know, you can tell there are
(00:49):
certain things Jmac that separate the halves in this league
from the have nots. Often it's a great coach, which
they don't have in Chicago. Often it's a great quarterback.
But I thought yesterday very symbolic of a real separation.
You can tell yesterday was the ultimate sign for all
(01:11):
you fans out there. Are we a have or we
have none? And so we'll start the show with that.
Three teams, San Francisco did not play well, yet one
on the road. Detroit didn't play well at all, Yet
on the road beat a pretty good team Kansas City
at home did not play well and yet won. Niners
(01:34):
Lions Chiefs did not play well and survived. And that
is the difference. Chicago played poorly at home, blown out.
Dallas played poorly at home, blown out. Not competitive Jets
on the road. You don't have to ask, you don't
have to argue. The good teams in this league, the
(01:57):
special ones can go on the road play their worst
game of the year. By Let's talk about Detroit. Jared
Goff has five picks. This is a team built around
their offensive line. In run game, they got pushed all
over the field. It felt like a Super Bowl for Houston,
even though they were missioning their best rush in they
got massive energy, tons of juice. Golf off his game.
(02:18):
Golf was behind receivers. Nothing worked in the first half.
Even early in the third quarter, Detroit gets a pick,
They give the ball right back their dominant offensive line.
First half getting pushed around the field. They could not
play worse, and yet their last three possessions enough playmakers.
Golf settles down touchdown field goal, field goal, and they win.
(02:41):
They are good on third down. They have playmakers. You know,
total yards, they had far more total yards. They get
to homor on Saint Brown. They're running backs, their tight end.
They just figured out away. Put on the life preserver,
stay afloat, get down the field, kick field goals. Let's
get out of here. This was a team Detroit that
(03:03):
had played at such a high level for two months.
A stinker was coming against a good team on the
road Sunday night football, standalone game, and they won. Go
look at Kansas City short week, off an overtime game.
They looked fatigued, big favorite at home, trailed going into
(03:26):
the fourth quarter. Here were the Kansas City Chiefs. Did
not play very well. Bo Nicks was super comfortable. Forget
the last drive on third down. Sean Payton felt like
he caught Kansas City a tired team flat footed. They
couldn't run the ball, could the Chiefs. Their leading receiver
was Kareem Hunt. Nothing went right. You know those day
(03:49):
games when the crowd's not quite as lubricated, it's not
as loud an arrowhead. And here's Kansas City off their
game short week, little banged up the Chiefs scored one
touchdown in four red zone trips. Just didn't play well.
They weren't very efficient wide receivers, couldn't cut loose yet
(04:09):
yet when they go to block a field goal, it
was crazy. It was like they had thirteen to fifteen
guys on the field. Everybody burst through. It was the
classic what they call the jail break, Like everybody got
through the Denver Bronco offensive like just shut blown away.
So here's the best big moment team in the league.
They're great third down, they're great and big moments. It's
(04:32):
goal line stands and that is what the really special
teams do. And I've been saying this about Detroit and
Kansas City now for weeks. It feels inevitable. But yesterday
was different. Neither one of them. One played late Sunday
night in Houston, a stinker. Kansas City plays at home
day game. Here comes rookie Bonnicks driving down the field.
(04:55):
A lot of time, receivers open. Everything's clicking for a
team den that's probably about a year away. And that's
the separator. Niners, Chiefs, Lions then play well couple on
the road and they pick up do W's and Dan
Campbell knew what he went through.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Man, that's the definition of resiliency. You guys just kept
banging away, right. We did whatever we had to do,
and we just bought our time. This is what great
teams do. Even when you're having an off day. You
find a way, man, You freaking find a way and
you will it to happen. That's what you did today.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yep, that's what Kansas City's been doing. It feels like
now for about three years. They let Tyreek Hill go,
they're not as dynamic offensively. They draft Xavier Worthy. He
you know, he's not gonna be a high volume guy.
That's why they go get d Hop, That's why they
cape Ju Smith. Schuster comes back. He's a bit of
a gadget guy. He may end up making the play
(05:51):
of the game in the Super Bowl, the AFC Championship.
You're not gonna rely on him as a big part
of the offense. They don't have their top running back there,
just Kareem Hunt leads and receiving, and it feels like
Kansas City's been doing this for three years. Detroit finally,
I don't think Detroit wins this game two years ago
playing like that, I don't think Detroit wins that game
last year on the road against the Houston level team
(06:13):
planned like that the ultimate sign that Detroit has arrived,
the ultimate sign you can stink up the joint and
beat C. J. Stroud in the Texans in Houston Sunday night.
This is the best, honestly, I've ever felt about Detroit.
A stinker. Jared Gott's not throwing five picks again, forget
(06:34):
the rest of the season, of the rest of his career.
I watched Detroit and I'm like, that's a great team.
Anybody can roll over the Cowboys, Anybody can beat the Jets,
anybody can, you know, make the Titans look incompetent to
win that game. For Detroit, good for you. You've arrived.
Now here's a team that may never arrive. I mean
they've arrived at a really low level, the Chicago Bears.
(06:57):
So I'm looking at the stats this morning through the
first games the last two years, all those offensive pieces,
new quarterback Keenan Allen, same team. Awful fact they're worse.
And you can really see in the NFL, we all
think there's a big gap between like the best quarterbacks
and the worst quarterbacks. It's the same in ownership, it's
(07:19):
the same in coaching. I mean, Jim Harball. The Bears
can't even higher, right, They could have had Jim Harball.
They passed on that could have had Cliff Kingsbury, and
I passed on that. They can't even higher.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Look what Harball has done to the Packers, to the
Chargers defense worse than the league to first same guys.
This is a poorly coach team. There is such a
gap in competency in this league. I mean, now, Caleb Williams,
I knew he would go through some rookie struggles. Did
everybody did the rookies. It usually doesn't look like Jayden Daniels.
(07:52):
We all knew he would struggle a little. He's a rookie.
We all knew coming out of college he could be
a little bit too, you know, playmaker. He could be
a little hit and miss on his accuracy. You knew that.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
I knew that.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Those were the scouting reports. But now he has become
the most sacked quarterback in the league with his mobility,
the most mobile guy arguably in the league outside of
Lamar Jackson at quarterback, He's the most sacked guy in
the league. It's the only team where the opponent has
scored first in every game. I don't know what their
identity is. I mean I can't. They're so bad on
(08:25):
third down, one for fourteen on third down against New England,
one of the weaker rosters, a team that could, you know,
probably draft them in the top three. You'd think they
could scheme some layups. They could scheme some completions. That's
what Sean Payton's doing for bow Nicks. He's scheming easy catches,
six or seven, eight completions a game, just scheming some layups.
(08:48):
Jaden Daniels first couple of weeks, they're scheming some layups.
Make him get confident. Chicago can't do that. They can't
scheme laps and one for fourteen on third down. So
and when they try to get clever, they handed to
a backup center at the goal line. Even their attempts
at creativity are awful. There's just this, there's this huge
(09:10):
gap in the league between the best gms, Howie Roseman
or Brett Veach and the worst. It is a mile why.
It's just not quarterbacks. I mean, the NFL is not calculus,
it's not even algebra. But it is addition and subtraction.
You gotta be able to scheme up some easy completions
for a quarterback, some layups. Everybody does this. I mean,
(09:35):
Denver's doing it every week, you know. Or if a
guy comes off the bench in the middle of a game,
you scheme open. You got a couple of set plays,
couple of easy layups, get the confidence of the quarterback up.
They can't even do.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
That, right.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I mean, I'm watching New England yesterday, rookie coach. We
don't know if he's any good, rookie quarterback. We don't
know if he's any good. I'm watching him grow and well.
Drake May today Drake May a month ago. You feel
totally different if you live in Boston about Drake May
this morning than a month ago. I'm like, he didn't
have anything to throw to. He's kind of good. He's
starting to look like the comps. The comps were like
(10:11):
Justin Herbert, but not as polished out of college. That's
what they said about Drake May. Got some Justin Herbert
in him. He's not ready to play like Herbert was.
And all of a sudden yesterday I'm like, last two weeks,
I'm like, oh, I see it. He getting better bo
Nicks today from a month and a half ago. Oh,
you see it. I see it, everybody sees it. He
getting better. Jaden Daniels may have lost, He's better than
(10:33):
he was in the opener. Caleb William's going backwards. When
you have talented players, they're young and they're getting worse,
that's a coaching thing. Don't blame the kid. And I'm
not saying Caleb's perfect, but I mean I watched Bryce
Young yesterday. Bryce Young has a new coach. Last two weeks.
I've watched Bryce Young. He's getting better, He's getting more comfortable.
That tells me the coaching is confident. Caleb's had three
(10:55):
straight games now where he is completing under fifty four percent.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Folks, this is a team that can't scheme layups. You
got to give the kid six seven, maybe eight to nine,
give him easy ones, and then ask him to make
twelve tough NFL throws.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They can't do that. And Caleb did what leaders do
after the loss, he defended the coach.
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Am I confident in my head coach? Yes, I'm confident
my head coach. You know they brought me here for
a reason. They brought all of us here for a reason.
As players, when we're in the locker room, we know
how good we are, we know how good we can be.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
And right now we're not executing.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
We're not hitting all cylinders.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Hey, hands in the air. And this is a front
office in Chicago that said, hey, this last week, this
leaked out. Eber Flus is safe now and next year.
And for the record, I'm not a guy that likes
to get coaches fired. I defended Matt Naggy the entire
time he was in Chicago. He got Mitch Trupisky to
the playoffs twice, and that was with Aaron Rodgers and
(12:02):
Matt Stafford in his division in their prime, and Naggy
got twice. Mitched Trubisky, not nearly as talented as Caleb believes,
got him into the playoff twice. And the NFC was
better then than now. So at some point you got
to be honest about this thing. If you can't scheme
six or seven easy completions, they don't even use his mobility.
(12:26):
I mean, Caleb may not be great. I don't know
how it turns out, but it's not this. This is
not what it should look like. J Mack colin Wright
Colin wrong top of next hour. There's so much to
talk about today. I gotta be honest, and it's kind
of funny what happens. People like cool Aaron Rodgers is
cool and everybody's trying to hold on to his greatness.
(12:49):
Russell Wilson's seen is not as cool. He's actually playing great.
So isn't it funny? I'm trying. People are trying to
convince me cool Aaron is still good. He's washed. People
are out on Russ Wilson the minute that Hacket year.
Russell's actually gone back to a slightly less version of
the Seattle Russ. He moves, he's great in the deep ball,
he doesn't make any turnovers. I'm not staying there the Seahawks,
(13:12):
but that Pittsburgh has become Seattle. The defensive coach, tough
at home, physical, great pass rush, over the top offense,
consistent run game. I'm not saying there that team. But
Pittsburgh didn't bring him in to be a savior. They
brought him into be ninety eighty five percent of the
(13:33):
old Russ. That's what I'm watching. Three game sample size.
He's done well.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Pretty frustrating as a Jets fan to see Mike Williams,
who could do nothing with the Jets, plays nine snaps
and catches the game winning touchdown literally first target as
a Steeler, and it's like, that's all.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
He can do.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Run straight line, go route, Russ, perfect ball.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
It's funny, Amaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Could not hit him with a perfect go ball.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Interesting how that works out?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
All right, we got a lot of stuff to talk
about that's wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers, right. I'd be
honest with you. I was wrong on Pittsburgh. I thought
Russ was done. Both are know this interesting team. How
good is Pittsburgh. Let's just ask the question, how good
are they? They're good? The question is how good are they?
We're gonna talk about that next. Be sure to catch
(14:18):
live editions of The Herd Weekdays and neon eastern nine
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the
iHeartRadio app. Where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong.
On a Monday, where Colin was right, I said, for years,
can somebody just give Justin Herbert the right coach? He'll
be magnificent eleven touchdowns, one pick. I also said, I
(14:39):
think Jim Harball is on a short list of the
greatest football coaches we've ever had in the Jimmy Johnson, Belichick,
Andy Reid, Colleger, pro doesn't matter. He has literally changed
the entire franchise in the culture in ten weeks. This
was something we said. I thought the Chargers, just with
a coaching change and a couple of draft picks could
go from the worst team in the league to eleven wins.
(15:02):
And here we are where Colin was rough. I thought
Kayleb Williams would have rough spots. I didn't think it
would dissolve into this. It is a mess. Some of
it's on him. Listen, all of his weaknesses are coming
to the surface, and his straints they apparently as a
staff can't coach him up, but guys off a by
(15:24):
his passer rating last three weeks is sixty four. Like
he's completing in that we're getting too the t bow
category like fifty four percent. Like it's again he's a
rookie quarterback. I didn't think it was gonna be pretty.
I didn't think it would ever look like this.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I told you you better not fire Robert sala He
is the best coach by a long shot on that
staff and the defense has gotten worse. I also said
this would not be a playoff team. Aaron Rodgers is talented,
He's not a savior. Lamar Jackson's good enough to win
you games, you shouldn't. Aaron Rodgers at this point is
(15:58):
a forty year old off the surgery. Even last year
is last year in Green Bay. He wasn't a dominant player.
The Jets are worse than I thought, but I never
saw him as a playoff team. Where Colin was raw.
The Georgia Bulldogs with a dud. They got hammered by
Old Miss. They're just a really uneven football team. And
you take out Lad McConkie and Brock Bauers and Carson Beck.
(16:22):
He's just a guy. Even with their talent, seventeen touchdowns,
twelve picks, they don't protect the passer particularly well. Listen,
Old Miss is a good team. There's no shame in
losing to Ole Miss and Lane Kiffen. But Georgia is
a much more uneven football team than I thought they were.
Where Colin was right, I said last two weeks. If
(16:42):
I was the Cowboys, I would go with a soft tank.
I think this is a three win team that should
end up with four. They put Trey Lanton in the
third quarter. I think Jerry sees it. There's no point here.
Look at the games remaining. I don't think he'll be Carolina.
Keep your eye on the injury list. I think Dallas
pulls starters yesterday, no reason to get people hurt. I'm
not sure if I played Micah Parsons from this point out.
(17:05):
I'm dead serious. I think this team is eight to
nine players away from being as good as Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore.
I don't think they're close. And you saw it yesterday
where Colin was right Colorado second place in the Big twelve.
The minute I called them the fake idea of college football,
they apparently turned twenty one. They're getting into the club legitimately.
(17:26):
Now they're over five. Dion Sanders is over five hundred.
Deserves total credit because remember how bad the first year was.
They're throwing tortillas of truth apparently at them. They beat
Texas Tech. Listen, they do a lot of things right.
Warren Sap tip of the captain, Warren Sapp as defensive
line coach. That's been like the issue in the program.
(17:47):
They've got that solved. So I like shado Her Sanders.
That's never been the question. I thought this program was
a lot of sizzle, not a lot of steak. They
got both. Now where Colin was right, you know, I
love me some bo Nicks. I kept saying when he
was struggling early. He's good. There's some Drew Brees here.
He's mobile, he's poised, he's efficient. He's not making the
(18:07):
mistakes he did early. He had a great final drive
and that's a real Kansas City defense here. He's not
making the mistakes he was. I think this kid can
really play. This is not a great roster, and that
is a great Kansas City roster. That final drive is
an indication that the Denver Broncos and Sean Payton they
found their guy. He may not have the upside of
blah blah blah, but I'm telling you from efficiency, smarts, mobility,
(18:32):
he's athletic. They got their guy.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
The Warriors are eight and two, the number one rebounding
team in the league. They're better defensively now without Klay Thompson.
I didn't think they'd be a playoff team. They're playing
twelve players, so Steph Curry is fresher. They're better defensively,
they just they're deep. A twelve man rotation is unheard
of in the NBA. They've beaten both the Celtics and OKC.
(18:58):
Those are my picks for the two best team in
the league, the teams and teams that will meet in
the finals. So I didn't think they were a playoff team.
I thought they should just start over. But their depth,
their freshness, Steph isn't having to play forty minutes tonight.
I was wrong on the Warriors so far, where Colin
was right. Love me some Kyler Murray seventeen straight completions.
(19:18):
I've said, I think he's a better version of Russell
Wilson in his prime. He's a better athlete, and Russell
was a great athlete. I think the kid throws the
prettiest ball in the league this year, seventy percent completions
during the four game winning streak, seven touchdowns. You tell me,
how do you defend him? I mean, it's just he
is one of those guys that if you're a defensive coordinator,
(19:38):
there's no complete answer to how to stop him. And
now he's got Harrison and McBride and Connor. Give this
organization credit, but it all starts with Kyler Murray. I
know the video game stuff. I know, maybe he's not coachable.
Well you know what, maybe it was the people that left.
They can't all be on the kid. I've loved him
for years. I've supported him. I hear the critics. But
(20:01):
when I watch games with him starting, and you watch
him and Aaron Rodgers, it doesn't look like the same sport.
I mean that that kid's energy, that kid's mobility, that
kid's accuracy even when he's running, is something special. Where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong on a Monday.
And with that, eighteen years, three Pro Bowls, the Super Bowl,
Matt Hasselbeck is joining us in studio. I didn't even
(20:24):
know we were going to get him live today. I mean,
on what a what a gift. It's like a yeah,
we don't get many of those, so let's start with this.
It's that the Nat Hackett year, when Russell went to Denver,
he was going to kind of be the savior, and
I think that stuff's hard. Matt Stafford wasn't asked to
save the Rams. They were good, even Tampa and tom
(20:47):
They had a lot of good players. I mean they
were an offensive machine there were number three in scoring.
He just had to clean him up. But Russell goes
to Denver and it's like, save us. They don't have
the right coach, you know, they gave up draft capital.
I watch him in Pittsburgh. I get the good deep ball,
I get the optimism, I get some of the mobility.
It's pretty good team, right.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Yeah, this is a great fit. And I would say
it's kind of it's more similar to what he was
in Seattle. Like I don't know if it was like
save us as much as it was he got there
and he was like, hey, I'm here to save you.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
You know.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
I think there was like some humility that needed to
happen there for him as well.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
But this is the perfect situation for him.
Speaker 8 (21:23):
I mean, you got a great defense, you have an
iconic head coach who like just screams leadership, and I
think Russell Wilson screams leadership. Also, he brings a lot
of steadiness, of veteran presence, and he's got one of
the best deep balls in the game. Despite the lack
of mobility that he has now compared to what he
once was, he's still excellent at the line of scrimmage,
(21:44):
and that deep ball with the new receivers that he's
got with Pickins and now Mike Williams, that's just a
perfect fit for him.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
You know, it's interesting that you know, Russell. It may
not be for everybody, but I will say this, we
know because of his size. I saw it a couple
times yesterday. He's not as great in the pocket and
some guys are just when you're when you're five to
eleven and the offensive linemen are six eight, it's hard.
I mean, you're you're I'm six two. You're taller than me.
Sometimes it is hard to see things. There is that
(22:13):
why he so good at the deep ball that it
has become kind of his life preserver when he struggles
to see stuff.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Well, I would say this like height is no longer
a thing. Like when I was coming out in the
draft class of ninety eight, Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf, you
had to be six foot four taller or they wouldn't
even really consider you.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
But there's some shorter quarterbacks that play tall. And the
ball jumps out of Russell Wilson's hands like the ball
gets up and down, and specifically on the deep ball.
You know how when I was in the NFL how
we would get graded on the deep ball. It wasn't
like if it was completed or all that. There was
a lot that went into it. But basically, if the
nose of the ball was turning coming down when the
ball was halfway there, that was like a plus grade.
(22:50):
If the nose of the ball was up, that was
a minus grade. Really didn't even matter if the.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Ball was completing.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You want some altitude on it.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
You need the altitude and you need that ball turning over.
Think three point shooter with good arc on the ball.
And like that's what you saw on the touchdown pass
to Mike Williams. He had like great air, the receiver
can find the ball, it comes down the chimney, so
to speak.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
And that one wasn't like.
Speaker 8 (23:09):
Great coverage on that play, But that's an example even
when it is great coverage.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
You saw Russell Wilson do this for years.
Speaker 8 (23:16):
You know, that's exactly what you're looking for from a
quarterback on a deep ball, and he's got that. I
don't care how tall you are, it's how you throw
the football.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So this is where you have a real value for
our audience. And I love this. It's easy for me
to just blame eber Flus, but it can't be this
bad without also being Caleb. Like it just now, I
don't think they're scheming up as many layups as they could,
but his accuracy has not been good. So when you
watch this, some of it's on Caleb too, right.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
I would say ninety percent of it is on the quarterback.
Like if I'm coaching the quarterback and they were at
nine sacks yesterday, I'm putting at least six of those
on the quarterback. And just like with Russell Wilson, like
we're sitting here talking about the deep ball to Mike Williams,
he knows like that's a blitz situation. Like Caleb, he's
a young quarterback. So I'm not trying to throw stones
at him because of the mistakes. I'm not surprised by
(24:08):
the mistakes.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I think just.
Speaker 8 (24:09):
Expectations are going to be higher because you do have
guys like Jayden Daniels playing such good football. Bo Nicks
is playing good football. Drake May's even playing good football,
and so I think the Boo Birds are going to
be out with Caleb. But to sit there and to
say that it's you know, there aren't places to go
with the ball or there aren't ways to avoid.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Sacks missing like that ball, do a dunde in the
end zone. He missed it badly.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
And listen, people are going to miss throws.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
The greatest quarterback in the world, Patrick Mahomes misses guys
who are open like it's gonna happen. But just understanding,
Like the growth of a quarterback, it always starts with
pass protection.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Always. It's not about throwing the ball.
Speaker 8 (24:47):
It's really just about pass protection least the number one thing,
and understanding how to avoid sacks, how to help your team,
how to help your defense, how to help your offensive line,
and like right now, like one of the reasons why
you don't play a quarterback early because you don't want
him to get shook. You don't want him dropping his
eyes and looking at the rush. You don't want him
moving around and scrambling when there's no reason to scramble.
(25:09):
And that's the danger with a young quarterback. And I
just think they got to be careful how they treat
this guy because he's got a ton of talent, but
clearly the confidence is not there like it was at USC.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
It's just not there.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah. Well, for the record, I had two executives tell
me before they drafted him. They said, listen, he's erratic.
Both said, I think with the right coach, you can
coach it out of him. But he misses. He misses
some easy stuff.
Speaker 8 (25:33):
Well, and I think if you just take a quick
look at like sort of what Sean Payton did with
bo Nix yesterday, it was up tempo, you know, gets
the up tempo, gets the defense to chill out a
little bit. Yeah, Caleb and the Bears were at the
line of scrimmage for a long time. Just about every
play the New England Patriots have a chance to audible.
They have a chance to recognize the formation and say, Okay,
(25:55):
this is the formation. Here's what we're gonna do, you know,
And so like, I just think tempo is a secret weapon.
Like Mike Congren was so good about this, Bill Waltsh
was so good about this. Andy Reid's really good about this.
You know, Sean Payton did a great job using the tempo,
using basically the fact that you know what the play
is on offense and the defense needs time to react,
(26:15):
like using that as a weapon. You saw Sean McVeigh
do it when he first got to LA. It's such
a tool.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
That people use. Some people use it well.
Speaker 8 (26:23):
Some people just give it away and they don't. They
don't use it as a weapon. And I think it's
just it makes it a lot tougher for a young
quarterback to now behind the center and kind of redirect protection,
know where you're hot, you know, all those kinds of things.
It's you know, I think there are some things that
they could do to help them.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So I was saying, Detroit's been on a heater for
about eight weeks. I think I was most impressed with
him last night to play like that. It was clear
Houston doesn't get a lot of standalone games Sunday night
football in Houston. They got the new unis Like you
could feel it. It feel like a playoff game, and they
were I mean, even their old line, which is the
best in the league, kind of got pushed around in
the first time like that. You could tell they just
(27:01):
didn't match the energy of Houston and they were just
back on their heels. But to be able to go
touchdown field, goalfield, go, let's get it right, let's make
some plays. I thought it was really impressive.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Yeah, I'm glad you said it.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
I would say it felt like a playoff game to Houston,
like Houston came out with as the more physical team.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Question.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
You know, Detroit didn't look like they were showing up
for a playoff game, like they looked like they were
sleepwalking lat footage. That was bad, you know, but Houston
brought it. They had the energy the prime time like
you mentioned. And you know, but I do think just
talking about Detroit, this was awesome for Detroit. It is
so good that they played like this in won because
you know what they do. They going at halftime and
(27:39):
I remember being in games like this, like I remember
a wildcard game. I'm with the Indianapolis Colts Andrew Lux
the quarterback, were down like twenty eight points and we
coming at halftime, and what do we say, Andrew and
everybody saying the same thing, like, hey, there's no such
thing as a fourteen point touchdown. There's no such thing.
We'll get the ball one play at a time, one
drive at a time, one touchdown at a time. And
(28:00):
we said it like exactly how we said it. Chuck
Pagonell gets in there and he's like, hey, one play
at a time, all you got sixty minutes.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
That's what we said, pregame.
Speaker 8 (28:07):
Don't judge the scoreboard every play, you know, let's see
what happens, and we win the game. And like, I
just think even though we played like trash like and
they played terrible, Detroit did for the first part of
that game. Now, when they get in that situation again,
and they will, they will, cause it's the it's the NFL.
They'll go in there and guys will say that same thing. Hey,
(28:29):
sixty minutes all you got one play at a time.
Don't judge that kind of conversation. No one's gonna roll
their eyes like you saw guys you know, lip reading
this year, Like, oh man, we you know we stink, right,
So they're not going to have that, not in that
locker room.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
That locker room's different. That locker room, Like, yeah, we've
been here before. We're good.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Our quarterback throws five interceptions, we can still win, no
big deal. Like we're sticking together. When things get hard,
what do we do we pull apart? No, we stick together.
And and I was just one other thing on like
five interceptions. To me, it was four interceptions and a
second quarter Hail Mary. But I believe, I believe and
I know this was true on teams that I was on.
When your quarterback is willing to just throw a hail
(29:10):
mary interception in the second quarter instead of caring too
much about his passer rating and throwing it out of bounds,
Like I just think to some people in that locker room,
it's kind of like, Yeah, this guy's not about himself.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Andrew luck had that quality.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
There's a lot of guys. Eli Manning had that quality.
He was like the king of second quarter hail mary interceptions.
But he was putting it on the line for the team.
And like, there's some quarterbacks who don't do that. There's
some quarterbacks that would rather run out of bounds for
a one yard sack than throw the ball away because
of their rating and the offensive line, Like they don't
respect it.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Your teammates don't respect it.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
And I think Jared Goff's a guy that's continuing to
earn the respect of the people around him. And like
I said, I just think it's going to pay dividends
later on for this team.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
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 you know,
go back to the final couple years. So I don't
think all athletes do this, and maybe Aaron doesn't, but
it's so bad now it kind of does like sour
(30:13):
the legacy a little.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Like the New York thing is a mess. Like it's
bad they've got like players, it's blowouts. Now we've got
a he got the coach fired. Whether he did or not,
it's not it's a stain. And I wonder when you
got to the end of your career did you care
about that or did you just like, Hey, I like football,
somebody's paying me. But the New York thing, I don't
think anybody thought it would be this. It's a mess.
(30:38):
I mean, Farv had juice. If you remember he came in,
they won games, and then he went to Minnesota and
you're like, there's Aaron doesn't look like it's old man football.
It doesn't look pretty. Do you think he would contemplate
like shutting it down into the season and just saying
I don't want.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
To get hurt. No, no, I don't think so.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
You think he's too much of a competitor, But he
probably wonders what the right thing to do. I think
all athletes when you get to be in your forties,
you wonder like, Okay, what's the right thing?
Speaker 5 (31:03):
How do I handle this situation?
Speaker 8 (31:05):
You know what I saw yesterday though, I just see
a guy that doesn't have the mobility that he used
to have, right, and that was just such a weapon.
I mean, he obviously is a super talented quarterback, that
was such a weapon. And basically, defensive coordinators, I think
defensive players feared playing Aaron Rodgers. They feared it the
way that people fear going against the Kyler Murray. Like
they fear it like, oh man, hey keep this guy
(31:26):
in the pocket, Hey stay back, like he's dangerous. One
play and he can like turn this, you know, game
to a different game. Like they don't fear that. And
so what you see now is people are coming after him.
And I when I played, I used to absolutely hate
when TV commentators or people would say like, oh, this
is his fault or that's his fault, because like, how
do you know, Like there's really no way to know
what someone's assignment is on every play? But you can't
(31:48):
watch the New York Jets and leave saying that they
are an assignment correct football team. And now like I
don't know whose fault you know, I don't know, Well,
maybe was that on the quarterback?
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Was that on the alignment? Was that on the receiver?
Speaker 8 (32:01):
But there's no doubt that someone is wrong, and so
like that happens on teams, but you're trying to minimize that.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
You can see it on TV.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
Well yeah, I mean listen, like they're bringing seven, you
have six. So someone has to do something. Quarterback has
to throw hat, he has to redirect the production, the
receiver has to run a shorter route, like something needs
to happen. I'm not sure what the right answer was,
but like someone's assignment wrong here, Like there's no doubt
about that. And then what you see Aaron doing, which
you know, I got coached this way one time when
(32:30):
we had new players on our team in Seattle. My
quarterback coach said to me, Jim Zorn. He said to me, hey, listen,
here's the coaching point for you this week. Throw it
to where the receivers are, not to where you think
they should be.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
And I was like, what kind of coaching point is that?
But like it was very helpful to me.
Speaker 8 (32:47):
And when I watch the New York Jets right now,
right or wrong, I feel like Aaron Rodgers is throwing
the ball to where the receiver is supposed to be
instead of where they are, you know. But like it's
not about that, about finding a way to get completions
and be successful. And like I said, like I told
you probably last week, this looks like a team that's
being punished, and their punishment as they have to continue
(33:09):
to play. If they could just call it a season,
they probably would prefer to do that, like, hey, you
know what, let's get it next year. But that's not
the reality. The reality is you got to come together.
They're fighting, they're kicking their claw and they're scratching. But
it's been bad football lately.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So I was saying earlier. Kansas City is a very
good roster. They look a little offensive light, a little
Baltimore Detroit feel a little defensive light. With Hutchison out.
I watched Philadelphia. They've got great older players, great players
in their prime, and then they've got like Jalen Carter,
Mitchell the corner from Toledo, Dean the linebacker. I'm like,
they got three defensive guys they're not even in their
(33:47):
prime and they're ballers. Like I look at the Philadelphia
roster when you get three levels of great Hall of Fame,
old right in their prime, young guys emerging as stars.
I think Philadelphia is the best roster in the league.
What do you see.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
That's a strong statement.
Speaker 8 (34:04):
You know, everyone was booming him and like just saying, hey,
these guys are the worst, trying to get Sirianni fired,
Like I don't get it. I think Sirianni's a great coach.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
You do listen.
Speaker 8 (34:12):
I mean he's different and like before I met him,
I thought, like, who is this guy?
Speaker 5 (34:18):
You know, like what is he doing?
Speaker 8 (34:20):
You know he's just but you when you learn more
about him, know where he came from. He was a
wide receiver at Mount Union. Like he's just like all
this stuff, Like it just the personality fits.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
I think it's perfect.
Speaker 8 (34:31):
I think Nick Sirianni and his brashness with Jalen Hurts
in his smooth, steady like you can't get him too high,
you can't get him too low. He is perfect. I
think it's a great match. Now here's where I think
they struggled early on. They've got new coordinators, they got
Kellen Moore, they got Vic Fangio. But eventually, like Vic
Fangio's tough, like he's gonna get that defense a shoot,
(34:53):
he already did. That defense is legit. That defense is legit.
I think they're gonna be okay. I think the weakness
of this team is if they don't have aj Aj
Brown and they don't have DeVante Smith, they are not
the same team. Try they need those two guys to
be who they're supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
And this is not a criticism of Jalen Hurts because
I like him. I like what they've done in the
last month. They said we're gonna left, We're gonna have
your throw about twenty two times. They were getting kind
of loose. It was kind of like thirty one, and
you're like, it's not a criticism, Like, I like what
he is now.
Speaker 8 (35:23):
It's a little bit of Kellen Moore though, right, Like
Kellen's a pass happy guy. Think about where he came from.
I remember this kid I was playing for the Seahawks.
He was a high school quarterback in Prosser, Washington. He'd
score like sixty three points a game, throwing it all
over the field.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
Callens.
Speaker 8 (35:37):
Yeah, he's not like a Jim Harbaugh type guy. I'm
not gonna like run it into the ground.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
It's not him. Boise State, you know it's not him.
Speaker 8 (35:44):
So like I just think, like, like, if let me
say it this way, If the tush push can't be
a dominant play for the Philadelphia Eagles, this is not
their year.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
It needs to be a part of it.
Speaker 8 (35:54):
They need to be a team that when the rest
of the league has to get ten yards for a
first down, they got to get like eight and a
half because the tush push is automatic. If that's not
a part of their team and not part of their identity,
if it's not part of what they're doing, because I
believe this is a Saquon team now, it's a Jalen
Hurts running the ball and throwing the ball team right now.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
They just need to be a physical team.
Speaker 8 (36:14):
If they're not the most physical team, I don't think
it's the I don't think it's the best thing for them.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
I think a Matt Hasselbeck for our radio audience eighteen years,
three Pro Bowls every Monday with us in the NFL
because you have a regulated level of violence. You can
see this in hockey too. Dynasties close fast. I mean
if KD would have stayed with the Warriors, it would
have lasted another four years. Usually in the NBA it's ego,
it's I want my shots, and then stuff closes, or
(36:40):
it's a salary thing. In the NFL, these things generally,
you know, unless you get Reid Mahomes, Brady Belichick, Walsh Montana,
most of the time it closes pretty quick. Guys get hurt,
guys are free agents. And then I watch the Niners
and I feel like the windows closing. They're getting old
(37:00):
key spots. They've missed on a few draft picks. There's
a disregard for special teams that is annoying. Some coaches
already care about it. Slater with the Patriots for sixteen years.
Some coaches, I mean, Belichick would draft your left footed
punters like you really cared about it. Some of the
young coaches are more into their wizardry on offense or defense.
(37:22):
I really feel when I watch San Francisco, I think
they had about a four or five year where I
was like, they're punishing people. I don't think they intimidate.
I think half the league's running that offense. Matt, They're
not the debo jet sweeps, aren't catching people off. It
feels like it's closed to me.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
Yeah, you could be right, you could be right, but
this is a team. They're in a division that's winnable.
You know, Arizona's playing good football. The Rams you can't
count out with Stafford. Seattle's in enigma right now. But
san Franz right there, I just think they're a different
team with Christian McCaffrey and the special teams blunders and
all that, like that's fixable stuff.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
Kittle's still a beast.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
I think he's one of the best in the game,
if not the best, like real tight end in the
game of the end zone.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
He's so good so in the chemistry.
Speaker 8 (38:07):
The part that bothers me more actually is the debo
going after the kicker and going after the long snapper.
Like I mentioned earlier, Detroit, what's so great about Detroit.
Someone's struggling, your brother's struggling, your teammates struggling. We can
either pull apart or we can pull together. Right, there's
a great there's a great there's a great quote from
the movie Gladiator, right, maxims Russell Crowe.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
He's in there.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
He's like, our only chance to survive this thing is
to stick together. And that's what it is. In an
NFL locker room. It's a roller coaster season. There's ups
and downs. You got to pull together, not pull apart.
And I just thought, like that's the kind of thing
that needs to be kind of like figured out, like
man to man. You know, I saw everyone quoted afterwards.
I watched it, and like, you know, did you guys
(38:50):
talk it out? Like ah nah, but I'm sure we're good,
Like like hey, I know your dudes, and you don't
want to talk about it. You just want to give
each other the Pez you know, like the Pez candy dispatcher,
like you see him in the locker room after the game,
like like we're good, Like you know, it's a little
head nod, like we're good, right like that it's not enough.
Speaker 5 (39:06):
I think it might.
Speaker 8 (39:07):
Be almost enough because they won the game, But like
I don't think, like I mentioned earlier about like do
people in the locker room respect everything that you're doing.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
I think respect is just a big thing.
Speaker 8 (39:19):
Like you got to respect how hard it is to
be the holder, the kicker, the snapper, just like you
got to respect how hard it is to be the
wide receiver. Like I just think respect is an important
thing and that's the job of the head coach. The
job of the head coach and the job of the
leadership on the team is kind of pulled together. I
would expect that this team would pull together, but but before.
Speaker 5 (39:37):
They got on that airplane, it hadn't happened.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
So that's the kind of stuff that like, as you
go through a long season, it's the same people. I
don't think it matters so much, like how many you know,
like whatever, like their windows closing. It's basically just like
egos and like are you going to be a great
teammate and are you going to be there for your brother?
And like pick a guy up. The Detroit Lions picked
up their quarterback yesterday. Eventually the Niners sort of picked
(40:01):
up their kicker situation and gave him another chance. But
you know, that's the kind of stuff that I would
look for. I think that stuff's important.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Hey, I want to ask you about a young quarterback,
mostly because I was right. I said, I love how
you say that. You know, I never missed an opportunity.
There you go. When I watched bon Nix in college,
I said, Sean Payton's drafting him. I'm not saying he's
Drew Brees, but there are qualities. Yeah, Drew Brees early
(40:30):
was a little more athletic than he got credit for,
a little better athlete than you thought. Accuracy like intense.
Bo Nix was snaps like he snapped back at Sean
Drew Brees intense in person. The bo Knicks thing I
thought yesterday in a losing effort, that last drive against Spags,
I thought it was like, that's a great losing effort drive.
(40:51):
I thought it was a really a moment. I thought
he's growing. But I thought like, well that could win,
that could win an narrow hit.
Speaker 5 (40:57):
It did win.
Speaker 8 (40:58):
I mean honestly, like it's it's actually did. When they
they're bad at field goal protection, you know there's blood
in the water there. You see it on film. You
know where you can attack a weakness on field goal
and they got it done. Dave Tobe got it done
like the special teams coach for Kansas City. No, but
I completely agree with you, and I would say even
bo Nick's a little bigger and probably more athletic than
Drew Brees. And Drew Brees a great, great quarterback. It's
(41:19):
a perfect fit for him at the combine. Watching those guys,
all those quarterbacks throw at the combine, bow Knicks did
not stand out, right, he did not stand out throwing
in a shirt in shorts.
Speaker 5 (41:29):
That wasn't his thing. But he's a football player.
Speaker 8 (41:31):
He had a lot of reps in college, played for
you know, the extra year there, and you.
Speaker 5 (41:36):
Know, I just thought he was set up for success.
The go route there. You know, when are you going
to take a go.
Speaker 8 (41:40):
Route on on Spags on in short yardage third and one,
Like that's when I know that. I know that, I
know it's going to be cover one, bumping run press
man and that he's been throwing a press fade since
he was a high school freshman. So like he just
kind of simplified the game. I mentioned tempo earlier, Yes,
I think tempo is such a weapon. You even heard
(42:01):
Sean Payton talk about it at halftime. He came in,
he said, here's what we're doing to slow down Spags
because Spags is exotic with his blitz schemes and his looks.
We're using tempo or just getting up. So a lot
of times you in your playbooks you go, here's what happens.
When you go into a game. You have like a
play it'll be like, okay, I'm gonna run ninety three
blasts alert to ninety eight handoff solid kills to two
hundred jet dragon. It's a run to the left, alert
(42:22):
to a run to the right, killed to a pass,
and it's a lot you gotta you want.
Speaker 5 (42:26):
To be right.
Speaker 8 (42:26):
Well, sometimes you go into a game and you're just like, hey,
screw it, just freaking run the play. We call running back.
There might be an extra guy that's unblocked.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
He's yours. That's why we pay you all that money.
Speaker 8 (42:38):
Tempo, Okay, we don't want our offensive lineman sitting up
there in a three point stance for like nine seconds
and then you got to block Chris Jones. Get in
your stance and let go. Okay, if it doesn't work,
that's on me, the play caller. You just run the
play and play fast. I want I don't want us thinking.
I want us just to be the aggressor. And now
all of a sudden, you are the aggressor and the
(42:59):
defensive court is not the aggressor. And it's just a
good thing for a quarterback. You're like, oh, shoot, I'm
just tempo. I'm going quick, I'm going fast. I'm not
worried about getting a minus on my grade sheet. Because
the free safety was at seven and a half yards
instead of eight and a half yards.
Speaker 5 (43:12):
We're just gonna go.
Speaker 8 (43:14):
And then the coach, I think Sean Payton does a
great job of this, like, hey, here's what I think.
But you're out there playing whatever you decide in the game.
You're right here we go, and I just I think
you saw a quarterback who's playing confidently, getting the ball
out of his hands quick. Not a lot of negative plays.
Not third and eleven's very very tough.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Key. That's key those young quarterbacks. You get into third
and long, it's a mess.
Speaker 8 (43:34):
And it helps everybody. It helps your defense, it helps
your O line. It's good for confidence morale.
Speaker 5 (43:39):
You know.
Speaker 8 (43:39):
There's like a couple sayings that I think Sean Payton
probably lives by, you know.
Speaker 5 (43:43):
I know they helped me.
Speaker 8 (43:44):
Like completions before a kicking play are all good, even
if it's a punt, No big deal. You say to
the young quarterback, Hey, you worry about just getting us completions.
I'll worry about third down conversions, you know, And it's
just nice. It just takes some stuff off your plate.
You're able to play fast and comp and I think
that's just like a nice thing. Bo nix Is should
be very very happy he's with Sean Payton and vice versa.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah, love having you here. You know, if how about
we buy a lunch? Fly the family out everywhere?
Speaker 8 (44:14):
A fun fact here about Fox Studios here, amazing cafeteria
like amazing, the smoothie bar, like.
Speaker 5 (44:20):
All of it. Strong.
Speaker 8 (44:21):
I was here for Parents Weekend Ucla another big win
for UCLA football.
Speaker 5 (44:25):
Yeah, three in a row. I think shock maybe, but
uh yeah, we need more parents weekends. Had good, had
a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
I signed, I re signed here just on the smoothie bar.
Speaker 5 (44:34):
What's your favorite smoothie?
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I do the blueberry and I also do the the
green in the morning, blueberry afternoon solid.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
What's better than that? Nothing?
Speaker 1 (44:42):
You don't get ripped like this at sixty just eating
burgers Matt Hasselback is absolute. My love having you on
the show.
Speaker 5 (44:49):
Appreciate it.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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