November 25, 2024 • 38 mins
Colin still can't believe the Giants let RB Saquon Barkley go to the Eagles in free agency after another dominant performance putting him on pace to break the single season rushing record. He tells you why he was right about Broncos QB Bo Nix and wrong about Cardinals QB Kyler Murray. He also talks to 3-time Pro Bowl QB Matt Hasselbeck about Caleb Williams playing well since the offensive coordinator change in Chicago
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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):
Oh, it is a Monday, lots and lots to discuss. Thanksgiving,
of course is Thursday. So on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday week
for us one hour from now.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
On Monday, it was a weird, weird weekend college and
pro football. Big time college football teams went on the
road and all melted in the NFL yesterday underdogs.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Some did great, some were overwhelmed.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Say Mac, what we watched last night an all time
performance by one of the nicer guys in the league.
All he ever wanted to be was a New York Giant,
and they let him go to a rival. It was
that was an all time performance.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Didn't we say this summer that he could have the
same impact that McCaffrey had on the Niners and he's
doing the same thing, Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I'm so yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I mean last year, remember the Eagles melted down right
and it's pretty much the same team. They made some
upgrades in this secondary. They got a nice cornerback from Toledo,
but they brought in one great player and Saquon Barkley
from the New York Giants to the rival Eagles has
got a Babe Ruth red Sox to the Yankees feel
to it. I mean, that's what it felt like last night.
(01:40):
Are the Giants going to be cursed for one hundred
years the last ten they have been? Saquon now is
averaging more yards of carry as he went for two
fifty five last night, then the Giants are yards per pass.
He's going to break the all time potential record for
a running back in one season scrimmage yards rushing record
put on a clinic last night is about a year
(02:01):
ago we were lamenting that running backs just weren't getting
paid and didn't have an impact.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, the truth is they're.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Not usually as valuable as quarterbacks or left tackles or
pass rushers, or these days, due to rule changes, they're
not as valuable as a Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson.
But there are exceptions Christian McCaffrey the previous two years
and Saquon Barkley with the Philadelphia Eagles. And by the way,
(02:28):
not all front offices are equal.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Nine know that, but some are playing chess the Eagles,
and some are playing candy crush the Giants. We knew
Saquon would be better because the Giants had a bad
O line and Saquon was great, and they have a
bad quarterback and Saquon was great, and the Eagles are
(02:51):
above average at both. In fact, I'd argue their O
lines the second best in the sport to the Lions.
We also knew that the Lions are Excuse me, the
Giant didn't have any star receivers during bait sae Quon's run,
so therefore opposing safeties can cheat getting the buck. So
the Giants had a bad quarterback, a battle line, no
star receivers, you could cheat. When Sae Kwon was with
(03:15):
the Giants, you could cheat and you still struggle to
stop him. Now you go to a team with two
great receivers, an excellent quarterback, the second best NO line
in football, and yet it feels like, I mean, you're watching,
it looks like he's faster, he's more elusive. So I mean,
we all knew it was gonna work. I mean, that
thing last that was one of the four or five
best running back performances I've seen in my entire life
(03:38):
from a guy that just was classy. His teammates loved him,
the fans loved him. All he ever wanted to be
was a New York Giant. And remember the quote this
offseason from Joe Shane the New York Giants GM. Remember
that quote. He said, we're not paying Daniel Jones forty
million dollars to hand off to a twelve.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Million dollar running back?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Why not? I mean, Philadelphia is Jalen Hurts fifty one
million to hand off to him? Seems like it's working.
You can't have an expensive running back and expensive quarterback.
You can't if they're Jalen Hurts in Saquon Barkley. I mean,
if I was Cincinnati, I'd pay for Joe Burrow, Jamar
Chase and t Higgins.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
They pay Cooper Cup and Matt Stafford, and they're gonna
pay Pooka in a couple of years. Why can't you
do that? It's an offensive league. So Joe Shane is,
Daniel Jones is gone. It's time for Joe Shane hit
the road. I mean, this is bab rue stuff. And
we all knew it was gonna work. What I watched
last night is we now have four teams that can
(04:42):
hoist a Super Bowl trophy. We knew Kansas City and
Buffalo felt like it. We knew Detroit dominating. People felt
like it. Just throw in Philadelphia, Just throw in Philadelphia
because that was an all timer last night. And couldn't
have him to a nicer guy. Not happened to a
nicer guy. All he ever wanted to be was a giant.
(05:03):
All he ever wanted to do was where the New
York Giants blew. Fans loved him, teammates loved him. We
all got it. Like memo to general managers, if you
have a player with a bad O line and a
bad quarterback who is flourishing, he could be a wide receiver,
he could be a tight end, he could be a
running back. You don't give him to the rival team
(05:25):
with arguably a great quarterback and the second best OH
line and star receivers. If you couldn't see this thing
coming from a mile away. You should not be the
general manager of the New York Football Giants. I mean, honestly,
it's it is just insane. Can you imagine the Chargers
getting Mahomes in Kansas City's saying, you know, we know
(05:46):
he's good, but we can't pay Chris Jones and Travis
Kelcey and Mahomes will call him that's different, call him
that is totally different. That's a quarterback. You just watch
the Niners the last two years. You'll watch their offense
gets transformed by Christian McCaffrey. I mean, you just watched
San Francisco with a star running back transform their offense.
(06:10):
It was just it was it was on TV. I
swear the Niner games were on television and the Giants
couldn't figure it out. All right, let's talk Chicago Bears.
Bears are a fascinating four win team. I can't take
my eyes off the Chicago Bears, so in a weird way,
losing in overtime to Minnesota yesterday was the best result possible.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
And let me explain.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
First of all, there's no doubt Caleb Williams is a
star on platform. Moving left, right playmaker, huge throws into
I mean there were literally non existent windows that throw
in overtime or that throw to get him to overtime
in the field goes one of the best throws of
the year. He looks like a number one pick power,
arm moves well, super accurate. I mean, I don't care
(06:56):
if it's cold, I don't care if it's Brian Flores,
the defensive coordinator. Here's the good news. Caleb Williams can play.
They got it the OC out. They still can't win
close games. Because that's the second issue and why it
was the best result possible. Caleb's legit, you know, as
as Jaden Daniels, you know, kind of comes down. He's
(07:17):
banged up. People have caught on. Caleb just gets better
and better once they got a new play caller. That's
the first thing. Don't have to worry about that. Get
the right coach. You're fine, every bit of that. Greg
co Sel said last week. This kid's an all time talent.
The second thing is, once again, if you're gonna lose
in you'r the Bears, you don't want to lose because
Caleb plays poorly. You'll want to lose because Matt Eberflus
(07:39):
is now five and eighteen in one score games. They
can't win close games. They can't win Sunday road games.
They can't win enough. Yesterday is a prime example. A
botched punt return, a blocked field goal. This was there
for the taking. Sam Darnold got hurt, they trailed in
the fourth, Caleb comes flying back in and then they
go to over time and you know what happened. Despite
(08:03):
having all the dudes, they got dude. Chicago's got dudes,
Monte's wet Jayalen Johnson, great players, Kaidan Allen was amazing yesterday,
Kayleb Williams, DJ Moore.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
They got dudes, and they got to do.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
It at quarterback and at wide receiver and the defensive
line and a top five cornerback. That's not the issue.
The issue is they can't win on the road. They
can't win close games. Everything's got to go perfect. That's
not the NFL. Yesterday, the Lions didn't play well. They
won Kansas City didn't play particularly well, and they won.
Buffalo against Miami didn't play well in one. You can't
(08:33):
just win when you play perfect, flawless football. You gotta
be able to win when everything isn't right. That's what Philadelphia,
Kansas City, Buffalo, That's what those teams do. And so
I think it's a prime example. You can look up
and go every week with the Bears circus special teams. Yesterday,
(08:58):
Caleb's good, he's not good enough to overcome eighty yards
in penalties and botched punt returns. Both of those, by
the way, both the special team snaffoos resulted in Minnesota
Vikings touchdowns. And then you get to overtime against eber
Flues and the great defense and Sam Darnold comes in
off injury, goes six for six, drives them down, big throws,
walk off field goal. So my take on this is
(09:19):
that's the way to lose. Caleb asures everybody in the building,
dude can play and iber flus once again, it's a circus.
And we said this coming into the season. I picked
the Bears to win seven games. I'm not sure if
they're gonna get there now and finished fourth place, but
you would feel I said, you'll feel better about the
team with Justin Fields, nice kid. You have really never
(09:39):
felt like he was the future at quarterback. I know
today you got the quarterback you got. Dudes, you just
don't have the right coach, the right staff. It's a
circus every week. Here's Caleb after I think we got
better on offense. We've gotten better over these past couple
of games. I think today was a testament to that.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Being decisive receivers and everybody and things like that, and
that's tough.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Now, Remember they wanted this coaching staff considered benching Caleb Williams.
You watched in the last two weeks. The last two weeks,
he's completing over seventy percent of his throws, seven and
a half yards in the tempt three hundred and forty
yards a game, one hundred passer rating. Again, Brian Flores
is considered an elite defensive coordinator who I think deserves
another head coaching job. So they were gonna bench him
(10:27):
this staff. You know, there was one of those raise
your hands if you think we should bench him. Here's
the other good news is that if you look at
this schedule, it's brutal at Detroit, at San Francisco, at Minnesota,
three straight roadies Detroit again, Seattle's playing well. I can't
figure Seattle out, but they're playing.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Well at Green Bay. So you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Another top five or six draft pick. So there's not
all bad news. You got your star, you got dudes
in the locker room. The schedule's tough, therefore you're gonna
get a great draft pick again. You got Roma Dunde,
You got Caleb Williams last year. You got a corner
I love, you got Montes Sweat, you got multiple receivers.
I like. I still think the offensive line is better
than this coaching staff can build. And and you know,
(11:09):
get right, but I mean, if you're gonna lose, that's
how you should lose, because you're gonna get a new coach.
I got nothing against the guy. You got a new
hairstyle this year.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
He hipped it up. I really have nothing against him.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
But it's just as a circus every week. And you
can't ask rookie quarterbacks, even talented ones, you know, to
hold the tent up every week as the guy getting
shot out of the cannon rips a whole of the
tent every week. Right, Jay Mack, say this for the Bears.
Very few four win teams in this league or must
(11:42):
see TV. I can't take my eyes off them.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Let's settle that it was a nice comeback there, certainly
in the fourth quarter. What down eleven with two minutes,
Leve got bon Nicks.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
You love to pivot to Bonnicks ten minutes into the
show and his first bon Knicks reference every hour.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
You're gonna be pumping this guy up.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Yeah, win over Gardner, Minshew slash Desmond Ritter. Well done,
and they got the cover for us, right, Denver delivered.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, Well, I didn't have a great weekend. Yeah, whatever,
that's the way life goes. Matt Hasselback, Colin Wright, Colin wrong.
Top of next hour.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
All right, Colin Wright, Colin wrong? On a Monday.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Here we go where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong.
Let's start with the right. Bo Nix was somebody I
liked out of Oregon a lot. Bow Nicks and his
last ten starts is seven and three with one hundred
passer rating. They beat the Raiders twenty nine to nineteen.
They are now seven and five. Yes, Sean Payton is
(12:49):
a huge component here, but bon Nicks and I said this,
I don't know if he's the best quarterback. I don't
know if he has the highest ceiling. But I do
believe bo Nicks has a chance to be the best
rookie quarterback because of the coach that he inherits.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And that's what we've seen.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Where Colin was rough, I thought the Cowboys were going
to do a soft tank, and they actually outplayed the Commanders.
Cooper Rush completed seventy five percent of his throws. I
thought the defensive game plan was smart. You saw Jayden
Daniels being flushed out of the pocket seemingly on multiple occasions.
You had a cowboy defender waiting for him. So I
(13:29):
thought Dallas had a great effort. Like Jmax said earlier,
I think Mike McCarthy is auditioning for his next job,
and I was surprised by the cowboy not only the win,
but the effort.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It was strong.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
I know it drives you nuts, but Sam Darnold's a
good quarterback. It's official. The vikings are nine and two.
Donald was six for six in overtime, came in dinged up,
made several big time throws. Listen, I know Caleb Williams
is what everybody is watching in this game. But that
was a game you could have easily lost. He's throw
into a couple of guys we don't know much about.
(14:03):
Justin Jefferson was locked down some of the afternoon by
Jalen Johnson and Sammy Darnold. Can official league play for
the nine and two vikings where Colin was raw?
Speaker 6 (14:14):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
What a shocker off a bye, Arizona could not score
a touchdown? What a mess Kyler was bad on third down,
had his worst pick as a pro, which basically gave
the game to Seattle. You know, give give McDonald and
the Seahawks defense a lot of credit. Here's the pick
for the TV viewers. That was brutal, but they just
laid a complete egg. If you're a great quarterback and
(14:38):
you've got those weapons and you're off a bye, it
cannot be no touchdowns, no rhythm, and the worst pick
of your career. That game was as shocking as any
this weekend for me.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Where Colin was right huh.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Aaron Rodgers, being a little sketchy with the truth, reportedly
resisted medical scans out of I fear the Jets would
bench him. I said, this team's not making the playoffs.
The Jets were poorly run franchise. It will eventually discombobulate,
so it's not a surprise. I also think, if you're
totally honest and you look at all these good young
(15:14):
quarterbacks in their prime, I don't think Aaron's a top
twelve quarterback. I don't even know if he's a top
fifteen quarterback. But now apparently he's intentionally avoiding the truth
because he doesn't want to get benched. I didn't think
it was going to be very good. I didn't think
it was gonna be this bad, but it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Is where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I thought Indiana would be able to move the ball
a little on Ohio State, or at least a little
more than they did. It was not competitive. They had
fifty three total yards in the first half. The Hoosiers
came in with a lot of smoke and a lot
of talk, and they just could not consistently move it.
They had special teams, gaffs. It just looked like they
weren't ready for the moment. Indiana played with a lot
(15:54):
of anxiety. They came in a little cocky, but for
the first time all year against the good opponent. I mean,
Indiana's not a bad team. They got some players and
they have a good coach. I think you have to
give Ohio State credit.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
For winning like this. I don't care they're at home.
That was a good win. That was an impressive win
by the Buckeyes.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Settle down.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Kansas City's gonna end up in the Super Bowl whether
you like it or not. Yesterday final drive, Mahomes three
for four, the thirty three yard run. They are, like
New England, the best big drive, big moment, big goal
line stand team in the league. In fact, all make
an argument. They're much better at tight end and receiver.
(16:36):
Noah Gray now second time this year he had two touchdowns.
I think they're better at a touchdown. I think Xavier
Worthy is trying to figure out what he is. I
like their receiving corps. Hollywood Brown eventually, I think comes back.
I don't think their defense is as good. This coach,
this quarterback. Take a deep breath. It's hard when you
go to back to back Super Bowls, fatigue early. But
(16:59):
if you look at mahomes last five games, he's back
to being Patrick.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Mahomes where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I'm a Kaylan de Bor fan, but this has been
the weirdest roller coaster year for Alabama. They had no
offense and I like Jalen Milroe as a mess. Now
to give Oklahoma credit, great game plan. They moved the
ball and I mean just Alabama's all over the map.
This is the fewest points BAMA has scored in twenty years.
(17:29):
It's the most losses in fourteen years. They have had
great moments this year, but on a consistent level, I
have no idea what I get getting from Kaylin de Bor,
which if you look at his college career, all he
did was win and create great offenses, and week to week,
half to half, I don't know what I'm getting from
(17:49):
Bama's offense.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I put Miami in my top ten last week even
though they were four and six. You're watching them, they
look good. This game shocked me. It's a division rivalry game. Weather,
it wasn't a factor. New England had been playing well.
Two is now seven to zero against the Patriots. He
is to the Patriots what Josh Allen is to the
Miami Dolphins. Their third straight win to of four touchdowns,
(18:14):
no picks.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I they have.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
To root now for the Chargers and Denver to lose
a little bit. But Miami's good, and we also have
to we have to be honest about this. Drake May's
good too, but he didn't look like he was the
same class as Tua To. It looked really special. Colin Wright,
Colin wrong and a Monday. And with that, Matt Hasselback,
(18:37):
lucky for us, is in studio today. As we always
feel lucky when I see it on the sheet that
eighteen years, three Pro Bowls, Matt Hasselback is joining us.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You know we all knew states.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Use look at that.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
I had some applause somewhere in there might have been
downstairs the cafeteria.
Speaker 7 (18:52):
They love me, now, you know what can I say?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
We knew Saquon would be good with philp Yeah, they
have a better ro line, they have elite receivers, safeties,
can't cheat. You knew they would be good. How surprised
are you it's this?
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah, I don't know if anybody's surprised to shoot. We
saw it in Hard Knocks, you know, they said, oh,
our worst nightmare would be if he goes and you know,
balls out for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's almost like for
the athlete, it's like an Avengers movie almost like he
was like, who he understands the assignment. Okay, I got
a new goal. Now my goal is to go ball
out for the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, for athletes, sometimes
(19:29):
you hear things like, oh, he got paid and he
was never the same. You know, a guy going into
his free agent year, he plays well, he gets paid,
gets a big contract, he's like, you know, maybe gets
a little soft, Yeah, gets a little civilized, you know,
doesn't he kind of forgets what helped.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Him get there.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
Yeah, you know, maybe his whole time in college he
was power cleaning and back squatting. Then he gets to
the league, gets paid quote unquote, and then he's into yoga.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
And stretching and pilates. You know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
This is sort of the opposite of that. To me,
this is this is a guy that feels disrespected, like, oh,
you're gonna kick me to the curb, and not in
like an animosity type way, but almost like I got
something to prove sure. And then like I just really
think like once you hear like I hope he doesn't
go ball out for the Philadelphia Eagles, Like there it is,
that's the assignment, and it took a little bit, but
(20:17):
I think it's rolling right now.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, you were one of those. I was a critic
and I said, I don't know what to make of
a Sirianni. But Sirianni did something last night when they
went to the line. Now I thought they had the
game wrapped up, but they went to the line and
the ramp jumped off side. So I thought, Okay, that's
got a little Andy Reid feel to it. That was
very clever.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, you were a.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Believer in Sirianni a month ago when a lot of
people weren't. Tell us again why.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
I've been a believer Listen, I was just like everybody else.
I saw him from a distance and I thought, who's
this hot head? Like what's he doing? And I got
to know him. I got to know him at the
league meetings in the off season, and I was like,
this guy's kind of awesome, kind of special. And I
think why it's the perfect fit there, It's because they
have an identity from owner ship all the way down,
(21:01):
like they're one of the best franchise and the aggressive
and they're aggressive, but they've got like cool as a
cucumber quarterback, never gets too high, never gets too low.
So I just think like that pairing is a really
good pairing. And and like Nick Sirianni, everyone was like
trying to jump off the bus early, like talented roster.
Speaker 7 (21:19):
But he's not the guy. I mean everybody really.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
But it is hard when you have new offensive coordinator,
a new offensive coordinator, and new defensive coordinator. It takes
time to learn your guys. So Kellen Moore in this situation,
it takes time. Like you can't just say, oh, Saquan's
a great player, so it's gonna work.
Speaker 7 (21:35):
You have to learn your guy. You have to learn
what he likes.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
I remember like we were a zone team in Seattle,
Pete Carroll's first year and Alex Gibs zone team, and
we traded for Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 7 (21:45):
He didn't love zone. He liked power.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Like the Beast Quake game, we ran zone that whole
game and he's over there on the sideline begging for
seventeen power. So it takes time to get to know
the people that you work with. I'm sure that's true
in any business. And you saw in this last game
with Saquon not every he plays a home run, but
he's a home run running back. So a lot of
times it's second and two three yards, third and three
(22:08):
four yards, but then in the second half it's a
seventy yard run.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
It's another seventy yard run.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It's an explosive and those screens are so effective.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
And really really with the the end of the game
screen game there, what he offers you now is you
can't play two man, which is man coverage with two
people helping. You can't play two man on third down
as much with the receivers. They have the runner that
their quarterback is and now screen game with Saquon like
it's Roland, but it wasn't Roland right away. I mean
(22:40):
people were dumping on this team. They were dumping on
the offense line. Oh they can't do the tush push
without Jason Kelce Like people were dumping on them, and
they just stayed the course.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
I believe. I listen. I think Philly.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
If Detroit stumbles, Philly could be the one seed. You
could get a Andy Reid versus Philly Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
If Detroit stumbles, be sure to catch live editions of
the Herd Days a noon easter, not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Yeah, I mean, I feel this is inevitable Eagles Lions
NFC Championship.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
It feels it.
Speaker 7 (23:07):
They just it feels that way. No, it feels that way, but.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Both offensive lines.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Yeah, no, it feels that way. And like that's the
safe money, but like it's not a given. This is
the NFL. People, can you can, lou you better bring
it every single week. Injuries happen, like whatever. Philly is
alive for the one seed, and like would you put
your money on Detroit, Yeah, you probably would, but like
Philly's alive, Like, just don't't forget this.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
The Rams defensive front is good. Those are all high
draft pick guys, and that old line just muled him
in the second half.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Well, the big part about it is like they committed
extra people. So if you commit extra people to the box,
to the run, and like you don't have a safety.
If you just get through that second level, you're gone.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Now.
Speaker 7 (23:48):
The other thing that people.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Don't talk about is the wide receivers are doing a
great job blocking downfield. Like if you want to talk
about explosive runs, a lot of times like that block rate,
they're probably a block in the back, but either way,
it's the good block. When you have an explosive run,
it's not just all about the running back.
Speaker 7 (24:03):
It's wide receivers.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
And you talk about some of the best run games
in the league, I promise you it's because the wide
receivers are doing their job.
Speaker 7 (24:11):
They're not just taking plays off.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So let's talk about the young guys. Let's start with
Caleb Williams. He made a throw. I mean, he made
a throw. This is the one that set up the
field goal that got them into overtime. I thought it
was the best throw today. I mean it was you know,
it was a non existent window. I came out of
that game still head scratching the coaching, the special teams.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
But I looked at him, Matt, and I was like,
there's there's a lot there.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
He's gonna have WOLWD plays. There's like no doubt. He's
a He's the first overall pick for a reason. He
puts some amazing plays on film. I just think the
consistency hasn't been there, and he's a young quarterback, Like,
why why would you expect that it is? I will
say this, though, the the coordinator change has been great
for him. You can tell he's like more comfortable, he's
more he's more confident. The play caller I don't know
(25:00):
if people know how it works, but like the play
caller calls the play into the helmet, yeah, like the
green dot thing, and you call the play and you
don't just call the play and you give a little nugget,
you know what I mean. So like you'd be like,
all right, hey we got two Jed X stagger watch
yll across fake forty. Hey you know, don't force the dagger,
you know, or or they'll say something else like hey
we got two Jed.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
I'll go like, if you like a one on one matchup,
take it. It's like that little nugget.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
It's almost like you send your kids off like they're
going out at night and you say like, hey be
on by eleven, or like you maybe say something else,
be like you know, I don't know, just like that
last reminder.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
And that's what it's like for a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
So if you have a guy that you're just like,
you're vibing with, you're on the same page.
Speaker 7 (25:38):
You see things eye to eye.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
And I've been on teams where the coordinator got fired
during the year, and what happens sometimes is like you
spend a lot of time like in the cafeteria or
wherever with somebody else, and they just if they're a
good listener, like they know what you like. You know,
Like an example would be a lot of quarterbacks, if
you're right handed, you do a bootleg to the right.
Speaker 7 (25:59):
That's an example.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And you know, maybe that's just a philosophy thing, but
maybe as a quarterback you're like, hey, I like I
can go boot leg left. I can go bootleg left.
And you're not saying it to the coordinator because it's
like just something. But if you're listening now, you know,
like now all of a sudden, you're the play caller, like, hey,
I know this quarterback likes to go boot leg left too.
Like you get to know the guy, you study your
own player. So I think that there's something positive that's
(26:20):
happening there right now.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So for a lot of rookie quarterbacks, they come in,
they're overwhelmed. Bo Nix was for two weeks, but he's
older sixty one college starts. I think the thing the
two things that jump out to me. One, he is
very confident in his arm. He is throwing the ball
down the field and accurately. Now, you know, I've seen
(26:43):
a lot of quarterbacks come in and they're like a
lot of tight end stuff, a lot of screen stuff,
a lot of bubble screen.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
And there was some of that six weeks ago. Yeah,
when I watch him now, he is going big game hunting.
He's going to the corner. And I gotta be honest,
I saw him twice live. It's like his arm's better.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Maybe it's Denver's altitude that was in Vegas, I don't know,
but it looks he is just an aggressive thrower.
Speaker 7 (27:08):
It's interesting that you say that.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
I stayed in Santa Monica here and I almost had
flashbacks to the quarterback challenge that we had here on
the beach one year, and there were some good quarterbacks,
really good quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
I'm putting myself in that category who finished.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
In the bottom half of the long distance throw and
that was bon Nicks at the combine, like bon Nicks
on the deep balls. Like it wasn't the thing, it
wasn't the strength of his game, but it is the
strength of his game.
Speaker 7 (27:31):
When you're talking real football. Like I've told you.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
Before, the deepest throw in a playbook, for the most part,
is forty eight yards from the.
Speaker 7 (27:39):
Line of scrimmage. It's the deepest throw, you know, a
go ball, and he.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Hit one yesterday against Covers, zero against Las Vegas. But
if you look at his third downs, his third down conversions,
they're all double digits, somewhere between ten yards and twenty
eight yards something like that.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
It's nineteen yards, eighteen yards, seventeen yards.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
It's just like you're saying, he is confident pushing the
ball downfield with the framework of the offense. So it's
not like a flyers up five hundred, everybody go deep,
I'm throwing a hail Mary. It's not that it's real football.
It's winning football. And you know he doesn't take sacks,
he doesn't turn the ball over, helps the defense. It's complimentary.
You mentioned the sixty something starts in college. That matters.
(28:17):
It also matters that Sean Payton's the guy. He's a
parcels guy. He's got a foundation. He's got in terms
of like an identity and a formula that works, and
then the rest of the house, not the foundation, is
the Sean Payton way. He's been there and done it before.
He's not copying somebody, he's copying your Yeah, he knows,
he knows, and he also knows, like what the quarterback
(28:39):
can handle. Now, that's a team that's playing really good football.
That's a quarterback that's playing confident and much like Brock
Purdy where people are like, oh, yeah, he's littler, he's smaller,
he can't throw the ball as far.
Speaker 7 (28:49):
Turn on the tape.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
This dude's throwing explos and explosive to me is more
than fifteen yards. You know from the line of scrimmage.
That's what he's doing. It's not a dink and dunk offense.
And he's got a relationship with Courtland Sutton. Something there
that's real. When the bullets are flying like boom, I
got my guy. And that's important for a quarterback, especially
a young one.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Is it possible Cliff Kingsbury in the summer cooks up
installs new stuff. The league sees it, and after seven
or eight weeks they catch up. It feels like some
not that it was smoking merrors, that's the wrong term,
but it feels like some of the semi gadget stuff,
like the league's seene it, Like yesterday, I felt like
Dallas had their playbook. Yeah, like Dallas knew exactly what
he was doing. That's what it feels like.
Speaker 7 (29:31):
To me, well, yeah, there's a lot going on there.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
I mean, they're not winning first down, so their third
downs are like third and seven plus. So third and
seven plus is like the worst, it's the only thing
worse is third and eleven plus, you know. And so like,
you know, I think they're oh for eight on third down.
But to me, when someone's over eight on third down,
that means you're losing on first and second down, and
that's that's really where the game can be won or lost.
Speaker 7 (29:51):
But no, I mean, I think this is a team
that hasn't had their buy.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
So typically what people do in the buy the players
are off and the coachers coaches get to do a
self scout.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
What are we given away? Because it takes.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Everything to come up with a game plan during the week,
but that week of a bye having a self scout, like, oh, shoot,
do you realize that you know on third and seven
to ten that this is what we do every time
we get cover zero, we're going we're doing this, or
even like you can.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
Scout the quarterback.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
Hey, when this guy feels any up the middle pressure,
he's gonna bootleg. He's gonna scramble to his right, not
his left. So now you just tell the defensive end
on that side, like, hey, I'm third down. When we
bring inside pressure, we don't really want you pass rushing.
We want you to keep him on your shoulder and
don't let him outside the pocket, you know. Like so
it's like a very game plan specific thing for your
(30:39):
defense but also the opponent. And so I think they'll
be okay. I think they'll get it figured out. But
that was an example yesterday of a team that really
lost on first and second down, and it hurt him
on third.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
So I said this with the Niners. Everybody. Rebuilding's hard
in the NFL. But as Houston has shown, or or
by the way rebuilding a staff with the Chargers, you
can do things quickly in this league. It's not the
it's not baseball where you need two hundred and fifty million.
It's not the NBA where you need a transformational star.
Sean McVay turned around the Rams Harbaugh staff, turned around
(31:14):
the Chargers uh C. J. Stroud, Demiko Ryan's Bobby Sloweck
turned around the Texans. I you know, it's funny when
I look at San Francisco, I think sometimes it's it's
a difficult rebuild when you're you've had recent success. You
got really old and expensive fast, and not everybody in
the room thinks it's a rebuild. When I watch San Francisco,
(31:35):
they're five and seven in their last twelve, I would
pay party, but the number would have to be right.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Trent Williams is an easy one. He's old.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
I'm keeping Bosa, but you start looking around thinking Greenlaw Warner.
The Ravens moved off a great linebacker. I you probably
wouldn't pay him. Deebo's not available a lot. I would
reboot it would I would take big swings and move
off people get more draft picks. But it's hard when
(32:05):
you're going to Super Bowls every other year? What do
you do if you're the Niners.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
No, these are tough things, but they've got good players.
That's why I would say that I trust John Lynch.
I trust John Lynch, I trust Kyle Shanahan. I think
they have a plan, and I think that Brock Purdy
is undervalued.
Speaker 7 (32:19):
I mean, you saw it yesterday. Like we almost don't
talk about it.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
We're like, oh, the Niners look terrible, Like they didn't
have Rock Purty, Like if the Bills didn't He's there
Josh Allen, Like, it might not look the same.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
He doesn't put a cape on like Superman.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
It's a little more Clark Kent, I get it, you
know what I mean, But it's still legit. And when
he's not out there, they're a very different team. So,
and I would say this about like the forty nine
ers in the NFC West. Yeah, there's no great team
in the NFC West right now, there's also no bad
team And so like that parody in there, that makes
it tough. Last time I was here, the Seahawks were
in last place in the division.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
First.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Now I was here just here recently, yea, yeah, and
it could be different two weeks from now. So what
will happen here? And this reminds me of Pete Carroll's
first year in the NFC West in twenty ten when
he was there and I was the quarterback. We went
seven and nine and won the division, and Pete did
a great job of explaining to everybody we are no
longer seven and nine. So, like it or not, one
(33:12):
of these teams in the NFC West is going to
win the division. They're gonna host play a playoff game
and then it's zero and zero, like we're all it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Matter the team you like.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
What's that any team you like? I thought I liked
Arizona till yesterday.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
That listen.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
I still think Arizona has the what it takes it's
gonna take to win. They have a run game, they
have good defense, they have a quarterback that's usually a
very good player. There was a few things going on
right there. Okay, the Seattle Seahawk FA, the twelves. They
came to life. They hasn't been that way this season.
They came to life yesterday. It was bad weather. This
is Arizona. They're also coming off a buy that can
(33:47):
do funny things to people. To buy you get out
of a rhythm. He he had a very uneven game,
like Kyler, like he's usually very good. The speed and
the athleticism of that defense was sort of like neutralizing him.
But if they get back to running the ball, I
think everyone's got a chance. Like everyone's got a chance.
So I just that's probably the thing. Like in these
(34:08):
other divisions, like say you're in the NFC East, there's
teams like the Giants that have literally packed it in,
like they have packed it in. You've got teams like
Dallas that like, at some point here they're gonna be
pillaging people off of practice squads and building their roster
for next year. This thing in the NFC West is
going down to the wire. So I think you're going
to get a time to like a battle tested team
(34:28):
at the end that you're not gonna want to play.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
You come from a very close knit family. Tonight, Jim
Harbaugh takes on John Harbaugh. Do you think this is
something they enjoy?
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Listen, anybody that comes from like a family like that,
you know, like you get along and you would do
anything for your brother. You would take a bullet for
your brother. But in the family, when it's family on family,
what is it. It's it's kicking, clawing, fighting. Like me,
I have three boys in my family. My brother Tim's
the one that people know the best. We fought all
(35:00):
the time. It always ended the same thing, Tim middlechild,
come up crying to mom and.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Dad completing you know what I mean?
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Always the same. You know that's what it's going to
be tonight. I think it's going to be a throwback
brotherly rivalry. John's never beat Jim.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I love them both and they're both different.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
They're so different so like it's almost like you guys
to say, you're like, really you must be cousins, not
like not brothers. Right, but this is a game, like
if you're going to like tune into a game this
season for like that kind of a storyline, like this
is the game for me?
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Can I tell you a hardball story? So we had
a very rocky beginning. I was terrible during an interview.
I was just terrible and it didn't end well. And
then he came back on my show and I just said, hey,
I apologize. I was terrible, and he's like, no, I
was terrible, and I'm like, no, I was worse. So
now he leaves me not so he leaves notes when
it comes so about it was during this past season
(35:54):
where we really hit it off. So I was defending
the Connor Stallion stuff and I and I went on
and I just said, folks, he's one of the five
best coaches arguably we've ever seen college pro.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
He turns everything over overnight.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
And I just went on and on and this hardball
ran as the world was taking shots at him.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
His dad apparently heard it.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
I get this call. Hey, it's je Harball. My dad says,
you say really nice things about me. I want you
to know, I said, coach, you never have to call me.
You know, I think the world of you. I apologize again.
You don't have to apologize for that was terrible, that interview.
And so now we've struck a really nice balance. And
then he came on two weeks ago and during the
interview he's like, I'll just stay here all hour. You're
(36:37):
trying to bum rush man. I'm like the coach I
got commercials. So what's funny is his intensity at first
is a little alarming. Now I find it so fascinating.
He's like my favorite coach in the world. Now, yeah,
I just there's something about.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
Well, let me tell you who this game's not going
to be fun for is the parents, you know. And
I remember going head to head with my brother Tim.
Tim was on when he was on the Eagles, we
play I was in Seattle, we play on the Giants,
and my parents were torn. And now Tim's the middle child,
so like he always feels neglected.
Speaker 7 (37:07):
And whatever, whatever, you know.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
But I remember we played the Giants out in Seattle
and it was a great game. Giants jumped off sides
a bunch of times. It was like a kind of
a historic game for us out there, and like I
throw a touchdown and Tim's on the sideline for the Giants,
and he look up to the suite and see my parents.
They're like cheering, they're high five and whatever. And then
I like, he tells this story, he remembers Eli Manning,
drops back and throws the touchdown to Jeremy Shockey and
like the Giant sideline's going nuts, and Tim's like, yeah,
(37:30):
all right, and he looks up at my parents.
Speaker 7 (37:32):
No one's clapping, no one's cheering, you know. It's like
like he's kind of like giving it.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
To my mom and dad about that, right, So I think, like,
no matter what's going on here, Like maybe the you know,
the Hardballs are sort of like secretly rooting for Gym
because he's never beaten John or like who knows what.
But like the parents, you have to at least act
like you're fifty to fifty for both.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
You know.
Speaker 7 (37:53):
I gotta pretend, Yeah, you gotta pretend, right.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
I think I think the Chargers are really found their footing.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
I think I like them tonight.
Speaker 7 (38:02):
But Lamar, it's a home game. It's the home game.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Yeah, maybe it's not always a home game for the Chargers,
but Baltimore doesn't travel like the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, so I think this.
Speaker 5 (38:12):
Game's a little bit like Burrow versus Herbert last week.
It was like, you know, the game plans, the game plan,
but you have two of the game's great quarterbacks going
head to head, and like for that reason, like Lamar's
as good as it gets. Herbert doesn't get the credit,
but he's as good as it gets. Like this is
just one of those games almost like who has the
ball ass.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
That's how I feel it will be. Matt hassel Bet,
great meet and your daughter. Good stuff today, my man. Yeah,
you crushed 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):
Oh, it is a Monday, lots and lots to discuss. Thanksgiving,
of course is Thursday. So on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday week
for us one hour from now.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
On Monday, it was a weird, weird weekend college and
pro football. Big time college football teams went on the
road and all melted in the NFL yesterday underdogs.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Some did great, some were overwhelmed.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Say Mac, what we watched last night an all time
performance by one of the nicer guys in the league.
All he ever wanted to be was a New York Giant,
and they let him go to a rival. It was
that was an all time performance.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Didn't we say this summer that he could have the
same impact that McCaffrey had on the Niners and he's
doing the same thing, Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I'm so yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I mean last year, remember the Eagles melted down right
and it's pretty much the same team. They made some
upgrades in this secondary. They got a nice cornerback from Toledo,
but they brought in one great player and Saquon Barkley
from the New York Giants to the rival Eagles has
got a Babe Ruth red Sox to the Yankees feel
to it. I mean, that's what it felt like last night.
(01:40):
Are the Giants going to be cursed for one hundred
years the last ten they have been? Saquon now is
averaging more yards of carry as he went for two
fifty five last night, then the Giants are yards per pass.
He's going to break the all time potential record for
a running back in one season scrimmage yards rushing record
put on a clinic last night is about a year
(02:01):
ago we were lamenting that running backs just weren't getting
paid and didn't have an impact.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, the truth is they're.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Not usually as valuable as quarterbacks or left tackles or
pass rushers, or these days, due to rule changes, they're
not as valuable as a Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson.
But there are exceptions Christian McCaffrey the previous two years
and Saquon Barkley with the Philadelphia Eagles. And by the way,
(02:28):
not all front offices are equal.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Nine know that, but some are playing chess the Eagles,
and some are playing candy crush the Giants. We knew
Saquon would be better because the Giants had a bad
O line and Saquon was great, and they have a
bad quarterback and Saquon was great, and the Eagles are
(02:51):
above average at both. In fact, I'd argue their O
lines the second best in the sport to the Lions.
We also knew that the Lions are Excuse me, the
Giant didn't have any star receivers during bait sae Quon's run,
so therefore opposing safeties can cheat getting the buck. So
the Giants had a bad quarterback, a battle line, no
star receivers, you could cheat. When Sae Kwon was with
(03:15):
the Giants, you could cheat and you still struggle to
stop him. Now you go to a team with two
great receivers, an excellent quarterback, the second best NO line
in football, and yet it feels like, I mean, you're watching,
it looks like he's faster, he's more elusive. So I mean,
we all knew it was gonna work. I mean, that
thing last that was one of the four or five
best running back performances I've seen in my entire life
(03:38):
from a guy that just was classy. His teammates loved him,
the fans loved him. All he ever wanted to be
was a New York Giant. And remember the quote this
offseason from Joe Shane the New York Giants GM. Remember
that quote. He said, we're not paying Daniel Jones forty
million dollars to hand off to a twelve.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Million dollar running back?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Why not? I mean, Philadelphia is Jalen Hurts fifty one
million to hand off to him? Seems like it's working.
You can't have an expensive running back and expensive quarterback.
You can't if they're Jalen Hurts in Saquon Barkley. I mean,
if I was Cincinnati, I'd pay for Joe Burrow, Jamar
Chase and t Higgins.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
They pay Cooper Cup and Matt Stafford, and they're gonna
pay Pooka in a couple of years. Why can't you
do that? It's an offensive league. So Joe Shane is,
Daniel Jones is gone. It's time for Joe Shane hit
the road. I mean, this is bab rue stuff. And
we all knew it was gonna work. What I watched
last night is we now have four teams that can
(04:42):
hoist a Super Bowl trophy. We knew Kansas City and
Buffalo felt like it. We knew Detroit dominating. People felt
like it. Just throw in Philadelphia, Just throw in Philadelphia
because that was an all timer last night. And couldn't
have him to a nicer guy. Not happened to a
nicer guy. All he ever wanted to be was a giant.
(05:03):
All he ever wanted to do was where the New
York Giants blew. Fans loved him, teammates loved him. We
all got it. Like memo to general managers, if you
have a player with a bad O line and a
bad quarterback who is flourishing, he could be a wide receiver,
he could be a tight end, he could be a
running back. You don't give him to the rival team
(05:25):
with arguably a great quarterback and the second best OH
line and star receivers. If you couldn't see this thing
coming from a mile away. You should not be the
general manager of the New York Football Giants. I mean, honestly,
it's it is just insane. Can you imagine the Chargers
getting Mahomes in Kansas City's saying, you know, we know
(05:46):
he's good, but we can't pay Chris Jones and Travis
Kelcey and Mahomes will call him that's different, call him
that is totally different. That's a quarterback. You just watch
the Niners the last two years. You'll watch their offense
gets transformed by Christian McCaffrey. I mean, you just watched
San Francisco with a star running back transform their offense.
(06:10):
It was just it was it was on TV. I
swear the Niner games were on television and the Giants
couldn't figure it out. All right, let's talk Chicago Bears.
Bears are a fascinating four win team. I can't take
my eyes off the Chicago Bears, so in a weird way,
losing in overtime to Minnesota yesterday was the best result possible.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
And let me explain.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
First of all, there's no doubt Caleb Williams is a
star on platform. Moving left, right playmaker, huge throws into
I mean there were literally non existent windows that throw
in overtime or that throw to get him to overtime
in the field goes one of the best throws of
the year. He looks like a number one pick power,
arm moves well, super accurate. I mean, I don't care
(06:56):
if it's cold, I don't care if it's Brian Flores,
the defensive coordinator. Here's the good news. Caleb Williams can play.
They got it the OC out. They still can't win
close games. Because that's the second issue and why it
was the best result possible. Caleb's legit, you know, as
as Jaden Daniels, you know, kind of comes down. He's
(07:17):
banged up. People have caught on. Caleb just gets better
and better once they got a new play caller. That's
the first thing. Don't have to worry about that. Get
the right coach. You're fine, every bit of that. Greg
co Sel said last week. This kid's an all time talent.
The second thing is, once again, if you're gonna lose
in you'r the Bears, you don't want to lose because
Caleb plays poorly. You'll want to lose because Matt Eberflus
(07:39):
is now five and eighteen in one score games. They
can't win close games. They can't win Sunday road games.
They can't win enough. Yesterday is a prime example. A
botched punt return, a blocked field goal. This was there
for the taking. Sam Darnold got hurt, they trailed in
the fourth, Caleb comes flying back in and then they
go to over time and you know what happened. Despite
(08:03):
having all the dudes, they got dude. Chicago's got dudes,
Monte's wet Jayalen Johnson, great players, Kaidan Allen was amazing yesterday,
Kayleb Williams, DJ Moore.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
They got dudes, and they got to do.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
It at quarterback and at wide receiver and the defensive
line and a top five cornerback. That's not the issue.
The issue is they can't win on the road. They
can't win close games. Everything's got to go perfect. That's
not the NFL. Yesterday, the Lions didn't play well. They
won Kansas City didn't play particularly well, and they won.
Buffalo against Miami didn't play well in one. You can't
(08:33):
just win when you play perfect, flawless football. You gotta
be able to win when everything isn't right. That's what Philadelphia,
Kansas City, Buffalo, That's what those teams do. And so
I think it's a prime example. You can look up
and go every week with the Bears circus special teams. Yesterday,
(08:58):
Caleb's good, he's not good enough to overcome eighty yards
in penalties and botched punt returns. Both of those, by
the way, both the special team snaffoos resulted in Minnesota
Vikings touchdowns. And then you get to overtime against eber
Flues and the great defense and Sam Darnold comes in
off injury, goes six for six, drives them down, big throws,
walk off field goal. So my take on this is
(09:19):
that's the way to lose. Caleb asures everybody in the building,
dude can play and iber flus once again, it's a circus.
And we said this coming into the season. I picked
the Bears to win seven games. I'm not sure if
they're gonna get there now and finished fourth place, but
you would feel I said, you'll feel better about the
team with Justin Fields, nice kid. You have really never
(09:39):
felt like he was the future at quarterback. I know
today you got the quarterback you got. Dudes, you just
don't have the right coach, the right staff. It's a
circus every week. Here's Caleb after I think we got
better on offense. We've gotten better over these past couple
of games. I think today was a testament to that.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Being decisive receivers and everybody and things like that, and
that's tough.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Now, Remember they wanted this coaching staff considered benching Caleb Williams.
You watched in the last two weeks. The last two weeks,
he's completing over seventy percent of his throws, seven and
a half yards in the tempt three hundred and forty
yards a game, one hundred passer rating. Again, Brian Flores
is considered an elite defensive coordinator who I think deserves
another head coaching job. So they were gonna bench him
(10:27):
this staff. You know, there was one of those raise
your hands if you think we should bench him. Here's
the other good news is that if you look at
this schedule, it's brutal at Detroit, at San Francisco, at Minnesota,
three straight roadies Detroit again, Seattle's playing well. I can't
figure Seattle out, but they're playing.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Well at Green Bay. So you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Another top five or six draft pick. So there's not
all bad news. You got your star, you got dudes
in the locker room. The schedule's tough, therefore you're gonna
get a great draft pick again. You got Roma Dunde,
You got Caleb Williams last year. You got a corner
I love, you got Montes Sweat, you got multiple receivers.
I like. I still think the offensive line is better
than this coaching staff can build. And and you know,
(11:09):
get right, but I mean, if you're gonna lose, that's
how you should lose, because you're gonna get a new coach.
I got nothing against the guy. You got a new
hairstyle this year.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
He hipped it up. I really have nothing against him.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
But it's just as a circus every week. And you
can't ask rookie quarterbacks, even talented ones, you know, to
hold the tent up every week as the guy getting
shot out of the cannon rips a whole of the
tent every week. Right, Jay Mack, say this for the Bears.
Very few four win teams in this league or must
(11:42):
see TV. I can't take my eyes off them.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Let's settle that it was a nice comeback there, certainly
in the fourth quarter. What down eleven with two minutes,
Leve got bon Nicks.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
You love to pivot to Bonnicks ten minutes into the
show and his first bon Knicks reference every hour.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
You're gonna be pumping this guy up.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Yeah, win over Gardner, Minshew slash Desmond Ritter. Well done,
and they got the cover for us, right, Denver delivered.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, Well, I didn't have a great weekend. Yeah, whatever,
that's the way life goes. Matt Hasselback, Colin Wright, Colin wrong.
Top of next hour.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
All right, Colin Wright, Colin wrong? On a Monday.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Here we go where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong.
Let's start with the right. Bo Nix was somebody I
liked out of Oregon a lot. Bow Nicks and his
last ten starts is seven and three with one hundred
passer rating. They beat the Raiders twenty nine to nineteen.
They are now seven and five. Yes, Sean Payton is
(12:49):
a huge component here, but bon Nicks and I said this,
I don't know if he's the best quarterback. I don't
know if he has the highest ceiling. But I do
believe bo Nicks has a chance to be the best
rookie quarterback because of the coach that he inherits.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And that's what we've seen.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Where Colin was rough, I thought the Cowboys were going
to do a soft tank, and they actually outplayed the Commanders.
Cooper Rush completed seventy five percent of his throws. I
thought the defensive game plan was smart. You saw Jayden
Daniels being flushed out of the pocket seemingly on multiple occasions.
You had a cowboy defender waiting for him. So I
(13:29):
thought Dallas had a great effort. Like Jmax said earlier,
I think Mike McCarthy is auditioning for his next job,
and I was surprised by the cowboy not only the win,
but the effort.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It was strong.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
I know it drives you nuts, but Sam Darnold's a
good quarterback. It's official. The vikings are nine and two.
Donald was six for six in overtime, came in dinged up,
made several big time throws. Listen, I know Caleb Williams
is what everybody is watching in this game. But that
was a game you could have easily lost. He's throw
into a couple of guys we don't know much about.
(14:03):
Justin Jefferson was locked down some of the afternoon by
Jalen Johnson and Sammy Darnold. Can official league play for
the nine and two vikings where Colin was raw?
Speaker 6 (14:14):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
What a shocker off a bye, Arizona could not score
a touchdown? What a mess Kyler was bad on third down,
had his worst pick as a pro, which basically gave
the game to Seattle. You know, give give McDonald and
the Seahawks defense a lot of credit. Here's the pick
for the TV viewers. That was brutal, but they just
laid a complete egg. If you're a great quarterback and
(14:38):
you've got those weapons and you're off a bye, it
cannot be no touchdowns, no rhythm, and the worst pick
of your career. That game was as shocking as any
this weekend for me.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Where Colin was right huh.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Aaron Rodgers, being a little sketchy with the truth, reportedly
resisted medical scans out of I fear the Jets would
bench him. I said, this team's not making the playoffs.
The Jets were poorly run franchise. It will eventually discombobulate,
so it's not a surprise. I also think, if you're
totally honest and you look at all these good young
(15:14):
quarterbacks in their prime, I don't think Aaron's a top
twelve quarterback. I don't even know if he's a top
fifteen quarterback. But now apparently he's intentionally avoiding the truth
because he doesn't want to get benched. I didn't think
it was going to be very good. I didn't think
it was gonna be this bad, but it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Is where Colin was wrong.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I thought Indiana would be able to move the ball
a little on Ohio State, or at least a little
more than they did. It was not competitive. They had
fifty three total yards in the first half. The Hoosiers
came in with a lot of smoke and a lot
of talk, and they just could not consistently move it.
They had special teams, gaffs. It just looked like they
weren't ready for the moment. Indiana played with a lot
(15:54):
of anxiety. They came in a little cocky, but for
the first time all year against the good opponent. I mean,
Indiana's not a bad team. They got some players and
they have a good coach. I think you have to
give Ohio State credit.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
For winning like this. I don't care they're at home.
That was a good win. That was an impressive win
by the Buckeyes.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Settle down.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Kansas City's gonna end up in the Super Bowl whether
you like it or not. Yesterday final drive, Mahomes three
for four, the thirty three yard run. They are, like
New England, the best big drive, big moment, big goal
line stand team in the league. In fact, all make
an argument. They're much better at tight end and receiver.
(16:36):
Noah Gray now second time this year he had two touchdowns.
I think they're better at a touchdown. I think Xavier
Worthy is trying to figure out what he is. I
like their receiving corps. Hollywood Brown eventually, I think comes back.
I don't think their defense is as good. This coach,
this quarterback. Take a deep breath. It's hard when you
go to back to back Super Bowls, fatigue early. But
(16:59):
if you look at mahomes last five games, he's back
to being Patrick.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Mahomes where Colin was raw.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I'm a Kaylan de Bor fan, but this has been
the weirdest roller coaster year for Alabama. They had no
offense and I like Jalen Milroe as a mess. Now
to give Oklahoma credit, great game plan. They moved the
ball and I mean just Alabama's all over the map.
This is the fewest points BAMA has scored in twenty years.
(17:29):
It's the most losses in fourteen years. They have had
great moments this year, but on a consistent level, I
have no idea what I get getting from Kaylin de Bor,
which if you look at his college career, all he
did was win and create great offenses, and week to week,
half to half, I don't know what I'm getting from
(17:49):
Bama's offense.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I put Miami in my top ten last week even
though they were four and six. You're watching them, they
look good. This game shocked me. It's a division rivalry game. Weather,
it wasn't a factor. New England had been playing well.
Two is now seven to zero against the Patriots. He
is to the Patriots what Josh Allen is to the
Miami Dolphins. Their third straight win to of four touchdowns,
(18:14):
no picks.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I they have.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
To root now for the Chargers and Denver to lose
a little bit. But Miami's good, and we also have
to we have to be honest about this. Drake May's
good too, but he didn't look like he was the
same class as Tua To. It looked really special. Colin Wright,
Colin wrong and a Monday. And with that, Matt Hasselback,
(18:37):
lucky for us, is in studio today. As we always
feel lucky when I see it on the sheet that
eighteen years, three Pro Bowls, Matt Hasselback is joining us.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You know we all knew states.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Use look at that.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
I had some applause somewhere in there might have been
downstairs the cafeteria.
Speaker 7 (18:52):
They love me, now, you know what can I say?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
We knew Saquon would be good with philp Yeah, they
have a better ro line, they have elite receivers, safeties,
can't cheat. You knew they would be good. How surprised
are you it's this?
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah, I don't know if anybody's surprised to shoot. We
saw it in Hard Knocks, you know, they said, oh,
our worst nightmare would be if he goes and you know,
balls out for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's almost like for
the athlete, it's like an Avengers movie almost like he
was like, who he understands the assignment. Okay, I got
a new goal. Now my goal is to go ball
out for the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, for athletes, sometimes
(19:29):
you hear things like, oh, he got paid and he
was never the same. You know, a guy going into
his free agent year, he plays well, he gets paid,
gets a big contract, he's like, you know, maybe gets
a little soft, Yeah, gets a little civilized, you know,
doesn't he kind of forgets what helped.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Him get there.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
Yeah, you know, maybe his whole time in college he
was power cleaning and back squatting. Then he gets to
the league, gets paid quote unquote, and then he's into yoga.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
And stretching and pilates. You know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
This is sort of the opposite of that. To me,
this is this is a guy that feels disrespected, like, oh,
you're gonna kick me to the curb, and not in
like an animosity type way, but almost like I got
something to prove sure. And then like I just really
think like once you hear like I hope he doesn't
go ball out for the Philadelphia Eagles, Like there it is,
that's the assignment, and it took a little bit, but
(20:17):
I think it's rolling right now.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, you were one of those. I was a critic
and I said, I don't know what to make of
a Sirianni. But Sirianni did something last night when they
went to the line. Now I thought they had the
game wrapped up, but they went to the line and
the ramp jumped off side. So I thought, Okay, that's
got a little Andy Reid feel to it. That was
very clever.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, you were a.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Believer in Sirianni a month ago when a lot of
people weren't. Tell us again why.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
I've been a believer Listen, I was just like everybody else.
I saw him from a distance and I thought, who's
this hot head? Like what's he doing? And I got
to know him. I got to know him at the
league meetings in the off season, and I was like,
this guy's kind of awesome, kind of special. And I
think why it's the perfect fit there, It's because they
have an identity from owner ship all the way down,
(21:01):
like they're one of the best franchise and the aggressive
and they're aggressive, but they've got like cool as a
cucumber quarterback, never gets too high, never gets too low.
So I just think like that pairing is a really
good pairing. And and like Nick Sirianni, everyone was like
trying to jump off the bus early, like talented roster.
Speaker 7 (21:19):
But he's not the guy. I mean everybody really.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
But it is hard when you have new offensive coordinator,
a new offensive coordinator, and new defensive coordinator. It takes
time to learn your guys. So Kellen Moore in this situation,
it takes time. Like you can't just say, oh, Saquan's
a great player, so it's gonna work.
Speaker 7 (21:35):
You have to learn your guy. You have to learn
what he likes.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
I remember like we were a zone team in Seattle,
Pete Carroll's first year and Alex Gibs zone team, and
we traded for Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 7 (21:45):
He didn't love zone. He liked power.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Like the Beast Quake game, we ran zone that whole
game and he's over there on the sideline begging for
seventeen power. So it takes time to get to know
the people that you work with. I'm sure that's true
in any business. And you saw in this last game
with Saquon not every he plays a home run, but
he's a home run running back. So a lot of
times it's second and two three yards, third and three
(22:08):
four yards, but then in the second half it's a
seventy yard run.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
It's another seventy yard run.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It's an explosive and those screens are so effective.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
And really really with the the end of the game
screen game there, what he offers you now is you
can't play two man, which is man coverage with two
people helping. You can't play two man on third down
as much with the receivers. They have the runner that
their quarterback is and now screen game with Saquon like
it's Roland, but it wasn't Roland right away. I mean
(22:40):
people were dumping on this team. They were dumping on
the offense line. Oh they can't do the tush push
without Jason Kelce Like people were dumping on them, and
they just stayed the course.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
I believe. I listen. I think Philly.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
If Detroit stumbles, Philly could be the one seed. You
could get a Andy Reid versus Philly Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
If Detroit stumbles, be sure to catch live editions of
the Herd Days a noon easter, not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Yeah, I mean, I feel this is inevitable Eagles Lions
NFC Championship.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
It feels it.
Speaker 7 (23:07):
They just it feels that way. No, it feels that way, but.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Both offensive lines.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Yeah, no, it feels that way. And like that's the
safe money, but like it's not a given. This is
the NFL. People, can you can, lou you better bring
it every single week. Injuries happen, like whatever. Philly is
alive for the one seed, and like would you put
your money on Detroit, Yeah, you probably would, but like
Philly's alive, Like, just don't't forget this.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
The Rams defensive front is good. Those are all high
draft pick guys, and that old line just muled him
in the second half.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Well, the big part about it is like they committed
extra people. So if you commit extra people to the box,
to the run, and like you don't have a safety.
If you just get through that second level, you're gone.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Now.
Speaker 7 (23:48):
The other thing that people.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Don't talk about is the wide receivers are doing a
great job blocking downfield. Like if you want to talk
about explosive runs, a lot of times like that block rate,
they're probably a block in the back, but either way,
it's the good block. When you have an explosive run,
it's not just all about the running back.
Speaker 7 (24:03):
It's wide receivers.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
And you talk about some of the best run games
in the league, I promise you it's because the wide
receivers are doing their job.
Speaker 7 (24:11):
They're not just taking plays off.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So let's talk about the young guys. Let's start with
Caleb Williams. He made a throw. I mean, he made
a throw. This is the one that set up the
field goal that got them into overtime. I thought it
was the best throw today. I mean it was you know,
it was a non existent window. I came out of
that game still head scratching the coaching, the special teams.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
But I looked at him, Matt, and I was like,
there's there's a lot there.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
He's gonna have WOLWD plays. There's like no doubt. He's
a He's the first overall pick for a reason. He
puts some amazing plays on film. I just think the
consistency hasn't been there, and he's a young quarterback, Like,
why why would you expect that it is? I will
say this, though, the the coordinator change has been great
for him. You can tell he's like more comfortable, he's
more he's more confident. The play caller I don't know
(25:00):
if people know how it works, but like the play
caller calls the play into the helmet, yeah, like the
green dot thing, and you call the play and you
don't just call the play and you give a little nugget,
you know what I mean. So like you'd be like,
all right, hey we got two Jed X stagger watch
yll across fake forty. Hey you know, don't force the dagger,
you know, or or they'll say something else like hey
we got two Jed.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
I'll go like, if you like a one on one matchup,
take it. It's like that little nugget.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
It's almost like you send your kids off like they're
going out at night and you say like, hey be
on by eleven, or like you maybe say something else,
be like you know, I don't know, just like that
last reminder.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
And that's what it's like for a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
So if you have a guy that you're just like,
you're vibing with, you're on the same page.
Speaker 7 (25:38):
You see things eye to eye.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
And I've been on teams where the coordinator got fired
during the year, and what happens sometimes is like you
spend a lot of time like in the cafeteria or
wherever with somebody else, and they just if they're a
good listener, like they know what you like. You know,
Like an example would be a lot of quarterbacks, if
you're right handed, you do a bootleg to the right.
Speaker 7 (25:59):
That's an example.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And you know, maybe that's just a philosophy thing, but
maybe as a quarterback you're like, hey, I like I
can go boot leg left. I can go bootleg left.
And you're not saying it to the coordinator because it's
like just something. But if you're listening now, you know,
like now all of a sudden, you're the play caller, like, hey,
I know this quarterback likes to go boot leg left too.
Like you get to know the guy, you study your
own player. So I think that there's something positive that's
(26:20):
happening there right now.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So for a lot of rookie quarterbacks, they come in,
they're overwhelmed. Bo Nix was for two weeks, but he's
older sixty one college starts. I think the thing the
two things that jump out to me. One, he is
very confident in his arm. He is throwing the ball
down the field and accurately. Now, you know, I've seen
(26:43):
a lot of quarterbacks come in and they're like a
lot of tight end stuff, a lot of screen stuff,
a lot of bubble screen.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
And there was some of that six weeks ago. Yeah,
when I watch him now, he is going big game hunting.
He's going to the corner. And I gotta be honest,
I saw him twice live. It's like his arm's better.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Maybe it's Denver's altitude that was in Vegas, I don't know,
but it looks he is just an aggressive thrower.
Speaker 7 (27:08):
It's interesting that you say that.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
I stayed in Santa Monica here and I almost had
flashbacks to the quarterback challenge that we had here on
the beach one year, and there were some good quarterbacks,
really good quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
I'm putting myself in that category who finished.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
In the bottom half of the long distance throw and
that was bon Nicks at the combine, like bon Nicks
on the deep balls. Like it wasn't the thing, it
wasn't the strength of his game, but it is the
strength of his game.
Speaker 7 (27:31):
When you're talking real football. Like I've told you.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
Before, the deepest throw in a playbook, for the most part,
is forty eight yards from the.
Speaker 7 (27:39):
Line of scrimmage. It's the deepest throw, you know, a
go ball, and he.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Hit one yesterday against Covers, zero against Las Vegas. But
if you look at his third downs, his third down conversions,
they're all double digits, somewhere between ten yards and twenty
eight yards something like that.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
It's nineteen yards, eighteen yards, seventeen yards.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
It's just like you're saying, he is confident pushing the
ball downfield with the framework of the offense. So it's
not like a flyers up five hundred, everybody go deep,
I'm throwing a hail Mary. It's not that it's real football.
It's winning football. And you know he doesn't take sacks,
he doesn't turn the ball over, helps the defense. It's complimentary.
You mentioned the sixty something starts in college. That matters.
(28:17):
It also matters that Sean Payton's the guy. He's a
parcels guy. He's got a foundation. He's got in terms
of like an identity and a formula that works, and
then the rest of the house, not the foundation, is
the Sean Payton way. He's been there and done it before.
He's not copying somebody, he's copying your Yeah, he knows,
he knows, and he also knows, like what the quarterback
(28:39):
can handle. Now, that's a team that's playing really good football.
That's a quarterback that's playing confident and much like Brock
Purdy where people are like, oh, yeah, he's littler, he's smaller,
he can't throw the ball as far.
Speaker 7 (28:49):
Turn on the tape.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
This dude's throwing explos and explosive to me is more
than fifteen yards. You know from the line of scrimmage.
That's what he's doing. It's not a dink and dunk offense.
And he's got a relationship with Courtland Sutton. Something there
that's real. When the bullets are flying like boom, I
got my guy. And that's important for a quarterback, especially
a young one.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Is it possible Cliff Kingsbury in the summer cooks up
installs new stuff. The league sees it, and after seven
or eight weeks they catch up. It feels like some
not that it was smoking merrors, that's the wrong term,
but it feels like some of the semi gadget stuff,
like the league's seene it, Like yesterday, I felt like
Dallas had their playbook. Yeah, like Dallas knew exactly what
he was doing. That's what it feels like.
Speaker 7 (29:31):
To me, well, yeah, there's a lot going on there.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
I mean, they're not winning first down, so their third
downs are like third and seven plus. So third and
seven plus is like the worst, it's the only thing
worse is third and eleven plus, you know. And so like,
you know, I think they're oh for eight on third down.
But to me, when someone's over eight on third down,
that means you're losing on first and second down, and
that's that's really where the game can be won or lost.
Speaker 7 (29:51):
But no, I mean, I think this is a team
that hasn't had their buy.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
So typically what people do in the buy the players
are off and the coachers coaches get to do a
self scout.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
What are we given away? Because it takes.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Everything to come up with a game plan during the week,
but that week of a bye having a self scout, like, oh, shoot,
do you realize that you know on third and seven
to ten that this is what we do every time
we get cover zero, we're going we're doing this, or
even like you can.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
Scout the quarterback.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
Hey, when this guy feels any up the middle pressure,
he's gonna bootleg. He's gonna scramble to his right, not
his left. So now you just tell the defensive end
on that side, like, hey, I'm third down. When we
bring inside pressure, we don't really want you pass rushing.
We want you to keep him on your shoulder and
don't let him outside the pocket, you know. Like so
it's like a very game plan specific thing for your
(30:39):
defense but also the opponent. And so I think they'll
be okay. I think they'll get it figured out. But
that was an example yesterday of a team that really
lost on first and second down, and it hurt him
on third.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
So I said this with the Niners. Everybody. Rebuilding's hard
in the NFL. But as Houston has shown, or or
by the way rebuilding a staff with the Chargers, you
can do things quickly in this league. It's not the
it's not baseball where you need two hundred and fifty million.
It's not the NBA where you need a transformational star.
Sean McVay turned around the Rams Harbaugh staff, turned around
(31:14):
the Chargers uh C. J. Stroud, Demiko Ryan's Bobby Sloweck
turned around the Texans. I you know, it's funny when
I look at San Francisco, I think sometimes it's it's
a difficult rebuild when you're you've had recent success. You
got really old and expensive fast, and not everybody in
the room thinks it's a rebuild. When I watch San Francisco,
(31:35):
they're five and seven in their last twelve, I would
pay party, but the number would have to be right.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Trent Williams is an easy one. He's old.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
I'm keeping Bosa, but you start looking around thinking Greenlaw Warner.
The Ravens moved off a great linebacker. I you probably
wouldn't pay him. Deebo's not available a lot. I would
reboot it would I would take big swings and move
off people get more draft picks. But it's hard when
(32:05):
you're going to Super Bowls every other year? What do
you do if you're the Niners.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
No, these are tough things, but they've got good players.
That's why I would say that I trust John Lynch.
I trust John Lynch, I trust Kyle Shanahan. I think
they have a plan, and I think that Brock Purdy
is undervalued.
Speaker 7 (32:19):
I mean, you saw it yesterday. Like we almost don't
talk about it.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
We're like, oh, the Niners look terrible, Like they didn't
have Rock Purty, Like if the Bills didn't He's there
Josh Allen, Like, it might not look the same.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
He doesn't put a cape on like Superman.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
It's a little more Clark Kent, I get it, you
know what I mean, But it's still legit. And when
he's not out there, they're a very different team. So,
and I would say this about like the forty nine
ers in the NFC West. Yeah, there's no great team
in the NFC West right now, there's also no bad
team And so like that parody in there, that makes
it tough. Last time I was here, the Seahawks were
in last place in the division.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
First.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Now I was here just here recently, yea, yeah, and
it could be different two weeks from now. So what
will happen here? And this reminds me of Pete Carroll's
first year in the NFC West in twenty ten when
he was there and I was the quarterback. We went
seven and nine and won the division, and Pete did
a great job of explaining to everybody we are no
longer seven and nine. So, like it or not, one
(33:12):
of these teams in the NFC West is going to
win the division. They're gonna host play a playoff game
and then it's zero and zero, like we're all it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Matter the team you like.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
What's that any team you like? I thought I liked
Arizona till yesterday.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
That listen.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
I still think Arizona has the what it takes it's
gonna take to win. They have a run game, they
have good defense, they have a quarterback that's usually a
very good player. There was a few things going on
right there. Okay, the Seattle Seahawk FA, the twelves. They
came to life. They hasn't been that way this season.
They came to life yesterday. It was bad weather. This
is Arizona. They're also coming off a buy that can
(33:47):
do funny things to people. To buy you get out
of a rhythm. He he had a very uneven game,
like Kyler, like he's usually very good. The speed and
the athleticism of that defense was sort of like neutralizing him.
But if they get back to running the ball, I
think everyone's got a chance. Like everyone's got a chance.
So I just that's probably the thing. Like in these
(34:08):
other divisions, like say you're in the NFC East, there's
teams like the Giants that have literally packed it in,
like they have packed it in. You've got teams like
Dallas that like, at some point here they're gonna be
pillaging people off of practice squads and building their roster
for next year. This thing in the NFC West is
going down to the wire. So I think you're going
to get a time to like a battle tested team
(34:28):
at the end that you're not gonna want to play.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
You come from a very close knit family. Tonight, Jim
Harbaugh takes on John Harbaugh. Do you think this is
something they enjoy?
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Listen, anybody that comes from like a family like that,
you know, like you get along and you would do
anything for your brother. You would take a bullet for
your brother. But in the family, when it's family on family,
what is it. It's it's kicking, clawing, fighting. Like me,
I have three boys in my family. My brother Tim's
the one that people know the best. We fought all
(35:00):
the time. It always ended the same thing, Tim middlechild,
come up crying to mom and.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Dad completing you know what I mean?
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Always the same. You know that's what it's going to
be tonight. I think it's going to be a throwback
brotherly rivalry. John's never beat Jim.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I love them both and they're both different.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
They're so different so like it's almost like you guys
to say, you're like, really you must be cousins, not
like not brothers. Right, but this is a game, like
if you're going to like tune into a game this
season for like that kind of a storyline, like this
is the game for me?
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Can I tell you a hardball story? So we had
a very rocky beginning. I was terrible during an interview.
I was just terrible and it didn't end well. And
then he came back on my show and I just said, hey,
I apologize. I was terrible, and he's like, no, I
was terrible, and I'm like, no, I was worse. So
now he leaves me not so he leaves notes when
it comes so about it was during this past season
(35:54):
where we really hit it off. So I was defending
the Connor Stallion stuff and I and I went on
and I just said, folks, he's one of the five
best coaches arguably we've ever seen college pro.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
He turns everything over overnight.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
And I just went on and on and this hardball
ran as the world was taking shots at him.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
His dad apparently heard it.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
I get this call. Hey, it's je Harball. My dad says,
you say really nice things about me. I want you
to know, I said, coach, you never have to call me.
You know, I think the world of you. I apologize again.
You don't have to apologize for that was terrible, that interview.
And so now we've struck a really nice balance. And
then he came on two weeks ago and during the
interview he's like, I'll just stay here all hour. You're
(36:37):
trying to bum rush man. I'm like the coach I
got commercials. So what's funny is his intensity at first
is a little alarming. Now I find it so fascinating.
He's like my favorite coach in the world. Now, yeah,
I just there's something about.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
Well, let me tell you who this game's not going
to be fun for is the parents, you know. And
I remember going head to head with my brother Tim.
Tim was on when he was on the Eagles, we
play I was in Seattle, we play on the Giants,
and my parents were torn. And now Tim's the middle child,
so like he always feels neglected.
Speaker 7 (37:07):
And whatever, whatever, you know.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
But I remember we played the Giants out in Seattle
and it was a great game. Giants jumped off sides
a bunch of times. It was like a kind of
a historic game for us out there, and like I
throw a touchdown and Tim's on the sideline for the Giants,
and he look up to the suite and see my parents.
They're like cheering, they're high five and whatever. And then
I like, he tells this story, he remembers Eli Manning,
drops back and throws the touchdown to Jeremy Shockey and
like the Giant sideline's going nuts, and Tim's like, yeah,
(37:30):
all right, and he looks up at my parents.
Speaker 7 (37:32):
No one's clapping, no one's cheering, you know. It's like
like he's kind of like giving it.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
To my mom and dad about that, right, So I think, like,
no matter what's going on here, Like maybe the you know,
the Hardballs are sort of like secretly rooting for Gym
because he's never beaten John or like who knows what.
But like the parents, you have to at least act
like you're fifty to fifty for both.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
You know.
Speaker 7 (37:53):
I gotta pretend, Yeah, you gotta pretend, right.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
I think I think the Chargers are really found their footing.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
I think I like them tonight.
Speaker 7 (38:02):
But Lamar, it's a home game. It's the home game.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Yeah, maybe it's not always a home game for the Chargers,
but Baltimore doesn't travel like the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, so I think this.
Speaker 5 (38:12):
Game's a little bit like Burrow versus Herbert last week.
It was like, you know, the game plans, the game plan,
but you have two of the game's great quarterbacks going
head to head, and like for that reason, like Lamar's
as good as it gets. Herbert doesn't get the credit,
but he's as good as it gets. Like this is
just one of those games almost like who has the
ball ass.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
That's how I feel it will be. Matt hassel Bet,
great meet and your daughter. Good stuff today, my man. Yeah,
you crushed it.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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