November 14, 2024 • 37 mins
After another remarkable performance from LeBron James tallying his third straight triple-double, Colin explains why LeBron is Law & Order while Michael Jordan is more Seinfeld. He gives Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni credit in a way that you wouldn't expect as their offense is starting to takeoff. He also talks to Greg Cosell from NFL Films about Caleb Williams's struggles and if we should be blaming the offensive line
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go on a Thursday. Boy, there's a lot
going on football and beyond live in Los Angeles. It's
the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may
be listening. Thanks for making that's part of your day.
One hour from now, Greg Cosell, if you like fantasy football,
betting on football, Eagles plan tonight hosting the Commanders who
(00:48):
just want to get smarter at football. Greg Cosel, what
a performance last night, you know, it's it is a marvel.
There's only two athletes in my life, maybe three, Messy
be the third. Where maybe they're not the greatest player,
Brady Lebron and Messi, but on any moment, on any possession,
(01:09):
they transcend the game and are still dominant players. I
mean last night, you know, Wemby's got fifty and Giannis
can get fifty nine. But Lebron James put on a
show last night that was one for the agent the goat.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
It's a fact of college.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hold on, we love him, all right, So Lebron and
the Lakers beat Memphis, but it was beyond that. Lebron
had thirty five points. He's in year twenty two. He's
shooting forty six percent from three point land, best of
his career, a third straight triple double. So Michael Jordan
was more like Seinfeld. Nine great years, highly impactful, still
(01:44):
discussed today. Lebron's become Law and Order. We're on year
thirty five. I watched an episode two days ago. It
still crushes. I know Michael played fifteen seasons and many
of them were great, but he was a shell of
himself at the end. Lebron's in year twenty two, on
any possession, best player on the floor, in any game,
eighty got in a foul trouble, They're like, Lebron, take
(02:05):
it over. Best player on the floor. He's not as
good as Jokich on Giannis's best night, He's not as
good as Yiannis's. He really doesn't have the dexterity anymore
of Wemby. Wemby's just insane and Aunt Edwards is much
more dynamic athletically in a consistent basis. But Lebron's IQ,
his leadership, his ability to pick up things during the
(02:25):
course of a game, and it's always been this Michael
Jordan Lebron thing. Lebron's easily got the best resume in
the history of basketball. Michael was red hot for about
eight to nine years. Red hot. He was the coolest player,
he was the best looking, he was the best dressed.
I'm not denying that for a nine year stretch. They're
(02:46):
nothing like him. Love him. I watched Air again three
nights ago. I watched the movie about Michael Jordan. He's
still relevant today. His shoes, I think still out sell Lebron's.
I'm not but you can't give me this. Michael was
six for six. If you want to do titles, Russell
had eleven, Robert Ory's got more. There's got to be
layers in contextualization. I've argued forever. If the Chicago Bulls
(03:09):
were in the Western Conference like the Chicago Blackhawks are
in hockey, it's right on the line. He would have
lost multiple Finals because he couldn't beat Bird in the
Celtics or Isaiah and the Pistons for years, so we
never got the finals. Stop punishing Lebron for being more successful.
He got the ten finals, mj to six, Magic got
denined m JDA six. Stop punishing people for being more successful.
(03:31):
Don't be so ring obsessed. Contextualized stuff we Lebron's doing
didn't make sense. I mean, again, messy on any possession
in soccer, that's the best thing. That's the best player
in the world. Tom Brady at the very end, only
like Mahomes was better. Absolutely, I still would have taken
Brady over Lamar Josh Allen on a drive with a
minute to go in the game, I would have taken
Mahomes over Brady, but I would have taken Brady over
everybody else not named Patrick Mahomes. And last night you're
(03:54):
watching Lebron thirty five points, triple double, third straight game.
I mean, it's just crazy me and he his intelligence
is huge because you know last night, end of the game,
big possessions. You know, we're looking at now eighteen dominant
seasons for Lebron, James eighteen to twenty, Michael n nine,
(04:15):
I mean, really really dominated the league seasons nine to ten.
Like it's just you're getting to a point where it's
like Brady's stats post forty that's part of the story.
Brady's career posts forty is better than ninety five percent
of the players who've ever played. Lebron's career post thirty
four is better than not only some All Stars, but
(04:37):
ninety five percent of the players that have ever played
down the stretch JJ Reddick, and JJ's a smart guy.
He has clearly discovered that Anthony Davis is the best
player on a consistent basis, But Lebron, he'll listen to him.
He'll let Lebron coach on the floor. The Lakers won,
Lebron was amazing. And here's JJ Reddick after.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Bron saw something in the way that they had guarded
it the first two times, and him and they are
I said, are you three you on the same page?
Just want to make sure you three have the same page.
The other two guys are doing the same things. Yeah,
we got it. Bron gets a backcut for a dunk,
so he just you know, he's mastered the game. And
we don't win that game obviously without him.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And that has often been the case for every team
he's ever played on. In year twenty two, you don't
win the game without him. So this sounds like a criticism.
Has your wife ever told you the best version of
you is the getting out of the way you. I mean,
I've never heard that personally, but I've heard that before.
The best version of you is sort of getting out
(05:41):
of the way you. That's what Nick Siriani has become.
So the Eagles play tonight and they play Washington. I
like Philadelphia tonight home team, veteran quarterback at home, better
roster short rest. I think it's it's a tough ass
for a rookie quarterback to go and play in one
of the loudest stadiums in the country against arguably the
best raw. I like Philadelphia tonight to pull away second half.
(06:02):
But it's interesting if you go to the first five
games this year, Philadelphia's offense and Sirianni is an offensive coach.
In the last five games the EF it's almost eleven
points more a game. It's a totally different team, totally
different team. Why because remember in the offseason you were
hearing about Kellen Moore and Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts,
and there was all this and you always heard that
(06:25):
about Shane stike And and Nick Sirianni. Are they getting along?
When Nick Sirianni got out of Shane Steikeen's way and
let him call the offense, they went to a Super
Bowl And you've been hearing about this Kellen Moore Nick Sirianni.
In the beginning of this season, there was a lot
of I don't know if it's gonna work at Kellen
Moore beginning. Remember when he got hired, it was like,
(06:45):
I don't know is he gonna have the offense or Sirianni.
And at the beginning of the season it it's it
was a Sirianni meddling too much. Now he stepped out
of the way, just like he did with Stiking in
the last month. And look at the it's great. Kyle
Shanahan and Andy Reid and Sean Payton. They played design,
they play call. It's their specialty. They're on the headset,
(07:07):
that's that's their specialty. But there are a lot of
great coaches in this league. Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, Pete
Carroll's was a Jimmy Johnson was known more as a
walk around coach. That's a turn that's used. Walk around guy.
You set the tone, you set the temperature of the team,
but you hire Josh McDaniels. Belichick did that on offense.
(07:29):
And I was talking to Josh McDaniels after the show yesterday.
He said, Bill, you know once a game is like, hey,
what do you think here? Or what do you want
to call here? He said, but Bill understood, like that's
my expertise. Tom and Josh McDaniels. You got to get
into a flow. There's a certain tempo to offense. And
it's really tough even with an offensive coach. Either you're
all in or you're a walk around guy. You can't
(07:50):
go halfway. You can't go halfway. And beginning of this year,
Kellen Moore and Sirianni Nick was dabbling too much, just
like he did with Nick Seri early on, and when
he finally said, Nick, at your offense and this year
when he said, Callen, it's your offense. And by the way,
this is not a criticism. Dan Campbell is a walk
around guy. Mike Tomlin walk around guy, Pete Carroll walk
(08:13):
around guy. Some guys are specialists, like Sean Payton, is
going to design, call, orchestrate the offense. That's Kyle Shanahan.
That's fine, but the criticism of Kyle Shanahan has been
maybe you should walk around more and take a look
at your special teams. They're always awful. And with Dan Campbell,
he wants to set the tone in temperature. He wants
(08:35):
to touch all the parts. But you don't want to medal.
I mean, I was just talking to somebody about Jim Harball.
Is it Jim Harbaugh? It's a true story about Jim Harball.
Jim Harball will go in the meetings and he wants
his assistant coaches and coordinators to figure out the jigsaw puzzle.
He'll walk into a coaching meeting, he'll watch a play,
let's say a screenplay is getting blown up here, and
(08:56):
he'll turn to his coordinators. I've heard this about Jim
for years and he'll go, who boy, you's guy. You
guys have a ruffler in your hands this week, that
boy that defense blows up screenplays. Jim gets up, walks out,
He identifies the issue. Boy, you guys got your hands
full this week, gets up walks out. Your job to
figure it out. So it's not a criticism. Hardbaugh tends
(09:18):
to be more walk around guy. I mean, there's there's
video all over the internet of him walking around and
getting guys pumped tone temperature, and so I think that's
the thing with I struggle with Sirianni is that he's
had these You gotta give him credit. He's got the
self awareness to go to know, Sirianni, I pulled away,
we got great, and I think early in the season
he went back because you know, Kellen, He's gone through
(09:39):
all these coordinators, right, and you're a head coach, and
you want to if I hire somebody on this show
and the staff, you want a babysit, you want a helicopter.
And all of a sudden, after five weeks, I think
Nick Sirianni went, oh, I'm doing the same thing to
Kellen Moore. You know that I did the shame Steichen,
and so he had the self awareness to go, I'm
gonna back off and I'm gonna I'm gonna put my
arms around the whole thing. And I think that I
(10:01):
think that's what he is. It's not a criticism. Mike
Tomlins made a career, Pete Carroll, Dan Campbell, Jim Harbaugh
not in on all the play. Belichick's not telling Josh
McDaniels what to do, so I think what you're hearing
now is the Sirianni Kellen morphea. So we've seen two
different versions of the Eagles offense with Jalen Hurts underachieving
(10:22):
and turnover prone or great. There's like no middle class
with it. It's like it's a mess that won't work. Oh,
that's unbelievable right now, Jalen Hurts is unbelievable. And I
think sometimes husbands have heard this. The best you is
stay out of the way you and that's okay. J Mack.
(10:42):
I know you've never heard that, But there are guys that.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
I haven't heard in the last twelve hours, but I
have heard that one before.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Interesting, there's a lot of stuff at play tonight.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Do you remember how many years we've talked about Cliff
Kingsbury kind of cratering in the second half of seasons
Texas Tech Zon That was the last two weeks. This
Washington team has not looked amazing offensively. I wonder tonight
do we see kind of a rock bottom maybe a
(11:13):
rookie wall for.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Jamas the Philadelphia To me, even with the hook is
the play.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Yeah, I'm with you. I like the Eagles, but I
think this is interesting. We've been singing the praises of
Kingsbury on here.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I just I'll throw this at you. I don't know
this to be true, but I'll throw a Cliff Kingsbury
theory at you. Very nice guy. A player's coach does
not discipline little too soft to be a head coach
college or pro. He doesn't like confrontation. Over the course
of a football season. As a coach or a coordinator,
there has to be confrontation. There's apathy, there's mistakes. So
(11:48):
Cliff is a very good coach. He brings a certain
positivity and optimism to every place he goes, and people
feel good about themselves. But players, like the rest of
us in our lives, get lazy and sloppy and need
somebody to bark. And he's not a barker. So Cliff
Kingsbury's teams over the course of a season don't wear
as well. And the coaches Andy Reena is a barker,
(12:10):
Sean Payton's a barker, Belichick was a barker. Hardball can
use volume, So everybody on the internet wants a coach
that never yells, volume works. Kirby Smart can bark, Start
can bark, Saban barked by the way Urban Meyer could bark.
You know who never barks, Lincoln Riley. His teams at
USC have gotten worse over seasons. Is that if you're
(12:31):
very optimistic and you're very positive, players love that. So
do you need a good cop bad cop? Maybe Dana
Sam and Dan so Cliff. I've been told a great
coordinator because he didn't have to be the bad cop.
He doesn't like it. But I am theorizing here is
that if you look at a lot of the Rick
Neuheisel had this reputation, he's smart guy, good coach, But
(12:53):
in the end, where's the bite, where's the bark? Because
all of us I'm the same way. After the football sea,
you know, it's like I'm full speed ahead football season.
Then we hit basketball and we hit draft, and it's
like some days I got to get that neurogum down
because I got no energy for the show.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Just hop on my back, buddy, I'll carry you to
the finish line.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I was watching Wemby last night.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Yanna's fifty nine by the Way, sixteen of seventeen free
throws for Yannis last night.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
This was a guy who couldn't make free throws.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
Remember, the fans were counting to ten because he was
doing the violce.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
He worked, you know, like a Lamar Jackson. Yeah, he's
okay to work on your game.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Tim Duncan got to be a better free throw shooter early.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, Tim wasn't good early, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
So Oregon's the number one team in the country, number
one seed in the twelve team playoff, number one ranked team.
Their coach, Dan Lanning, is getting. According to a story
NFL Interest, people in the NFL see him as very
much Dan Campbell of the Lions, alpha culture creator, I mean,
(14:01):
high intensity. Here's the thing. Years ago, I thought being
a great college coach at a program like a Texas
or an Oregon was equal to being in an NFL coach.
I mean, when Saban went from the Miami Dolphins to Alabama,
I get it better job maybe, but not anymore. The
NILAND transfer portal. It's just swung too far. I'm all
(14:21):
for change. I love conference realignment, I love the playoff,
I love the games. But the ni Alan transfer portal, now,
let's just talk transfer portal. It's basically it's free agency
with no contracts and no salary cap. I mean that's
literally what it is. Basically. Patrick mahomes Right tackles like
I'm upset, I'm not playing. I'm gonna go play for
the Ravens. That doesn't work. The pendulum. I've seen this
(14:44):
my entire life in so many businesses. It swung way
too far. It used to be too hard for players
to transfer, coaches move, Why can't play? Now it's too easy.
I mean a kid before the Michigan Ohio State game,
a Michigan player could go join Ohio State and say,
you want you want the audibles this week? You want
to play calls. I mean, that's not what you want.
And so this is why Jay Wright see you save
(15:07):
and by coach k That's why a lot of these coaches.
We just saw Boston College head coach say I'll go
to Green Bay. I don't want to deal. We have
words now that we didn't even have three years ago.
Collectives a coach has to deal with a collective ugh donors, regents, politics,
and you got multiple transfer windows, so guys are in
(15:27):
and out of programs all the time, and there's no
salary camp. And I don't think players they don't mind
players getting paid.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
They like that.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
But I've been told it's hard to create a culture.
Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly are finding this out. You're
walking on eggshells. A player has a bad game, you
want to actually sit your quarterback for three weeks. He
just transfers. None of the players want to deal with adversity.
And these coaches aren't equipped to be general managers. They
don't know what they're doing. In fact, what's happening in
(15:55):
college football. The good programs are finding out of work
or former general manager to run their salary cap because
the coaches don't have time for this. They don't know
what to pay a high school player. So it's just
and again. I I mean, some of these players have
longer Lamborghini leases than they do stays at their current school.
I mean, they're just bouncing around the sport. I don't
mind players getting paid, but there's got to be a
(16:17):
salary cap for a contract or something. I can't just
walk out of this company. I've had a bad show.
I'm just leaving today. Or in the middle of a
football season, I got to transfer window. It's called the
end of my contract. You know, that's when I could.
But you have to have some certainty in the sport.
And it's very, very hard to create a culture when
(16:40):
you're walking on eggshells, you know. And by the way,
it's not all pro player. Why would I develop a player? Hell,
I'll just go by Wisconsin's right tackle. Why would I
want to develop players. I'll develop the really good ones.
But what if a kid comes in he's a he's
a he's a slow growth player. He'll be really good
in three years. I'm not gonna wait three years. I'll
(17:01):
go get Boston College best player tied end put him in.
So it's not all great for the players. Coaches get
over players very fat. They make decisions. Now you know,
you're six games into a freshman's career and it's like, yeah,
I don't have three years to develop that kid. Back
of the line, kid, go transfer to you and LV football.
That's happening all over the place. So it's not just
(17:22):
poor coaches. Players aren't growing. I was talking to an
NFL exactly about a month ago. He said, it's not
a very good draft. A lot of these kids have
not been developed. They're talented, but they bounced around to
two or three programs. They're really talented, bad football players.
So I think Dan Lanning, if I was Dan Lanning now,
he's got it pretty good. That's one of the top
(17:42):
six to seven jobs because of Phil Knight's NIL money.
But I think the pendulum has swung too far. I
love the games, I love conference realignment. I have no
problem with the NIL, but the transfer stuff is a circus.
You spend as much time recruiting your own players to
stay as you do to come to your school. It's
just too much. It's relentless. These college football coaches get
(18:04):
like ten days a year when they can turn the
phone off ten days. NFL guys make more money, have
a better pension, actually have a pension, and they get
forty five days a year, which one would your family want? Right,
So if Dan Lanning, if it comes calling, I get
these top coaches. I get a Ryan Day, I get
(18:25):
Jim Harball. If you watch Jim Harbor, he kind of
looks happy. You know, it's I mean that had the
NCAA all over him for three years. Literally the last
couple of years. You could go buy a high school
football player, which used to be a death penalty. You
can now buy a high school football player. You can
pay m as a sophomore junior. And USC got in
trouble this week because they had an extra special teams
(18:47):
coach who cares Connor Stallions, give me a break. Everybody's got,
you know, the microscope, but everybody else's plays. It's a circus.
So the pendulum's gone way too far.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
One.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I'm not anti transfer portal, but even the NFL's got,
you know, a designated salary cap. You got to have contracts.
There's a free agency period. You gotta have bumpers on that.
On this bowling alley, you gotta have some bumpers here
to keep the ball in the middle of the lane.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific with that.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Greg Cosel forty five years NFL films joins us. Now,
all right, let's just start. Shane Waldren. Somebody had to
get moved because Chicago's been a mess now for three
weeks Shane Waldron got canned as the OC. You watched
the film, What did you make of that move by
the Bears?
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Yeah, I think we know Caleb Williams isn't getting benched
and we know he's not getting traded, so they felt
they had to make a move.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I don't think it's warranted.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Don't forget Shane Waldron three years ago was the same
coach who re revitalized Gino Smith's career. So Shane Waldron
did not become an idiot. So a few and I
actually brought my notes Colin because I didn't want to
be didn't want to say any of this wrong, because
I've obviously watched everyone of Caleb Williams snaps this year,
and I think over the last two years at USC,
(20:11):
I probably watched fifteen of his games on coaching tape.
So I'm just going to read a couple of things
which I normally don't do, but I think it's appropriate.
So right now, everything is happening too fast for Williams.
He's not been able to slow down the game mentally,
so he gets stuck in the pocket waiting, and you
can't do that at this point. He too often lacks
an effective internal pocket clock, which also forces him to
(20:35):
stay in the pocket too long holding the ball. And
the last point is he's a slow recognizer and processor.
He's not making the needed connection between route concepts and coverage.
So all this leads to an increased.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Number of sacks.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Now, obviously there are times when his old line is
poor and the sacks are not on him. But remember
one thing, and I remember speaking to a lot of
coaches and evaluators about this during the draft process.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
In two years at USC, he got sacked over.
Speaker 6 (21:05):
Eighty times, and there were a lot of people that
were concerned that that was not just an O line
issue at USC, that that was a Caleb Williams issue.
And right now it's coming to fruition a bit in
the league. So this was not a Shane Waldron problem
at all.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
That's great stuff. I appreciate it. And by the way,
Matt Hasselbeck has come on this show having watched film
and said most of the exact same thing is that
he's just and we've seen this before. Some of these
young guys are really good. I mean, I think Mahomes
has recognized this stuff so quickly. I think there's some
guy I thought Zach Wilson and Justin Fields were guys
(21:43):
that struggled to recognize coverage, and they were both athletic
with good arms. So I think it really is a thing. CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
C J.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Stroud very quickly could recognize the defense. Let it rip.
It's not This is a hard position and some guys
just the game speeds up and it takes them a
long time to get comfortable. Is that fair?
Speaker 6 (22:02):
And by the way, this is not to say that
he'll never be a good quarterback. This is what we
have up to the point right now. This is not
a knock on his entire career.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Colin. You know that we've seen things change. This is
where we.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Are right now, and he needs a lot of improvement.
The problem is now is so many quarterbacks come in
the league as brands and stars, and that's the way
they get treated. So if they don't play well, it's
viewed as everybody else's fault, but the quarterback's fault. And
right now he just has a ways to go.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Okay, So Philadelphia host Washington tonight. Eagles running the ball
Hurts has become much more efficient. What is the secret
sauced the Eagles run game? Is it just O line
personnel and Saquon.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Well, yeah, I mean more.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
Or less, yeah, I think they have a really good
old line, really good run blocking O line.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It's a big O line.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
When you look at their two guards, they might be
the two biggest guards in the league with Landon Dickerson
and Mackai Becton. But I don't think Barkley has ever
looked better in his entire career because I watched Barkley
since his Penn State days, and despite his size and
the fact that he looks like Tarzan, he was never
really a truly physical, sustaining type runner.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
He was always an explosive runner.
Speaker 6 (23:15):
This year he's been very, very physical and getting hard
earned yards between the tackles, and that has really helped
this offense. The offense really starts with Barkley. I think
he either has the first or the second most first
down carries per game in the league. So they start
with him, and don't forget you. Now add in the
(23:36):
Hertz factor as a runner, which is really really important
both by design and the scrambling element. So the running
dimension of Hurts and his ability to throw outside the
numbers vertical balls really.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Adds to what they can do.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Because they have very, very good receivers who can work
effectively outside the numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Every team Aaron Rodgers is on, there's a lot of
finger pointing. Yet offense, yep, all four days extra prep
against Arizona was a nothing burger. What did the tape
say about Aaron and his offense?
Speaker 6 (24:09):
Yeah, something is wrong there in terms of protection. Now,
we'd have to assume, because Aaron Rodgers has seen everything
in his career and is incredibly smart, that the issue
is not his. We don't know that, but you'd have
to assume that. But I have never seen if you
go back over the last four games, Colin, I have
(24:30):
never seen so many free runners at Aaron Rodgers. You
could go through five years in Green Bay and never
see that. And in the last four games there's just
been so many free hitters, as we say, at Aaron Rodgers.
So somewhere there's a major disconnect between Rogers and the protection.
(24:51):
And maybe it's the back. I don't think Breese Hall
is great in pass pro. I love the way he
runs and I love the way he catches, but I
don't know if.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
He's really good in pass pro.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
But some where there's something missing in terms of past
protection with this team.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So it's interesting the Niners brought back Christian McCaffrey. Their
special teams are so egregiously bad that that's part of it.
But I made this argument that half the league feels
like they're running a variation of this offense. So the
element of surprise with a jet suite by Deebo Samuel
(25:25):
doesn't see it, seems like the league's seen it. By
the way McVeigh came into this league, he's had to
kind of transform his offense a little bit. People caught
up to it. Maybe it's the Niners age or injuries.
But because I thought perty played very well against Tampa,
this offense doesn't feel like it's fooling people enough. Does
(25:46):
the film say that.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, I don't know if I describe any good offense
in the league as fooling people.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
Because coaches coach against coaches, they know what the offense is.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's how you get to what you do.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
There's not a thousand run concepts, there's not a thousand
route concepts. It's how you get to them. So it's
the use of formation, it's the use of shifts, it's
the use of motion. So now that McCaffrey's back, and
we saw this last week. We saw that the things
they can do, the options they have in terms of
motion shifting, where they align people formationally, that now expands dramatically,
(26:24):
and that's what creates space, because ultimately, all past games,
particularly if you're playing against zone, is about spacing.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
How do you create space? How do you get people
into voids?
Speaker 6 (26:35):
How do you put defenders who have multiple responsibilities in zone?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
How do you put them in conflict?
Speaker 6 (26:41):
That's what the past game is about versus zone, and
the Niners now, once McCaffrey's there, they can create that
space much more efficiently because they can use McCaffrey and
Samuel as movement players more so than McCaffrey when he
was not there.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Let's talk about another team, Detroit. We sort of look
mint their defense, We lament their defense, but Aiden Hutchison leaves,
and the truth is it's an excellent third down defense
with him or without him. Yeah so, and I don't
think their defense is their offense. But we've gotten to
a point now like their defense is really good situationally
(27:18):
on third down. What does the film say is the
personnel better if they hit on draft picks?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
We rarely talk about this in football because we always
think of corners and edge rushers, Right, That's what we
think about with defense, and those are the premium positions.
But the Lions in some ways are old school Colin defensively,
they may be the best defense in the league.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Up the middle.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
They have two really good d tackles in McNeil and Reeder.
They've got two really good stacked backers in Angeloni and Campbell,
who are both big, and those are traits. Azeloni's sixty
three two forty five, Campbell's six five two fifty. Those
are traits. And they arguably, arguably could have the best
(28:02):
safety duo in the league in Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
They are really really good down the middle.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
They have a high blitz percentage. They are really good
with their blitz schemes. They play a lot of man coverage,
they are aggressive, they attack, and as I said, down
the middle of their defense, that may be the best
in the league.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
All Right, Bill's Chiefs matchup this weekend. I do think
this is the best version of Buffalo. James Cook gives
them a real run game. I think By adding Amari Cooper,
who's sort of a low maintenance, volume target guy, the rookie.
I think this is the best version of Buffalo offensively,
but again, Kansas City's defense on any situational play maybe
(28:45):
the best we've seen the Gears. What do you expect
with all your forty five years of experience at NFL films,
what are you looking for this weekend in that matchup?
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Well, we have a large sample size because it seems
these teams play every year, sometimes twice a year, as
they did a year go. If you go back to
that divisional playoff game last year, which I looked at
this week, you'll see that the Bills offense was very conservative,
almost risk averse. They played the game to minimize risk.
Their longest play in that game was eighteen yards, and
(29:15):
I'm curious to see because, believe it or not, with
Josh Allen, they are not really an aggressive passing team
down the field. I think the feeling was, let's get
Josh into rhythm, let's get the ball out of his hands,
let's get a comfortable.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Feel, let's let it work with our run game.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
And that may be a good strategy against the Chiefs
because the last thing you want are our long yarded situations.
Because there is no defensive coordinator in the league as
good as Steve Spagnolo at using defensive backs in his
blitz packages.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
And now that works.
Speaker 6 (29:47):
Against a team like the Bills, because you know Allen
will move. But now if you have corners and safeties
trying to run him down, obviously that's a lot better
than d linemen and linebackers. So I'm very intrigued in
this game to see how the Bills use to play offense.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So one of the things in this business I try
to fight by myself is confirmation bias. I have picks.
I want my picks to be right, and so I
hold on to my picks, you know, like Denver Broncos,
I thought we're gonna be way better. So so far
I look good, but it could it could get turbulent.
So I looked at Arizona and I'm like, listen, I
like Kyler Murray, We'll see. And you know, it's like,
(30:24):
don't forget. They went up to Santa Clara in one
and they were down ten to Miami in the fourth
and one, And we just watched Miami tear apart the
Rams and I look at that offense in the last
several games, Greg, and this is what you do for
a living. It to me is a lot of a lot.
It is a tie in players, it's multiple the quarterback moves.
(30:47):
It just looks like it would be a pain in
the butt to face. What do you see?
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, well, here's something really interesting.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
When I watched that tape this week, I came away
and said to myself, I don't think there was one
drop back where Kyler Murray moved.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I don't know if I can recall a game like that.
He dropped back twenty seven or twenty eight times something
like that, maybe a few less. He did not move
one time, Colin.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Everything he threw was from the pocket, with refinement, with timing,
and that means that the coaching staff is doing a
really good job with their route concepts and route design
so that when Kyler hits his back foot, he feels
really comfortable delivering the ball.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
So he again, that's not going to happen every week.
We know that. And then of course you're seeing this touchdown.
Speaker 6 (31:33):
Where his run game by design really becomes a big
factor is in the red zone.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
But they actually have a lot of weapons. McBride is
a really good tight end.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
You can make the argument that he has now moved
into the top three or four as a receiver as
a tight end because he has three level ability. He
can be vertical, intermediate, and sure and he's very good
run after the catch. And I remember watching him coming
out of Colorado State and I really liked him become the.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Player I thought he could be.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
But they have a lot of weapons and Murray. You know,
it's always with quarterbacks. You know this because you look
at quarterbacks in the draft. Quarterbacks have strengths and they
have weaknesses. So what do you try to do as
a coordinator. You try to maximize the strengths minimize the weaknesses.
So Kyler Murray, because he's short, ideally you want to
be able to have him hit that back foot and
(32:22):
deliver the football because he can't sit in the pocket.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Bodies get too close to him.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
And then yes, he's great improvisationally, but he can't make
a living like that. So now they're doing such a
good job of matching the route concepts with what he
is and the ball's coming out and they've got pretty
good skilled people.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, okay, now let's let's let's wrap it up. For
the next three or four minutes on Russell Wilson, and
I think basically, Russell Wilson's the kind of quarterback that
got guys like Kyler Murray drafted or a Johnny Manziel.
He like, we never want our smaller quarterbacks. So I
kind of thought I loved Russell for years. He always
had questions. I loved it more, and then I kind
of bailed on him. I had Pete Carroll didn't want him,
(33:02):
Sean Payton didn't want him, players would criticize him. I'm like, yeah,
that's wrong. It just it's over.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Well.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
I feel like I'm getting eighty percent of the old Russ.
He's not as elusive, but the deep ball is back,
is it? I mean, what's the film say.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Yeah, it's the Seattle model.
Speaker 6 (33:18):
I mean, keep in mind that in this last game
that Warren and Harris combined for thirty five carries, and
it was a game in which they were down by
ten in the third quarter.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
So it's basically the Seattle model.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
It's a run game as the foundation, and it's a
defense that's really good. They probably have one of the
top what five to six defenses in the league, and
they have great individuals on defense that can change games.
So that's the way you have to play with Russell
Wilson because he's really good at certain things, great deep
ball thrower, has a feel for the game, particularly in
critical moments. But he's not a true drop back progression reader.
(33:51):
So you have to play to what he is. Just
what we said, you played the.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Strengths, you minimize the weaknesses.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
But he's played really well and if you really can
define it him, he can make throws. And of course
the touchdown he hit to Williams was just a ridiculous,
big time throw as he was falling backward. I couldn't
believe it when I saw it live, and I couldn't
believe it when I watched the tape.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
But I want to show you a play callin this
will be our play that we'll talk about.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
You know, because I think this is really how you
help a quarterback and how you define it for him.
All right, So if we can go to the play
from last week, which I think really speaks to the
job that they're doing, and then the job that he's doing,
because you still have to execute it really well. And
by the way, George Pickens pretty talented guy. So now
what we're going to see is we're going to see Wilson.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
In the gun here.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
Okay, and this is an empty set, so empty of
course means that there's no backs.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Nobody is in the backfield with Wilson.
Speaker 6 (34:44):
So now what you're going to get here is from
a defensive standpoint, is you're going to get coverage rotation.
The coverage is going to rotate to the trips side
of the formation, to the three receiver side, so that
safety up top, he's going to move and rotate to
the trip side. So now what you're going to get
is what we call a high low concept to the
(35:06):
twins side. To the two receiver side, you're going to
get a short sit route and the inbreaker by George Pickens,
and the corner is playing off coverage, so Pickens will
be clean in his release, free access off the ball.
So now this is basically you're reading the corner. The
slot corner will be the read. If he sits low,
(35:29):
then you're going to throw it to Pickens. Okay if
he if he drops back, you're going to throw the
sit route in front of him. So the corner tells
you there you see him drop back, so then you
throw the shorter route. Now there's one other key factor
here that Wilson has to make sure of.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Well, that's his read.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
He has to make sure that the mic and that's Wagner,
a very savvy player, one of his old teammates. He
has to make sure that he doesn't slide into the
passing lane if he wants to throw the inbreaker. So
now he gets him to move by looking at him. Okay,
so he gets him to move his body to the
trip side, and now he looks to see where the
slot corner is. Where's the slot corner. He stayed low
(36:11):
on the sit route. So now with the off coverage corner,
he's got George Pickens wide open on the inbreaker, and
this becomes pitch and catch and Pickens. You know, I've
said this before that Pickens at this moment in time, Colin,
he's not in the top five in terms of receivers overall,
but in terms of physical talent and traits, he would
(36:32):
be in the top five. He just has to become
that player. But all the talent and all the traits
are there, and he certainly is a vertical dimension. And
you talked about Wilson being a great deep ball thrower.
So they've now got Pickens and Williams, who are both
vertical dimensions.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yeah, Pickens is thin, but he's really really strong. He
bowls over corners and safeties. He's just a unique athlete
that size and strength. Greg Cosel forty five years, NFL
Film says, always Greg, great stuff.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go on a Thursday. Boy, there's a lot
going on football and beyond live in Los Angeles. It's
the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may
be listening. Thanks for making that's part of your day.
One hour from now, Greg Cosell, if you like fantasy football,
betting on football, Eagles plan tonight hosting the Commanders who
(00:48):
just want to get smarter at football. Greg Cosel, what
a performance last night, you know, it's it is a marvel.
There's only two athletes in my life, maybe three, Messy
be the third. Where maybe they're not the greatest player,
Brady Lebron and Messi, but on any moment, on any possession,
(01:09):
they transcend the game and are still dominant players. I
mean last night, you know, Wemby's got fifty and Giannis
can get fifty nine. But Lebron James put on a
show last night that was one for the agent the goat.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
It's a fact of college.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hold on, we love him, all right, So Lebron and
the Lakers beat Memphis, but it was beyond that. Lebron
had thirty five points. He's in year twenty two. He's
shooting forty six percent from three point land, best of
his career, a third straight triple double. So Michael Jordan
was more like Seinfeld. Nine great years, highly impactful, still
(01:44):
discussed today. Lebron's become Law and Order. We're on year
thirty five. I watched an episode two days ago. It
still crushes. I know Michael played fifteen seasons and many
of them were great, but he was a shell of
himself at the end. Lebron's in year twenty two, on
any possession, best player on the floor, in any game,
eighty got in a foul trouble, They're like, Lebron, take
(02:05):
it over. Best player on the floor. He's not as
good as Jokich on Giannis's best night, He's not as
good as Yiannis's. He really doesn't have the dexterity anymore
of Wemby. Wemby's just insane and Aunt Edwards is much
more dynamic athletically in a consistent basis. But Lebron's IQ,
his leadership, his ability to pick up things during the
(02:25):
course of a game, and it's always been this Michael
Jordan Lebron thing. Lebron's easily got the best resume in
the history of basketball. Michael was red hot for about
eight to nine years. Red hot. He was the coolest player,
he was the best looking, he was the best dressed.
I'm not denying that for a nine year stretch. They're
(02:46):
nothing like him. Love him. I watched Air again three
nights ago. I watched the movie about Michael Jordan. He's
still relevant today. His shoes, I think still out sell Lebron's.
I'm not but you can't give me this. Michael was
six for six. If you want to do titles, Russell
had eleven, Robert Ory's got more. There's got to be
layers in contextualization. I've argued forever. If the Chicago Bulls
(03:09):
were in the Western Conference like the Chicago Blackhawks are
in hockey, it's right on the line. He would have
lost multiple Finals because he couldn't beat Bird in the
Celtics or Isaiah and the Pistons for years, so we
never got the finals. Stop punishing Lebron for being more successful.
He got the ten finals, mj to six, Magic got
denined m JDA six. Stop punishing people for being more successful.
(03:31):
Don't be so ring obsessed. Contextualized stuff we Lebron's doing
didn't make sense. I mean, again, messy on any possession
in soccer, that's the best thing. That's the best player
in the world. Tom Brady at the very end, only
like Mahomes was better. Absolutely, I still would have taken
Brady over Lamar Josh Allen on a drive with a
minute to go in the game, I would have taken
Mahomes over Brady, but I would have taken Brady over
everybody else not named Patrick Mahomes. And last night you're
(03:54):
watching Lebron thirty five points, triple double, third straight game.
I mean, it's just crazy me and he his intelligence
is huge because you know last night, end of the game,
big possessions. You know, we're looking at now eighteen dominant
seasons for Lebron, James eighteen to twenty, Michael n nine,
(04:15):
I mean, really really dominated the league seasons nine to ten.
Like it's just you're getting to a point where it's
like Brady's stats post forty that's part of the story.
Brady's career posts forty is better than ninety five percent
of the players who've ever played. Lebron's career post thirty
four is better than not only some All Stars, but
(04:37):
ninety five percent of the players that have ever played
down the stretch JJ Reddick, and JJ's a smart guy.
He has clearly discovered that Anthony Davis is the best
player on a consistent basis, But Lebron, he'll listen to him.
He'll let Lebron coach on the floor. The Lakers won,
Lebron was amazing. And here's JJ Reddick after.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Bron saw something in the way that they had guarded
it the first two times, and him and they are
I said, are you three you on the same page?
Just want to make sure you three have the same page.
The other two guys are doing the same things. Yeah,
we got it. Bron gets a backcut for a dunk,
so he just you know, he's mastered the game. And
we don't win that game obviously without him.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And that has often been the case for every team
he's ever played on. In year twenty two, you don't
win the game without him. So this sounds like a criticism.
Has your wife ever told you the best version of
you is the getting out of the way you. I mean,
I've never heard that personally, but I've heard that before.
The best version of you is sort of getting out
(05:41):
of the way you. That's what Nick Siriani has become.
So the Eagles play tonight and they play Washington. I
like Philadelphia tonight home team, veteran quarterback at home, better
roster short rest. I think it's it's a tough ass
for a rookie quarterback to go and play in one
of the loudest stadiums in the country against arguably the
best raw. I like Philadelphia tonight to pull away second half.
(06:02):
But it's interesting if you go to the first five
games this year, Philadelphia's offense and Sirianni is an offensive coach.
In the last five games the EF it's almost eleven
points more a game. It's a totally different team, totally
different team. Why because remember in the offseason you were
hearing about Kellen Moore and Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts,
and there was all this and you always heard that
(06:25):
about Shane stike And and Nick Sirianni. Are they getting along?
When Nick Sirianni got out of Shane Steikeen's way and
let him call the offense, they went to a Super
Bowl And you've been hearing about this Kellen Moore Nick Sirianni.
In the beginning of this season, there was a lot
of I don't know if it's gonna work at Kellen
Moore beginning. Remember when he got hired, it was like,
(06:45):
I don't know is he gonna have the offense or Sirianni.
And at the beginning of the season it it's it
was a Sirianni meddling too much. Now he stepped out
of the way, just like he did with Stiking in
the last month. And look at the it's great. Kyle
Shanahan and Andy Reid and Sean Payton. They played design,
they play call. It's their specialty. They're on the headset,
(07:07):
that's that's their specialty. But there are a lot of
great coaches in this league. Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, Pete
Carroll's was a Jimmy Johnson was known more as a
walk around coach. That's a turn that's used. Walk around guy.
You set the tone, you set the temperature of the team,
but you hire Josh McDaniels. Belichick did that on offense.
(07:29):
And I was talking to Josh McDaniels after the show yesterday.
He said, Bill, you know once a game is like, hey,
what do you think here? Or what do you want
to call here? He said, but Bill understood, like that's
my expertise. Tom and Josh McDaniels. You got to get
into a flow. There's a certain tempo to offense. And
it's really tough even with an offensive coach. Either you're
all in or you're a walk around guy. You can't
(07:50):
go halfway. You can't go halfway. And beginning of this year,
Kellen Moore and Sirianni Nick was dabbling too much, just
like he did with Nick Seri early on, and when
he finally said, Nick, at your offense and this year
when he said, Callen, it's your offense. And by the way,
this is not a criticism. Dan Campbell is a walk
around guy. Mike Tomlin walk around guy, Pete Carroll walk
(08:13):
around guy. Some guys are specialists, like Sean Payton, is
going to design, call, orchestrate the offense. That's Kyle Shanahan.
That's fine, but the criticism of Kyle Shanahan has been
maybe you should walk around more and take a look
at your special teams. They're always awful. And with Dan Campbell,
he wants to set the tone in temperature. He wants
(08:35):
to touch all the parts. But you don't want to medal.
I mean, I was just talking to somebody about Jim Harball.
Is it Jim Harbaugh? It's a true story about Jim Harball.
Jim Harball will go in the meetings and he wants
his assistant coaches and coordinators to figure out the jigsaw puzzle.
He'll walk into a coaching meeting, he'll watch a play,
let's say a screenplay is getting blown up here, and
(08:56):
he'll turn to his coordinators. I've heard this about Jim
for years and he'll go, who boy, you's guy. You
guys have a ruffler in your hands this week, that
boy that defense blows up screenplays. Jim gets up, walks out,
He identifies the issue. Boy, you guys got your hands
full this week, gets up walks out. Your job to
figure it out. So it's not a criticism. Hardbaugh tends
(09:18):
to be more walk around guy. I mean, there's there's
video all over the internet of him walking around and
getting guys pumped tone temperature, and so I think that's
the thing with I struggle with Sirianni is that he's
had these You gotta give him credit. He's got the
self awareness to go to know, Sirianni, I pulled away,
we got great, and I think early in the season
he went back because you know, Kellen, He's gone through
(09:39):
all these coordinators, right, and you're a head coach, and
you want to if I hire somebody on this show
and the staff, you want a babysit, you want a helicopter.
And all of a sudden, after five weeks, I think
Nick Sirianni went, oh, I'm doing the same thing to
Kellen Moore. You know that I did the shame Steichen,
and so he had the self awareness to go, I'm
gonna back off and I'm gonna I'm gonna put my
arms around the whole thing. And I think that I
(10:01):
think that's what he is. It's not a criticism. Mike
Tomlins made a career, Pete Carroll, Dan Campbell, Jim Harbaugh
not in on all the play. Belichick's not telling Josh
McDaniels what to do, so I think what you're hearing
now is the Sirianni Kellen morphea. So we've seen two
different versions of the Eagles offense with Jalen Hurts underachieving
(10:22):
and turnover prone or great. There's like no middle class
with it. It's like it's a mess that won't work. Oh,
that's unbelievable right now, Jalen Hurts is unbelievable. And I
think sometimes husbands have heard this. The best you is
stay out of the way you and that's okay. J Mack.
(10:42):
I know you've never heard that, But there are guys that.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
I haven't heard in the last twelve hours, but I
have heard that one before.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Interesting, there's a lot of stuff at play tonight.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Do you remember how many years we've talked about Cliff
Kingsbury kind of cratering in the second half of seasons
Texas Tech Zon That was the last two weeks. This
Washington team has not looked amazing offensively. I wonder tonight
do we see kind of a rock bottom maybe a
(11:13):
rookie wall for.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Jamas the Philadelphia To me, even with the hook is
the play.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Yeah, I'm with you. I like the Eagles, but I
think this is interesting. We've been singing the praises of
Kingsbury on here.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I just I'll throw this at you. I don't know
this to be true, but I'll throw a Cliff Kingsbury
theory at you. Very nice guy. A player's coach does
not discipline little too soft to be a head coach
college or pro. He doesn't like confrontation. Over the course
of a football season. As a coach or a coordinator,
there has to be confrontation. There's apathy, there's mistakes. So
(11:48):
Cliff is a very good coach. He brings a certain
positivity and optimism to every place he goes, and people
feel good about themselves. But players, like the rest of
us in our lives, get lazy and sloppy and need
somebody to bark. And he's not a barker. So Cliff
Kingsbury's teams over the course of a season don't wear
as well. And the coaches Andy Reena is a barker,
(12:10):
Sean Payton's a barker, Belichick was a barker. Hardball can
use volume, So everybody on the internet wants a coach
that never yells, volume works. Kirby Smart can bark, Start
can bark, Saban barked by the way Urban Meyer could bark.
You know who never barks, Lincoln Riley. His teams at
USC have gotten worse over seasons. Is that if you're
(12:31):
very optimistic and you're very positive, players love that. So
do you need a good cop bad cop? Maybe Dana
Sam and Dan so Cliff. I've been told a great
coordinator because he didn't have to be the bad cop.
He doesn't like it. But I am theorizing here is
that if you look at a lot of the Rick
Neuheisel had this reputation, he's smart guy, good coach, But
(12:53):
in the end, where's the bite, where's the bark? Because
all of us I'm the same way. After the football sea,
you know, it's like I'm full speed ahead football season.
Then we hit basketball and we hit draft, and it's
like some days I got to get that neurogum down
because I got no energy for the show.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Just hop on my back, buddy, I'll carry you to
the finish line.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I was watching Wemby last night.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Yanna's fifty nine by the Way, sixteen of seventeen free
throws for Yannis last night.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
This was a guy who couldn't make free throws.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
Remember, the fans were counting to ten because he was
doing the violce.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
He worked, you know, like a Lamar Jackson. Yeah, he's
okay to work on your game.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Tim Duncan got to be a better free throw shooter early.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, Tim wasn't good early, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
So Oregon's the number one team in the country, number
one seed in the twelve team playoff, number one ranked team.
Their coach, Dan Lanning, is getting. According to a story
NFL Interest, people in the NFL see him as very
much Dan Campbell of the Lions, alpha culture creator, I mean,
(14:01):
high intensity. Here's the thing. Years ago, I thought being
a great college coach at a program like a Texas
or an Oregon was equal to being in an NFL coach.
I mean, when Saban went from the Miami Dolphins to Alabama,
I get it better job maybe, but not anymore. The
NILAND transfer portal. It's just swung too far. I'm all
(14:21):
for change. I love conference realignment, I love the playoff,
I love the games. But the ni Alan transfer portal, now,
let's just talk transfer portal. It's basically it's free agency
with no contracts and no salary cap. I mean that's
literally what it is. Basically. Patrick mahomes Right tackles like
I'm upset, I'm not playing. I'm gonna go play for
the Ravens. That doesn't work. The pendulum. I've seen this
(14:44):
my entire life in so many businesses. It swung way
too far. It used to be too hard for players
to transfer, coaches move, Why can't play? Now it's too easy.
I mean a kid before the Michigan Ohio State game,
a Michigan player could go join Ohio State and say,
you want you want the audibles this week? You want
to play calls. I mean, that's not what you want.
And so this is why Jay Wright see you save
(15:07):
and by coach k That's why a lot of these coaches.
We just saw Boston College head coach say I'll go
to Green Bay. I don't want to deal. We have
words now that we didn't even have three years ago.
Collectives a coach has to deal with a collective ugh donors, regents, politics,
and you got multiple transfer windows, so guys are in
(15:27):
and out of programs all the time, and there's no
salary camp. And I don't think players they don't mind
players getting paid.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
They like that.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
But I've been told it's hard to create a culture.
Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly are finding this out. You're
walking on eggshells. A player has a bad game, you
want to actually sit your quarterback for three weeks. He
just transfers. None of the players want to deal with adversity.
And these coaches aren't equipped to be general managers. They
don't know what they're doing. In fact, what's happening in
(15:55):
college football. The good programs are finding out of work
or former general manager to run their salary cap because
the coaches don't have time for this. They don't know
what to pay a high school player. So it's just
and again. I I mean, some of these players have
longer Lamborghini leases than they do stays at their current school.
I mean, they're just bouncing around the sport. I don't
mind players getting paid, but there's got to be a
(16:17):
salary cap for a contract or something. I can't just
walk out of this company. I've had a bad show.
I'm just leaving today. Or in the middle of a
football season, I got to transfer window. It's called the
end of my contract. You know, that's when I could.
But you have to have some certainty in the sport.
And it's very, very hard to create a culture when
(16:40):
you're walking on eggshells, you know. And by the way,
it's not all pro player. Why would I develop a player? Hell,
I'll just go by Wisconsin's right tackle. Why would I
want to develop players. I'll develop the really good ones.
But what if a kid comes in he's a he's
a he's a slow growth player. He'll be really good
in three years. I'm not gonna wait three years. I'll
(17:01):
go get Boston College best player tied end put him in.
So it's not all great for the players. Coaches get
over players very fat. They make decisions. Now you know,
you're six games into a freshman's career and it's like, yeah,
I don't have three years to develop that kid. Back
of the line, kid, go transfer to you and LV football.
That's happening all over the place. So it's not just
(17:22):
poor coaches. Players aren't growing. I was talking to an
NFL exactly about a month ago. He said, it's not
a very good draft. A lot of these kids have
not been developed. They're talented, but they bounced around to
two or three programs. They're really talented, bad football players.
So I think Dan Lanning, if I was Dan Lanning now,
he's got it pretty good. That's one of the top
(17:42):
six to seven jobs because of Phil Knight's NIL money.
But I think the pendulum has swung too far. I
love the games, I love conference realignment. I have no
problem with the NIL, but the transfer stuff is a circus.
You spend as much time recruiting your own players to
stay as you do to come to your school. It's
just too much. It's relentless. These college football coaches get
(18:04):
like ten days a year when they can turn the
phone off ten days. NFL guys make more money, have
a better pension, actually have a pension, and they get
forty five days a year, which one would your family want? Right,
So if Dan Lanning, if it comes calling, I get
these top coaches. I get a Ryan Day, I get
(18:25):
Jim Harball. If you watch Jim Harbor, he kind of
looks happy. You know, it's I mean that had the
NCAA all over him for three years. Literally the last
couple of years. You could go buy a high school
football player, which used to be a death penalty. You
can now buy a high school football player. You can
pay m as a sophomore junior. And USC got in
trouble this week because they had an extra special teams
(18:47):
coach who cares Connor Stallions, give me a break. Everybody's got,
you know, the microscope, but everybody else's plays. It's a circus.
So the pendulum's gone way too far.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
One.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I'm not anti transfer portal, but even the NFL's got,
you know, a designated salary cap. You got to have contracts.
There's a free agency period. You gotta have bumpers on that.
On this bowling alley, you gotta have some bumpers here
to keep the ball in the middle of the lane.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific with that.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Greg Cosel forty five years NFL films joins us. Now,
all right, let's just start. Shane Waldren. Somebody had to
get moved because Chicago's been a mess now for three
weeks Shane Waldron got canned as the OC. You watched
the film, What did you make of that move by
the Bears?
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Yeah, I think we know Caleb Williams isn't getting benched
and we know he's not getting traded, so they felt
they had to make a move.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I don't think it's warranted.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Don't forget Shane Waldron three years ago was the same
coach who re revitalized Gino Smith's career. So Shane Waldron
did not become an idiot. So a few and I
actually brought my notes Colin because I didn't want to
be didn't want to say any of this wrong, because
I've obviously watched everyone of Caleb Williams snaps this year,
and I think over the last two years at USC,
(20:11):
I probably watched fifteen of his games on coaching tape.
So I'm just going to read a couple of things
which I normally don't do, but I think it's appropriate.
So right now, everything is happening too fast for Williams.
He's not been able to slow down the game mentally,
so he gets stuck in the pocket waiting, and you
can't do that at this point. He too often lacks
an effective internal pocket clock, which also forces him to
(20:35):
stay in the pocket too long holding the ball. And
the last point is he's a slow recognizer and processor.
He's not making the needed connection between route concepts and coverage.
So all this leads to an increased.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Number of sacks.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Now, obviously there are times when his old line is
poor and the sacks are not on him. But remember
one thing, and I remember speaking to a lot of
coaches and evaluators about this during the draft process.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
In two years at USC, he got sacked over.
Speaker 6 (21:05):
Eighty times, and there were a lot of people that
were concerned that that was not just an O line
issue at USC, that that was a Caleb Williams issue.
And right now it's coming to fruition a bit in
the league. So this was not a Shane Waldron problem
at all.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
That's great stuff. I appreciate it. And by the way,
Matt Hasselbeck has come on this show having watched film
and said most of the exact same thing is that
he's just and we've seen this before. Some of these
young guys are really good. I mean, I think Mahomes
has recognized this stuff so quickly. I think there's some
guy I thought Zach Wilson and Justin Fields were guys
(21:43):
that struggled to recognize coverage, and they were both athletic
with good arms. So I think it really is a thing. CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
C J.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Stroud very quickly could recognize the defense. Let it rip.
It's not This is a hard position and some guys
just the game speeds up and it takes them a
long time to get comfortable. Is that fair?
Speaker 6 (22:02):
And by the way, this is not to say that
he'll never be a good quarterback. This is what we
have up to the point right now. This is not
a knock on his entire career.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Colin. You know that we've seen things change. This is
where we.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Are right now, and he needs a lot of improvement.
The problem is now is so many quarterbacks come in
the league as brands and stars, and that's the way
they get treated. So if they don't play well, it's
viewed as everybody else's fault, but the quarterback's fault. And
right now he just has a ways to go.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Okay, So Philadelphia host Washington tonight. Eagles running the ball
Hurts has become much more efficient. What is the secret
sauced the Eagles run game? Is it just O line
personnel and Saquon.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Well, yeah, I mean more.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
Or less, yeah, I think they have a really good
old line, really good run blocking O line.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It's a big O line.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
When you look at their two guards, they might be
the two biggest guards in the league with Landon Dickerson
and Mackai Becton. But I don't think Barkley has ever
looked better in his entire career because I watched Barkley
since his Penn State days, and despite his size and
the fact that he looks like Tarzan, he was never
really a truly physical, sustaining type runner.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
He was always an explosive runner.
Speaker 6 (23:15):
This year he's been very, very physical and getting hard
earned yards between the tackles, and that has really helped
this offense. The offense really starts with Barkley. I think
he either has the first or the second most first
down carries per game in the league. So they start
with him, and don't forget you. Now add in the
(23:36):
Hertz factor as a runner, which is really really important
both by design and the scrambling element. So the running
dimension of Hurts and his ability to throw outside the
numbers vertical balls really.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Adds to what they can do.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Because they have very, very good receivers who can work
effectively outside the numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Every team Aaron Rodgers is on, there's a lot of
finger pointing. Yet offense, yep, all four days extra prep
against Arizona was a nothing burger. What did the tape
say about Aaron and his offense?
Speaker 6 (24:09):
Yeah, something is wrong there in terms of protection. Now,
we'd have to assume, because Aaron Rodgers has seen everything
in his career and is incredibly smart, that the issue
is not his. We don't know that, but you'd have
to assume that. But I have never seen if you
go back over the last four games, Colin, I have
(24:30):
never seen so many free runners at Aaron Rodgers. You
could go through five years in Green Bay and never
see that. And in the last four games there's just
been so many free hitters, as we say, at Aaron Rodgers.
So somewhere there's a major disconnect between Rogers and the protection.
(24:51):
And maybe it's the back. I don't think Breese Hall
is great in pass pro. I love the way he
runs and I love the way he catches, but I
don't know if.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
He's really good in pass pro.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
But some where there's something missing in terms of past
protection with this team.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So it's interesting the Niners brought back Christian McCaffrey. Their
special teams are so egregiously bad that that's part of it.
But I made this argument that half the league feels
like they're running a variation of this offense. So the
element of surprise with a jet suite by Deebo Samuel
(25:25):
doesn't see it, seems like the league's seen it. By
the way McVeigh came into this league, he's had to
kind of transform his offense a little bit. People caught
up to it. Maybe it's the Niners age or injuries.
But because I thought perty played very well against Tampa,
this offense doesn't feel like it's fooling people enough. Does
(25:46):
the film say that.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, I don't know if I describe any good offense
in the league as fooling people.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
Because coaches coach against coaches, they know what the offense is.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's how you get to what you do.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
There's not a thousand run concepts, there's not a thousand
route concepts. It's how you get to them. So it's
the use of formation, it's the use of shifts, it's
the use of motion. So now that McCaffrey's back, and
we saw this last week. We saw that the things
they can do, the options they have in terms of
motion shifting, where they align people formationally, that now expands dramatically,
(26:24):
and that's what creates space, because ultimately, all past games,
particularly if you're playing against zone, is about spacing.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
How do you create space? How do you get people
into voids?
Speaker 6 (26:35):
How do you put defenders who have multiple responsibilities in zone?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
How do you put them in conflict?
Speaker 6 (26:41):
That's what the past game is about versus zone, and
the Niners now, once McCaffrey's there, they can create that
space much more efficiently because they can use McCaffrey and
Samuel as movement players more so than McCaffrey when he
was not there.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Let's talk about another team, Detroit. We sort of look
mint their defense, We lament their defense, but Aiden Hutchison leaves,
and the truth is it's an excellent third down defense
with him or without him. Yeah so, and I don't
think their defense is their offense. But we've gotten to
a point now like their defense is really good situationally
(27:18):
on third down. What does the film say is the
personnel better if they hit on draft picks?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
We rarely talk about this in football because we always
think of corners and edge rushers, Right, That's what we
think about with defense, and those are the premium positions.
But the Lions in some ways are old school Colin defensively,
they may be the best defense in the league.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Up the middle.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
They have two really good d tackles in McNeil and Reeder.
They've got two really good stacked backers in Angeloni and Campbell,
who are both big, and those are traits. Azeloni's sixty
three two forty five, Campbell's six five two fifty. Those
are traits. And they arguably, arguably could have the best
(28:02):
safety duo in the league in Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
They are really really good down the middle.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
They have a high blitz percentage. They are really good
with their blitz schemes. They play a lot of man coverage,
they are aggressive, they attack, and as I said, down
the middle of their defense, that may be the best
in the league.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
All Right, Bill's Chiefs matchup this weekend. I do think
this is the best version of Buffalo. James Cook gives
them a real run game. I think By adding Amari Cooper,
who's sort of a low maintenance, volume target guy, the rookie.
I think this is the best version of Buffalo offensively,
but again, Kansas City's defense on any situational play maybe
(28:45):
the best we've seen the Gears. What do you expect
with all your forty five years of experience at NFL films,
what are you looking for this weekend in that matchup?
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Well, we have a large sample size because it seems
these teams play every year, sometimes twice a year, as
they did a year go. If you go back to
that divisional playoff game last year, which I looked at
this week, you'll see that the Bills offense was very conservative,
almost risk averse. They played the game to minimize risk.
Their longest play in that game was eighteen yards, and
(29:15):
I'm curious to see because, believe it or not, with
Josh Allen, they are not really an aggressive passing team
down the field. I think the feeling was, let's get
Josh into rhythm, let's get the ball out of his hands,
let's get a comfortable.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Feel, let's let it work with our run game.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
And that may be a good strategy against the Chiefs
because the last thing you want are our long yarded situations.
Because there is no defensive coordinator in the league as
good as Steve Spagnolo at using defensive backs in his
blitz packages.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
And now that works.
Speaker 6 (29:47):
Against a team like the Bills, because you know Allen
will move. But now if you have corners and safeties
trying to run him down, obviously that's a lot better
than d linemen and linebackers. So I'm very intrigued in
this game to see how the Bills use to play offense.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So one of the things in this business I try
to fight by myself is confirmation bias. I have picks.
I want my picks to be right, and so I
hold on to my picks, you know, like Denver Broncos,
I thought we're gonna be way better. So so far
I look good, but it could it could get turbulent.
So I looked at Arizona and I'm like, listen, I
like Kyler Murray, We'll see. And you know, it's like,
(30:24):
don't forget. They went up to Santa Clara in one
and they were down ten to Miami in the fourth
and one, And we just watched Miami tear apart the
Rams and I look at that offense in the last
several games, Greg, and this is what you do for
a living. It to me is a lot of a lot.
It is a tie in players, it's multiple the quarterback moves.
(30:47):
It just looks like it would be a pain in
the butt to face. What do you see?
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, well, here's something really interesting.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
When I watched that tape this week, I came away
and said to myself, I don't think there was one
drop back where Kyler Murray moved.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I don't know if I can recall a game like that.
He dropped back twenty seven or twenty eight times something
like that, maybe a few less. He did not move
one time, Colin.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Everything he threw was from the pocket, with refinement, with timing,
and that means that the coaching staff is doing a
really good job with their route concepts and route design
so that when Kyler hits his back foot, he feels
really comfortable delivering the ball.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
So he again, that's not going to happen every week.
We know that. And then of course you're seeing this touchdown.
Speaker 6 (31:33):
Where his run game by design really becomes a big
factor is in the red zone.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
But they actually have a lot of weapons. McBride is
a really good tight end.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
You can make the argument that he has now moved
into the top three or four as a receiver as
a tight end because he has three level ability. He
can be vertical, intermediate, and sure and he's very good
run after the catch. And I remember watching him coming
out of Colorado State and I really liked him become the.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Player I thought he could be.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
But they have a lot of weapons and Murray. You know,
it's always with quarterbacks. You know this because you look
at quarterbacks in the draft. Quarterbacks have strengths and they
have weaknesses. So what do you try to do as
a coordinator. You try to maximize the strengths minimize the weaknesses.
So Kyler Murray, because he's short, ideally you want to
be able to have him hit that back foot and
(32:22):
deliver the football because he can't sit in the pocket.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Bodies get too close to him.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
And then yes, he's great improvisationally, but he can't make
a living like that. So now they're doing such a
good job of matching the route concepts with what he
is and the ball's coming out and they've got pretty
good skilled people.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, okay, now let's let's let's wrap it up. For
the next three or four minutes on Russell Wilson, and
I think basically, Russell Wilson's the kind of quarterback that
got guys like Kyler Murray drafted or a Johnny Manziel.
He like, we never want our smaller quarterbacks. So I
kind of thought I loved Russell for years. He always
had questions. I loved it more, and then I kind
of bailed on him. I had Pete Carroll didn't want him,
(33:02):
Sean Payton didn't want him, players would criticize him. I'm like, yeah,
that's wrong. It just it's over.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Well.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
I feel like I'm getting eighty percent of the old Russ.
He's not as elusive, but the deep ball is back,
is it? I mean, what's the film say.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Yeah, it's the Seattle model.
Speaker 6 (33:18):
I mean, keep in mind that in this last game
that Warren and Harris combined for thirty five carries, and
it was a game in which they were down by
ten in the third quarter.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
So it's basically the Seattle model.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
It's a run game as the foundation, and it's a
defense that's really good. They probably have one of the
top what five to six defenses in the league, and
they have great individuals on defense that can change games.
So that's the way you have to play with Russell
Wilson because he's really good at certain things, great deep
ball thrower, has a feel for the game, particularly in
critical moments. But he's not a true drop back progression reader.
(33:51):
So you have to play to what he is. Just
what we said, you played the.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Strengths, you minimize the weaknesses.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
But he's played really well and if you really can
define it him, he can make throws. And of course
the touchdown he hit to Williams was just a ridiculous,
big time throw as he was falling backward. I couldn't
believe it when I saw it live, and I couldn't
believe it when I watched the tape.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
But I want to show you a play callin this
will be our play that we'll talk about.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
You know, because I think this is really how you
help a quarterback and how you define it for him.
All right, So if we can go to the play
from last week, which I think really speaks to the
job that they're doing, and then the job that he's doing,
because you still have to execute it really well. And
by the way, George Pickens pretty talented guy. So now
what we're going to see is we're going to see Wilson.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
In the gun here.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
Okay, and this is an empty set, so empty of
course means that there's no backs.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Nobody is in the backfield with Wilson.
Speaker 6 (34:44):
So now what you're going to get here is from
a defensive standpoint, is you're going to get coverage rotation.
The coverage is going to rotate to the trips side
of the formation, to the three receiver side, so that
safety up top, he's going to move and rotate to
the trip side. So now what you're going to get
is what we call a high low concept to the
(35:06):
twins side. To the two receiver side, you're going to
get a short sit route and the inbreaker by George Pickens,
and the corner is playing off coverage, so Pickens will
be clean in his release, free access off the ball.
So now this is basically you're reading the corner. The
slot corner will be the read. If he sits low,
(35:29):
then you're going to throw it to Pickens. Okay if
he if he drops back, you're going to throw the
sit route in front of him. So the corner tells
you there you see him drop back, so then you
throw the shorter route. Now there's one other key factor
here that Wilson has to make sure of.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Well, that's his read.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
He has to make sure that the mic and that's Wagner,
a very savvy player, one of his old teammates. He
has to make sure that he doesn't slide into the
passing lane if he wants to throw the inbreaker. So
now he gets him to move by looking at him. Okay,
so he gets him to move his body to the
trip side, and now he looks to see where the
slot corner is. Where's the slot corner. He stayed low
(36:11):
on the sit route. So now with the off coverage corner,
he's got George Pickens wide open on the inbreaker, and
this becomes pitch and catch and Pickens. You know, I've
said this before that Pickens at this moment in time, Colin,
he's not in the top five in terms of receivers overall,
but in terms of physical talent and traits, he would
(36:32):
be in the top five. He just has to become
that player. But all the talent and all the traits
are there, and he certainly is a vertical dimension. And
you talked about Wilson being a great deep ball thrower.
So they've now got Pickens and Williams, who are both
vertical dimensions.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yeah, Pickens is thin, but he's really really strong. He
bowls over corners and safeties. He's just a unique athlete
that size and strength. Greg Cosel forty five years, NFL
Film says, always Greg, great stuff.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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