December 12, 2024 • 43 mins
Colin reacts to Bill Belichick's decision to make the move to college football and become the head coach of North Carolina. He explains why the NFL was no long an option for Belichick despite being the most successful head coach in league history. He also talks to Oregon head coach Dan Lanning about the immediate success they had in their first season in the BIG 10 going undefeated and preparing for the upcoming college football playoff
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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):
All Right, here we go on a Thursday, Rams Niners
Big One Tonight live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd
wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. Big Show today,
Greg Cosell one hour from now customary on Thursdays. If
you love football, fantasy football, bet on football, want to
(00:48):
get smarter at football? Greg Cosell one hour. Dan Lanning,
coach of the Oregon Ducks, is joining us as well.
I think they got hos of the twelve team playoff,
but you know they gotta watch Tennessee and Ohio State
go to battle, which will be an unbelievable first round game.
I'm not sure who I like in that game. J Max.
So yesterday, at the end of our show, the reports
(01:11):
came out that Belichick and Carolina were getting closed. It's official,
So Bill Belichick's the coach of Carolina. We both love
college football, so it's another talking point. So I'm you know,
I'm gonna talk more college football and I love that.
Fascinating this morning though. Seth Wickersham is a first ballot
Hall of Fame writer and reporter for ESPN. He has
(01:34):
got a behind the scenes story over the last year
on Belichick. Go read it. Seth Wickersham tremendous and he
talks about you know, Belichick would meet with Matt Patricia.
He would meet with Mike Lombardi, who he just hired
at Carolina. I know miche a little bit, and they
would meet, go on zoom calls and talk about the
(01:54):
NFL and what's coming open and that, you know, Belichick
kind of got disgusted by the NFL and that nobody
was really interested. Now, he did think the Bears was
the best job opening this year. I agree, I think,
but he didn't think they'd hire him. The New York
Giants job he would take, but he thinks Brian Daviles
a good coach, so do I and will retain the job.
(02:15):
He would never do the Jets. Jacksonville wasn't happening, So
here we go. The story is fascinating, and my takeaway
on reading this is kind of the same with a
lot more illumination, is that, you know what, when you
keep doors shut on people for twenty years, don't be
surprised that when the doors open, there's not a lot
(02:36):
of people there with open arms for you. Tom Brady
and Belichick twenty years never went to dinner. Tom Brady's
documentary his then wife Giselle pleading, would you please show
Tom respect? Relationships more than ever matter in the NFL.
(02:56):
It's not just IQ, it's IQ and EQ. And I
think Belichick clearly preferably would not want the ACC's fourth
best football job. But that's all that was out there.
The NFL is much more collaborative today. It's much more
Sean McVeigh than do your job. It's us, not me.
(03:20):
Doors were closed. The Athletic also excellent reporting this morning
on why Belichick abandoned hope of landing NFL jobs. One
executive said he burned a lot of bridges. Another said
people would be concerned about the culture he would create
in the building. Again, Belichick leaned in to his terse nature,
(03:44):
his rigidity, his cutthroat personality. And you're not going to
change the perception because you take a TV job for
a year, smile more, occasionally laugh and make us all
believe it's all rainbows and sunshine. People know what Bill is.
We know what Bill is. Bill knows what Bill is.
(04:05):
And Caroline is like, we'll roll the dice on it.
So and again, I love college football. I hope it works.
I'm not rooting for it not to work. But again,
if you act a certain way for a long time,
you're gonna meet a lot of the people you burned
on the way down. And there's no job openings. People
are not interested. And let's be honest, the NFL doesn't
(04:27):
need anybody. Drew Brees retired, Brady retired, Peyton Manning retired.
You know what happened to the ratings? They went up.
This is not a league to toy with. They don't
need TV networks now they've got streamers, so the long
standing networks are they necessary? Thank god, they've all got
ten to eleven year deals starting this year. But the
(04:50):
league doesn't need anybody. This is not the NBA where
your ratings hinge on an MJ or a shack. This
is not golf or your economy. Your ecosystem largely hinges
on like the Masters or Tiger Woods. That's not what
the NFL is. And Bill was perpetually difficult, perpetually dismissive
(05:10):
of opinions that didn't align with his. And guess what,
He's going to have a place in Canton. It's a
first ballot decision. He is widely respected as the greatest
defensive coach of all time. But the Patriots are three
and two right now, and at this time last year
they were three and ten with Belichick, three and ten.
(05:31):
Now three and ten, now three and ten last year
with Belichick. He'll go to Canton, and he deserves it.
But it's a different league. It's a league that waits
for nobody. It's a league that doesn't need anybody. Mahomes
in nine years retires, they'll be another crop of superstar quarterbacks.
(05:53):
They can certainly do without a great coach. At seventy two,
there were no doors opened. It's not all the NFL's fault.
Bill closed a lot of those doors. Again, the Seth
Wickersham article must read a lot of great intel. Now
(06:13):
Here is something I actually think and I this is fascinating.
So Mike Lombardi, who is now a media person, has
been hired by Belichick to be his GM. Now, I've
had multiple conversations with athletic directors in the last nine
to twelve months. This is the future of college football
general managers. In fact, I met with the Jen Cone
(06:35):
at USC. We had a long lunch over this. This
is the future of the sport. And so Belichick sees
that and is hiring Mike Lombardi, an ally, a confidant
for years, to be his GM. And it's a I mean,
it's full NFL. They're not even masquerading that it's college
They're not even trying to fool anybody. This is the NFL.
(06:58):
And here is Lombardi yesterday talking about his job now
with Belichick in Chapel Hill.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
We're going to build a pro personnel department, and that
pro personnel department really will be the transfer portal. So
that will be what we build there to monitor all
the college teams, whether it's in the ACC, the Big
Ten to Southeast Conference, or in any conference. Right the
new Pact twelve, so you have to monitor all the
players just like you would in pro football. And then
obviously you'll have a director of college scouting, but that
(07:28):
guy will be the director of high school scouting and
monitor all the high schools.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Okay, so that is the future. Now, how well will
Belichick do well? It should be noted Indiana a basketball school,
Arizona State and a baseball school at least it was
for years and SMU just made the playoff, so Belichick
can compete. And he also has a personnel guy. So
(07:53):
I don't think Belichick is the perfect personality fit, but
I think like coaching and personnel, he'll be fine. Now, Lombardi,
who I know a little, and Belichick are terse. They're outspoken,
they can be kurt. They're very direct that will rub
(08:15):
a lot of people on a college campus the wrong way.
They will have no interest going to Gala's with the
other coaches in the athletic department. They are pros. They're
going to come in with a certain arrogance and belief
and they don't care about your volleyball program or your
swim program. They don't care. And there's a lot of
(08:36):
high maintenance and needy coaching and overmatched administrators at the
college level. So I don't think it's going to be
a coaching issue with Bill. He'll be great. I don't
think it's gonna be a personnel issue. Mike Lombardi will
do fine. But dealing with donors in this ever fluid
collective nil. Here's the thing Bill loves. Structure. College football
(09:00):
didn't have any. It used to have some. Now it's
got very little. So what Bill's doing. If you watch
this move with Lombardi, he's bringing in structure. We're gonna
run a pro football operation. And again it's gonna rub
a lot of people the wrong way. The personality with
Lombardi and Belichick, that's gonna be interesting. The football and
(09:24):
the players. The collective by North Carolina reportedly is going
from four million, which is laughable, to eighteen to twenty million,
so they'll get players. But I'm rooting for it. I
love the sport. It's another talking point. But there will
be clashes. I think it will start. It'll be fun
(09:47):
and it's the headlines. It's powder blue. It's gonna look
nice and there will be there will be feathers ruffled
on that campus and I can't wait, and I'll listen.
I have a graphic. Here's North Carolina's schedule next year,
and again they've got players Mac Brown could recruit. I
(10:08):
mean their road games are Cal and Wake Forest and
Charlotte and Syracuse. You know, we're not talking the AFC
West or the NFC North. They're home games Stanford, Duke,
Virginia like an academic all star roster, Richmond, Clemson. So
there's no reason why Bill Belichick could not peel off
(10:31):
at ten and one. I would not be surprised by
that at all. If they can get quarterback just solid.
I don't worry at all about the coaching of the personnel.
They're ramping up the club. That's not it, and I
think for a year you'll look at it and go, oh,
it is Hammon. But we got pictures here Bill and
Chapel Hill. Listen, he's got a new girlfriend. It's younger,
(10:54):
he's exciting, excited. It's a college campus. It could you know,
maybe he is going to be turning a new leaf.
It's gregarious and joyful, Bill. But the football coaching's fine.
The personality fit with Lombardi is gonna be really interesting.
It's like Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame. Charlie Weiss, the
schemes were fine. He wore everybody out, you know, Charlie
(11:18):
wore people out. The schemes were smart. That wasn't the issue.
J Mack. I love I love doing this job. It's
so much fun. All I thought about last night is
Nick Wright said it to me yesterday. Can you imagine
Bill Belichick and the Pop Tart Bowl? It will look different.
He's going on, you saw that schedule right there. Come on,
they could go to ten or eleven wins.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
By the way, you.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Mentioned a it's gonna be rocky. There's gonna be problems.
You know who else had some problems and some rocky
stuff happened. Deon Sanders, Yeah, he had. I'm looking here,
three years of coaching at Jackson State.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
That's it.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
He goes to Colorado, they start hot, finished four and eight.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Oh g on, he can't hang.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
They're gonna get blasted nine and.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Three this year now, So let's be fair. If Carolina
is bumpy to start, and I don't think they will be.
The schedule's easy, the conference is bad, and Bill's.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Theirs with the portal.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
They got to get a quarterback. But again, Bill will
be able to win without great talent. He spent a
lot of his dynasty in New England having the second
third best roster in the AFC. Bill's won with less talent.
So again this is it's not a terrible fit. From there,
he will not have as much talent if he goes
into a playoff as Texas, Oregon, Georgia. He's not going
(12:33):
to have that. And I think we all have to
be fair. I have to be fair. I'm rooting for it,
not against it. I have. I don't think it's a
great fit. I think this is a nobody is interested
in the NFL. I think is ideal. I think Bill
would rather be coaching the Chicago Bears next year and
the and the New York Giants next year.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
What evidence is there that.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Seth withck Wickersham's article is that well, I seth Wickersham.
I trust he is great. So his articles basically Bill
wanted an NFL jobs, but they weren't interested in him,
and he got disgusted by the league. And my take
is the league is fine.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
You don't think he's disgusted like Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles,
who haven't done Jack squat, they're the one saying I
don't know about Belichick. I would be disgusted too, wouldn't you.
I mean, that's life. I think the Atlanta Falcons were like,
I don't know about this Belichick guy. The Atlanta Falcons
who had never won anything.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Those guys in the front office, look at their record.
They haven't done anything well.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
And Belichick is the most accomplished coach in NFL history.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You're not contextualizing it. He wants total control and his
personnel decisions are awful. They remember at the end, it's
remembered Bobby Knight as the age wouldn't recruit. So if
you hire Bobby Knight, oh, he's the most accomplished coach.
When he leaves, you have no players. They have no
(13:51):
players in New England. So when you hire Lane Kiffen,
you may not love his personality, but if he leaves,
you are left with a stacks If Sark doesn't work
at Texas, you're left with a stacked roster. When Bobby
Knight left school done in Texas, they have no players.
As he wanted to give the job to his son
because he refused to do things that you have to do.
(14:13):
It's a young man's game. So when you hire these legends,
be very careful. College athletic is a young man's game.
I always say this, if you're gonna roll the dice
on a coach, get a young great recruiter. Oklahoma did
this years ago. They hired a guy I think was
John Blake, and John didn't work as a coach, but
he was a tremendous recruiter. Year two, Bob stoops Windinnati
(14:35):
with tons of NFL guys. You hire older coaches who
are aren't gonna play any games. If it doesn't work,
it's a three year rebuild to get players because they're
not gonna outbid Georgia Florida State SEC schools for players.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Well, I would largely agree with that, but this whole
like doesn't recruit thing.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
The game has changed. It's no less about recruiting.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
I had a guy wo my podcast, former quarterback at
Arizona State, who said, listen, there's offensive linemen out there
who are like, Oh, this team wants me, this team
wants me. I don't even know where these schools are
on a map, but they're offering five hundred thousand dollars.
I'm going there, like that's where we are, and it's
let's about recruiting more about show me the money, show me.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
The I remember most schools have, like the big schools
have sixteen to eighteen million, the quarterback increasing at least
taking four to five. So you don't just have the
ability to buy a roster. You have to recruit at
least sixty to seventy percent of your roster has to
be high schoolers. The other thing is Brian Kelly, who
(15:37):
is a better college coach today than Bill Belichick has
proven to be. He's a better college coach. He's finding out.
When you go buy a roster, your chemistry's brutal. You
got to buy the right guy. Well again, there is
no perfect guy for the perfect program. Lincoln Riley's finding
out and Brian Kelly successful college coaches. This is what
they do. You can't just buy a roster. You can't.
(16:00):
You have to have foundational high school connections.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
How's this better shot at the playoff next year?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Lincoln Riley or Bill Belichick? Well, Belichick is in a
much easier conference. I mean the ACC is Clemson and nonsense.
I mean, that's time.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
I'm in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I'll see what the odds are on Belichick. Making man
look at look at, look at Carolina's schedule.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
I don't even know Carolina's roster now, and I can
tell you that's that's ten.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Wins right there at Syracuse and home against Clemson are
tough games. Okay, that's it. ACC Football's back, baby, Well,
I'll watch it. You made a rayco sports references. That's
so classical. I'm watching it. I'm not rooming against him.
(16:47):
We want more topics like Caitlin Clark saved us in August?
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noonon Easter not a em Pacific on Fox Orts
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
You're now entering the Noble Zone sponsored by Credible Great
Rates none of the Bowl. As Belichick was signing that
deal with Carolina, it made me actually think of Andy Reid,
who has aged very, very well, and I don't think
he's going to end his career with a job in
the ACC. Andy Reid, as you recall, got fired in
Philadelphia and had a job four days later in Kansas City,
(17:27):
and there were multiple NFL suitors. Andy Reid's coaching tree
is much superior to Belichick's. He's been to a super
Bowl in both conferences. He's won with multiple quarterbacks and styles.
The league's been trending in his direction finally for years.
And here's what's amazing, how undervalued Andy Reid is. Andy
(17:48):
Reid only needs six more playoff wins. That's it to
surpass Belichick. I bet you didn't know that. That's how
good he is. Belichick had a twenty year run. How
many years has Andy had Mahomes five? Andy by the
way five and one in the regular season as a
(18:09):
Chiefs coach against Belichick. But if Mahomes and Andy Reid
stay together just two to three more seasons, he will
surpass Belichick in all time wins and all time playoff wins,
I would imagine. And so I think Belichick looks at that,
and I'm not sure he thinks he's going to have
some Don Shuler record for long anyway. And I've said
(18:30):
this is that I think one of the reasons I
call Bill Parcells the greatest, one of the greatest coaches
of all time, Bill one with multiple quarterbacks. Bill one
immediately with multiple owners overnight, like he walked into dumpster
(18:51):
fires and the next year they were good. Urban Myers
done this in college Parcells does this in the NFL.
And this is not a shot at Belichick, but Belichick
five years in Cleveland for losing seasons, the year in
New England pre Brady losing season, the two years after
Brady left losing seasons. Belichick never won without Parcels or Brady.
(19:13):
Andy wins with everybody. And I mean so, I mean
Andy Reid was getting to conference championships in the NFC
when other teams were stacked, and he was doing it
with B and B plus quarterbacks. So Andy Reid's career
is not beholden to one coach or one player. And
I've said this before. If the NFL would have been
(19:34):
fourth right and honest about CTE concerns twenty years ago
and written a check and made the league safeer twenty
years ago to the level it's safe now, then Andy
Reid would be Belichick. Belichick was very fortunate that he
got a great generational quarterback pretty early in his career
(19:55):
and Andy had to wait twenty years. That is not
to say that Belichick isn't right now now viewed the
greatest all time coach. He deserves all the roses for that,
but it is interesting when he got this job. I
thought it's remarkable how few years Andy Reid needs to
keep winning to surpass him. That's how great he's been.
(20:17):
He just got his generational quarterback. So Nick right earlier
this week on Belichick leaving the NFL for college and
Andy Reid potentially passing him on that wins list.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Even if you go get that record, are you just
holding it for a year for Andy Reid? And I
know people like on Nick, your chief's guy. Here are
the numbers. He's going to end this season right around
three hundred. If he's at two ninety six right now,
he'll be forty seven away from Shula himself. That means
(20:53):
three great years or four mediocre years. So how important
is that all time code record if you actually only
hold it for twelve months before Andy Reid comes blows.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Past you, I think there's real legitimacy. I think Seth
Wickersham pointed out in the article. But I think Nick
makes a great point is if Andy's health holds up,
cross your fingers there, and he's gonna end up the
all time winning as coach, and he's one with a
multitude of C, B and A plus quarterbacks in both
(21:27):
conferences and It's why it's so easy for me to
root for Kansas City as they dominate the league. I
never rooted against New England. I thought they were smarter
than everybody. I think I feel the same way about
Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Now, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon eastern non am Pacific.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
With that forty five years NFL films, nobody's more objective.
Greg Josel joins us the value of the running back.
Nine months ago, the media lamenting running backs, lamenting the future,
their economic future, and here we watch Detroit and Green
Bay and Baltimore and Washington, these power running teams are
(22:09):
now front and center. Do you think there's a reason
for it schematically?
Speaker 4 (22:14):
I do. I think there's a number of reasons, and
maybe we don't know the exact why all these teams
and Philly obviously is probably the number one example they
leave the league in rushing. But what you're seeing more
of in the league are a couple of things in
no particular order, Colin. You're seeing a lot more twelve
personnel offenses are playing with more multiple tight ends, two
(22:35):
sometimes three tight ends. You're seeing issues with offensive lines
in pass protection, that's been a major issue throughout the
league for a lot of teams. So if you have
issues in pass protection, you try to run the football
and alleviate that problem. I would say there's been a
far more two high safety structure coverages in the league.
(22:56):
That's been a trend over the last couple of years,
where there's more two high safeties as opposed to a
safety sitting in the box. So the numbers tend to
favor the run game. And I would say another thing
is more and more teams are playing what we call
big nickel, playing with three safeties as sort of a
base defense as opposed to a third linebacker, So you're
(23:17):
seeing smaller players on the field. So the run game
has become more and more prevalent. But overall, the pass
protection thing really stands out to me because I remember
years ago I had a conversation with John Gruden and
one of the first things he said to me was,
you don't have a pass game if you can't protect.
And protection has been a big issue in the league.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, we're getting more athletic defensive end and pass rushers
and less guys on the athletic can block them. Okay,
so the Eagles have clearly since the buye became more
of a run first team, fewer attempts for Jalen Hurts.
It may not make AJ Brown happy, but it makes
him a better team. So the game of the week
arguably is Steelers and Eagles. So the Steelers they see
(23:58):
a lot of Lamar Jackson, so Jalen Hurt's movement is
not going to intimidate them or flummex them. I think
Pittsburgh sort of matches up, even though I do believe
Philadelphia's roster is arguably the best in the league. What
are you expecting with the Eagles Steelers matchup?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
You know, it's funny you say that the Steelers overall
have played the run very well. They have really good
players up front, and the numbers their run defense statistics
are very good. But believe it or not, they don't
play their run as well from their nickel defense as
they do from their base defense. So I'm very curious
to see if the Eagles, in this game, as they
did a week ago, play a lot out of eleven
(24:39):
personnel with three wide receivers. Keeping in mind also that
Dallas Goddard is out, so they may want to be
in eleven personnel anyway. But to me, that's a critical
part of this matchup. And there's one player on the
Steeler defense who I think is really really important. It's
to Sean Elliott. He is a really smart, savvy player.
Not a well known player, he's been around the league,
(25:00):
but he is really aware, really smart, understands offensive line play,
understands formations. He's a critical piece of that Steelers defense
in the run game.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
So last week I watched the Rams dissect the Bills defense.
It looked like a seven on seven drill, but there
was also something about the Bills offense that was a
bit concerning. Earlier this year, I said, I love Josh
Allen to be Superman, but I like him to go
(25:33):
into the phone booth and do it once or twice
a game. I don't want him to show up after
the anthem in the Cape, and I thought, they they're
losing a little bit of the balance. They're becoming a
little more Hey Josh, save us. This is the Bills.
I don't love is the film saying that?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Well, I think last week's game was probably a little
bit of anathema to what they want to be. I
think that they fell early on in that game that
the opposing offense, the Rams offense, was really moving the
ball well, and the game was snowballing early, and they
did try to run and couldn't. And I think they
felt that they had to keep pace in a high
(26:13):
scoring contest, and in their mind, the way to keep
pace is to put the ball in Josh Allen's hands,
argue arguably the most dynamic individual player in the league. So,
you know, I think that particular game they felt that's
how they have to play. I don't think they're changing
their philosophy. They still play more with six offensive linemen,
(26:35):
more snaps with six offensive linemen, far and away than
any team in the league. We'll see how it turns
out this week as they're in Detroit. And one of
the things that stood out with their defense a week
ago they couldn't really generate any pressure with a four
man pass rush, and their zone coverages were eaten up
by McVeigh. And keep in mind, you know this Colin
(26:55):
Ben Johnson does as good a job as any offensive
coordinator in the league versus zone with his spacing, his
route spacing, his understanding of how to put zone defenders
in conflict. So we'll see how this week plays out.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
So an interesting matchup. And I got to give Jay
Mack and you credit because I asked both of you
before the season, what's a team that's better than people think?
And you said the Seahawks and j Mack said the Seahawks,
and you both said, like their roster, let's see Mike McDonald. Well,
the Ravens defense has cratered without Mike McDonald, and the
(27:29):
Seahawks defense, now that it's healthy with McDonald, is outstanding.
So Green Bay become a bit more of a power
run team against Seattle this weekend. I'm fascinated to watch that.
What do you expect?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Well, the Seahawks defense vanilla is not the right word,
but they're not a high percentage blitz defense. But they
have a really good defensive line rotation. And they made
changes at linebacker, oh three, four weeks ago when they
traded for Ernest and they put the rookie Knight in
who replaced Terrel Dotson who they released, And they're much
(28:05):
much better at the linebacker position. And also, you know,
it's funny I mentioned Big Nickel a few minutes ago
talking about the run game. Since they got the safety
Jenkins back from injured reserve. They've gone to a lot
of big nickel playing three safeties and that has really
helped them. And Julian Love one of their safeties. He
is one of the best safeties in the league, and
(28:26):
he's not talked about enough. So they have really good
people and that the line rotation is really really impressive.
All right, So.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I got you a Baker Mayfield credit. Now, I've always
liked Jason light the GM. I've always thought they draft
well and Baker. You know, he and Darnold Donald's bigger,
more athletic, and Baker can have rough quarters. But when
you look at Tampa, is it a Baker story or
a roster story? What has them in first place?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
You could argue, Again, I guess that's our theme for
the day. If I told you they were a top
eight rushing team in the NFL, were you aware of that?
They've rushed for over one hundred and fifty yards I
think in six or seven games this year, including last week.
They've become incredibly multiple with their run game. They play
two backs, what we call the Pony package. They'll play
Irving and White, they'll play White and Tucker, they'll play
(29:22):
Irving and Tucker. They'll play with the Pony package quite
a bit, and they're really multiple with how they attack
in the run game. And when you have Irving and
White on the field, they are both really good receivers
as well. So Baker's playing well, there's no question about it.
But I think they have multiple ways in which to
attack defenses, and their run game has become a big factor.
And by the way, they're a really snapshot of what
(29:46):
I was talking about. They're o line much better run
blocking than they are in pass protection.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Okay, so I'm interested for this. The other day on
the internet, I saw somebody posted it. I apologize for
not remembering what it was, but they put Russell Wilson's
stats last year in Denver up against bow Knicks stats
this year in Denver, and they were kind of similar,
very similar. But yet I feel differently about bow Knicks
(30:12):
than Russell Wilson, though the numbers are the same and
the offensive personnel is mostly the same. Soh and the
coach Peyton's the same bow Knicks, Russell Wilson. What's Denver
doing offensively? That feels different to me because I feel
they're more explosive.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
And they are. The numbers are the numbers, but it
looks different because it is different. One thing about bon Nicks,
which I'm not sure many of us expected Colin, is
he is very good throwing the ball in the middle
of the field between the numbers at the intermediate level,
and I think there were questions about whether he could
do that at the NFL level. But he's done a really,
(30:54):
really good job with that. So in terms of the
timing and structure of their offense, the rhythm of it,
and the past game, it just is better than it
was a year ago. And so numbers are, They're just
a cumula thing over time. But the way you achieve
those numbers is more important. It's the process of achieving
those numbers, and the process in Denver, the way their
(31:16):
offense looks and plays is much more consistent with bo
Nicks than it was a year ago with Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Before we get to the Niners. To end this, I
want to talk about the Rams. I've said this, you
could make an argument take out maybe the Lions. Maybe
that if you said head coach, quarterback, two receivers running back,
the Rams are in a very rarefied air. They Kyron Williams, Pooka,
(31:44):
Cooper McVeigh, Stafford. You and I both love Stafford. He
is so much fun to watch. So they play a
beat up Niners team tonight. Let's but my takeaway is,
are the Rams a year away with their offensive line
and another draft class, or when you watch them beat Buffalo,
(32:05):
do you believe like that's who they are they can
beat anybody.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Well, I think they can beat anybody that. Whether they
do or not, I guess that remains to be seen.
But when Stafford can be protected, and of course the
Bills did not generate much pass rush, so you have
to be concerned when they play teams that can really
rush the quarterback because I think their O line is
still a bit of a work in progress. But in
terms of the schematics of their offense, I think it's
(32:32):
really really difficult to defend. I mean, it's play action
under center, it's motion, it's shifting, it's reduced splits, Receivers
get free access. They're really good attacking zone coverage with
their spacing. Defensively, they have a very young D line,
but those guys are dynamic and athletic and a few
of them could end up being special and They made
(32:53):
a major change about a month or so ago with
what they do on defense with their personnel, So you know,
I think he gets a team that could theoretically beat anybody,
but you've got to protect Stafford. When he's protected, there
may be no one who throws a prettier ball to
Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Okay, brock perty is having to play without Christian McCaffrey
look pretty good against the Bears. Your thoughts about that?
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Yeah, I thought that last week. That was a clinic
by Kyle Shanahan. He knew exactly what he was going
to get from the Bears defense. They played a ton
of ZWN coverage. He attacked it beautifully. Purdy was able
to throw the ball to his primary quite a bit.
They got the screen game involved, which is basically a
no red throw, and it just looked on tape in particular,
it looked good on TV too, but in tape it
(33:38):
just looked like a clinic. And there was one play
early on in the game that really stood out to me,
and that's going to be our play of the week,
and we can get to that right now because it's
so symptomatic and emblematic of what they did and This
was a thirty three yard completion to Kittle relatively early
in the game, and you'll see he catches it in
(33:58):
there's room, there's space for him. And Kittle was very
involved last week in their offense, and I'm sure that
was by design. So as we look to break this down,
what you're going to see here is Kittle, who's on
the left side of the formation to start, He's going
to shift to the other side of the formation. And
so what that does is it makes it what we
call a three by one set with three receivers to
(34:21):
the wide side of the field and a single receiver
to the boundary. Now, the coverage to the three receiver
side is going to be Cover two. Okay, so they're
going to attack this Cover two Again, it looked like
Kyle knew exactly what he was going to get through
much of this game. He's going to run Connolly and
pearsall on two vertical routes. They're the outside receivers that
(34:44):
it take attacks the Cover two safety, and then Kittle's
going to run an outcut underneath those two verticals, and
then you're going to have the back Garndo worked through
the line into the flat to the same side. So
four receivers to the same side, what we call four strong,
very difficult in zone coverage to defend. So again, just
(35:06):
as we walk through it, you get the two verticals
that forces that safety, the half field safety, to have
to retreat. Now you're going to get the hook defender underneath.
He's going to expand. He doesn't really need to, but
he does for a couple of reasons. One, he has
eyes on Girndo, who's going to get into the flat.
But the main reason he's going to expand has to
(35:29):
do with what Brock Purdy does here. Purdy does a
great job right here of pumping as if he's going
to throw to the outside void to Connolly, and that
gets that hook defender to really expand, and he shouldn't
because now what you get is you get Kittle in
that void in the coverage. And this was beautifully set up.
As I said, four strong, very very hard to defend
(35:53):
in zone coverage. You just don't have enough bodies. And
this was very reflective and representative of what Yle Shanahan
did against the Bears last week. As we see Kittle
here running his route, and when you get the ball
to Kittle and he has room to run. You know
what that's like, Colin, He's a very difficult guy to tackle.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Forty five years NFL Films, Greg co Selezo was good
seeing him a man.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
College football is a very fluid sport. One of the
guys that is close to mastering it and has really
I mean we thought Dan Lanning. I covered Oregon for years.
He had big energy, big recruiting, good resume. He's really
hit it out of the park at Oregon. And it's hard.
This is a very it's like technology. It's a very
fluid sport with boundaries that are changing. And Dan Lanning
(36:50):
at Oregon has crushed it. And he's the only undefeated
college football coach joining us now live three years at Oregon.
You don't watch that Bill Belichick press conference. I gotta
tell you if you could say, hey, Bill, here's one
thing about college football, Like what one thing would you
give any coach, legend or young guy one piece of advice?
Speaker 7 (37:14):
Dan, Hey, get ready to adapt what it is today?
Speaker 8 (37:19):
Might be something different tomorrow, So you better be ready
to play on your toes because it's consistently changing.
Speaker 7 (37:24):
That's the one thing that's consistent about college ball right now.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
So you've been a DC it in the SEC, You've
been a head coach in the Pac twelve. Now you're
a head coach in the Big Ten. So that your
journey's crazy. You're you're bouncing all over the country. Now,
I think it's an advantage. But this year in the
Big Ten, I thought, because Oregon's got the kind of weather,
youre weren't a warm weather team. You play in rain
and Eugene, you can handle the Midwest? Was the Big Ten?
(37:51):
What you expected? Mostly?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Coach?
Speaker 9 (37:55):
Yeah, I don't know what I expect to be on
great football, and I do think we got the express
that and some of the story competitions that exist in
this conference, you know, getting to go some of these
great venues.
Speaker 8 (38:07):
Yeah, I guess in a lot of ways, it was
what I expected. It was a great challenge and a
lot of fun for our team.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
A lot of coaches, Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley, they got
money in their collective. Yours has worked. You've been able
to sew the fabric of chemistry together the two things.
When I watch Oregon, they play hard every snap and
they are fast. You've made the portal work for you,
(38:33):
and I think it's harder than people think. I mean,
in the NFL you often bring back most of your
roster ten years ago. In college, you know you'd replace
fifteen eighteen guys. How have you done it? What has
been the key to the balance of fresh new faces
but really strong Oregon football culture? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (38:52):
I think a lot of that credit, you know, lies
within our players and our staff. They've created a standard
and I get to work with great people every single day.
Speaker 7 (39:00):
I think there's a clear cut.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
You know, balance of what we really want, what kind
of people we want to bring into the organization, and
then our players that pulled in the standard of what,
you know, what great football looks like, what being a
great teammate looks like. Uh, and our guys have really
attacked that. And you know, we talk about player led teams.
I think every coach talks about player led teams, but
we truly have a player lead team here and they're
gonna make sure the guys around them come to work,
you know, every single day, and that's paid off for us.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
You know, it's funny. I love your intensity. It jumps
through the screen. There was a game this year and
I knew you were good, and I had predicted before
the season that I thought you would beat Ohio State
at home. But the Wisconsin game you didn't play well
in one and that was the game. I was like, Okay,
they can win a Nattie because Otson's hard to win,
(39:44):
and I'm like, well, they're gonna beat anybody at Outson.
But that game was interesting because I'm like, boy, they
had their B game. Was there a moment for you
this season where there was something where you were flying
home or driving home after a game and thought, boy,
there's this team may have a little something I didn't
think we had.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (40:02):
I don't know if I ever really had that moment.
Speaker 8 (40:03):
I think maybe what excites me the most about this
team is we've been able to win in different ways,
you know, and you don't ever want that as your
as a coach, you always want your a game in
every phase. But when we played Boise State early in
the year, we struggled and we won on special teams.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
We had a punt returning, a kickoff return, you know,
to create that win.
Speaker 8 (40:20):
You play Wisconsin, we really won on defense, and you
go last week, you know, playing Penn State in the
Big Ten championship game. Our offense was clicking on all cylinders.
And what's good for us is knowing that you can
win in a variety of ways. But when we put
that all together, I think you're talking about a really
special team. So that's the hope, you know, as we
try to finish this thing off, is to be able
to put all three phases together and have a great run.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
You know, it's interesting, Dan, when you have young teams
in the NFL, an older team like a Kansas City Chiefs,
getting a buye is good for the team, but a
lot of times young teams don't give them time off.
They heal faster, get them out there. Would you rather
be playing or are you comfortable saying, hey, Aisle State, Tennessee,
you bang around. I mean, I guess it's an advantage sitting,
(41:03):
but you're already sitting, and I think with young players
in your momentum, are you worried a little bit about
this is quite a layoff for you.
Speaker 8 (41:13):
Yeah, it's on us as a coaching staff. To me,
it's about how you use your time right. If you're
just sitting and waiting for the for the next opportunity,
then you definitely are are not putting yourself in an advantage.
Speaker 7 (41:24):
For us, it's all about how we use this time, right.
Speaker 8 (41:26):
How can we study ourselves as coaches, How can we
study ourselves as players, utilize the opportunity for recovery, you know,
challenge the parts of the game that we can be
better at. Uh So, for us, we've got a detailed
plan for where we're trying to improve what we want
to attack.
Speaker 7 (41:40):
And obviously there's some chaos in college football right now.
Speaker 8 (41:42):
You're dealing with the transfer portal and everything else that
exists right now.
Speaker 7 (41:45):
So we're trying to utilize that time the best.
Speaker 8 (41:48):
And I think that's what will create an advantage for us,
is if we have a great plan for that.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
By the way, I got to ask you about bow Nick.
So I brought him here. He sat in the couch
for a half hour.
Speaker 4 (41:55):
He was great.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
I loved him. He is way feistier I've watched in
the NFL. He'd dog cussing, he getting in Sean Payton's face,
and I'm like, man, he and then I read a
story of the other day that like you have no
idea how feisty bon Nicks is. Was was was that
the bow Nicks at Oregon that he'd get after guys.
Speaker 7 (42:18):
He's always been competitive man.
Speaker 8 (42:20):
He I think he has a competitive spirit that people
don't realize because you know, he's just a great young man.
Like he's a great dude, but when you stepped on
the football field, he'd be angry. He'd be angry if
it didn't go his way, and you could challenge him
every single day in practice. You know, I was pretty
fired up the other day I got a bon Nicks
Christmas card.
Speaker 7 (42:37):
That's that's a shout out to his wife Izzy. You
know I was.
Speaker 8 (42:41):
I was fired up to know that they were on
their piece and Ques I don't I don't think the
Landings have sent out a Christmas card yet. So as
good as he's playing, they got their whole house in
order right now. I think that's a great example of
how they compete.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Well, you've done a remarkable job. Congrats on the win
over Penn State, and Oregon is humming. I don't think
the committee got it right. I thought you deserved a
better placement, But you know what, you didn't complain about it.
It's the job, it's the task. Go win games. And
I can't wait to watch you play, and congrats and
all your success.
Speaker 8 (43:11):
Appreciate it, Colin, and we're certainly excited about the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Can't wait.
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
Foxsportsradio 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):
All Right, here we go on a Thursday, Rams Niners
Big One Tonight live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd
wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. Big Show today,
Greg Cosell one hour from now customary on Thursdays. If
you love football, fantasy football, bet on football, want to
(00:48):
get smarter at football? Greg Cosell one hour. Dan Lanning,
coach of the Oregon Ducks, is joining us as well.
I think they got hos of the twelve team playoff,
but you know they gotta watch Tennessee and Ohio State
go to battle, which will be an unbelievable first round game.
I'm not sure who I like in that game. J Max.
So yesterday, at the end of our show, the reports
(01:11):
came out that Belichick and Carolina were getting closed. It's official,
So Bill Belichick's the coach of Carolina. We both love
college football, so it's another talking point. So I'm you know,
I'm gonna talk more college football and I love that.
Fascinating this morning though. Seth Wickersham is a first ballot
Hall of Fame writer and reporter for ESPN. He has
(01:34):
got a behind the scenes story over the last year
on Belichick. Go read it. Seth Wickersham tremendous and he
talks about you know, Belichick would meet with Matt Patricia.
He would meet with Mike Lombardi, who he just hired
at Carolina. I know miche a little bit, and they
would meet, go on zoom calls and talk about the
(01:54):
NFL and what's coming open and that, you know, Belichick
kind of got disgusted by the NFL and that nobody
was really interested. Now, he did think the Bears was
the best job opening this year. I agree, I think,
but he didn't think they'd hire him. The New York
Giants job he would take, but he thinks Brian Daviles
a good coach, so do I and will retain the job.
(02:15):
He would never do the Jets. Jacksonville wasn't happening, So
here we go. The story is fascinating, and my takeaway
on reading this is kind of the same with a
lot more illumination, is that, you know what, when you
keep doors shut on people for twenty years, don't be
surprised that when the doors open, there's not a lot
(02:36):
of people there with open arms for you. Tom Brady
and Belichick twenty years never went to dinner. Tom Brady's
documentary his then wife Giselle pleading, would you please show
Tom respect? Relationships more than ever matter in the NFL.
(02:56):
It's not just IQ, it's IQ and EQ. And I
think Belichick clearly preferably would not want the ACC's fourth
best football job. But that's all that was out there.
The NFL is much more collaborative today. It's much more
Sean McVeigh than do your job. It's us, not me.
(03:20):
Doors were closed. The Athletic also excellent reporting this morning
on why Belichick abandoned hope of landing NFL jobs. One
executive said he burned a lot of bridges. Another said
people would be concerned about the culture he would create
in the building. Again, Belichick leaned in to his terse nature,
(03:44):
his rigidity, his cutthroat personality. And you're not going to
change the perception because you take a TV job for
a year, smile more, occasionally laugh and make us all
believe it's all rainbows and sunshine. People know what Bill is.
We know what Bill is. Bill knows what Bill is.
(04:05):
And Caroline is like, we'll roll the dice on it.
So and again, I love college football. I hope it works.
I'm not rooting for it not to work. But again,
if you act a certain way for a long time,
you're gonna meet a lot of the people you burned
on the way down. And there's no job openings. People
are not interested. And let's be honest, the NFL doesn't
(04:27):
need anybody. Drew Brees retired, Brady retired, Peyton Manning retired.
You know what happened to the ratings? They went up.
This is not a league to toy with. They don't
need TV networks now they've got streamers, so the long
standing networks are they necessary? Thank god, they've all got
ten to eleven year deals starting this year. But the
(04:50):
league doesn't need anybody. This is not the NBA where
your ratings hinge on an MJ or a shack. This
is not golf or your economy. Your ecosystem largely hinges
on like the Masters or Tiger Woods. That's not what
the NFL is. And Bill was perpetually difficult, perpetually dismissive
(05:10):
of opinions that didn't align with his. And guess what,
He's going to have a place in Canton. It's a
first ballot decision. He is widely respected as the greatest
defensive coach of all time. But the Patriots are three
and two right now, and at this time last year
they were three and ten with Belichick, three and ten.
(05:31):
Now three and ten, now three and ten last year
with Belichick. He'll go to Canton, and he deserves it.
But it's a different league. It's a league that waits
for nobody. It's a league that doesn't need anybody. Mahomes
in nine years retires, they'll be another crop of superstar quarterbacks.
(05:53):
They can certainly do without a great coach. At seventy two,
there were no doors opened. It's not all the NFL's fault.
Bill closed a lot of those doors. Again, the Seth
Wickersham article must read a lot of great intel. Now
(06:13):
Here is something I actually think and I this is fascinating.
So Mike Lombardi, who is now a media person, has
been hired by Belichick to be his GM. Now, I've
had multiple conversations with athletic directors in the last nine
to twelve months. This is the future of college football
general managers. In fact, I met with the Jen Cone
(06:35):
at USC. We had a long lunch over this. This
is the future of the sport. And so Belichick sees
that and is hiring Mike Lombardi, an ally, a confidant
for years, to be his GM. And it's a I mean,
it's full NFL. They're not even masquerading that it's college
They're not even trying to fool anybody. This is the NFL.
(06:58):
And here is Lombardi yesterday talking about his job now
with Belichick in Chapel Hill.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
We're going to build a pro personnel department, and that
pro personnel department really will be the transfer portal. So
that will be what we build there to monitor all
the college teams, whether it's in the ACC, the Big
Ten to Southeast Conference, or in any conference. Right the
new Pact twelve, so you have to monitor all the
players just like you would in pro football. And then
obviously you'll have a director of college scouting, but that
(07:28):
guy will be the director of high school scouting and
monitor all the high schools.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Okay, so that is the future. Now, how well will
Belichick do well? It should be noted Indiana a basketball school,
Arizona State and a baseball school at least it was
for years and SMU just made the playoff, so Belichick
can compete. And he also has a personnel guy. So
(07:53):
I don't think Belichick is the perfect personality fit, but
I think like coaching and personnel, he'll be fine. Now, Lombardi,
who I know a little, and Belichick are terse. They're outspoken,
they can be kurt. They're very direct that will rub
(08:15):
a lot of people on a college campus the wrong way.
They will have no interest going to Gala's with the
other coaches in the athletic department. They are pros. They're
going to come in with a certain arrogance and belief
and they don't care about your volleyball program or your
swim program. They don't care. And there's a lot of
(08:36):
high maintenance and needy coaching and overmatched administrators at the
college level. So I don't think it's going to be
a coaching issue with Bill. He'll be great. I don't
think it's gonna be a personnel issue. Mike Lombardi will
do fine. But dealing with donors in this ever fluid
collective nil. Here's the thing Bill loves. Structure. College football
(09:00):
didn't have any. It used to have some. Now it's
got very little. So what Bill's doing. If you watch
this move with Lombardi, he's bringing in structure. We're gonna
run a pro football operation. And again it's gonna rub
a lot of people the wrong way. The personality with
Lombardi and Belichick, that's gonna be interesting. The football and
(09:24):
the players. The collective by North Carolina reportedly is going
from four million, which is laughable, to eighteen to twenty million,
so they'll get players. But I'm rooting for it. I
love the sport. It's another talking point. But there will
be clashes. I think it will start. It'll be fun
(09:47):
and it's the headlines. It's powder blue. It's gonna look
nice and there will be there will be feathers ruffled
on that campus and I can't wait, and I'll listen.
I have a graphic. Here's North Carolina's schedule next year,
and again they've got players Mac Brown could recruit. I
(10:08):
mean their road games are Cal and Wake Forest and
Charlotte and Syracuse. You know, we're not talking the AFC
West or the NFC North. They're home games Stanford, Duke,
Virginia like an academic all star roster, Richmond, Clemson. So
there's no reason why Bill Belichick could not peel off
(10:31):
at ten and one. I would not be surprised by
that at all. If they can get quarterback just solid.
I don't worry at all about the coaching of the personnel.
They're ramping up the club. That's not it, and I
think for a year you'll look at it and go, oh,
it is Hammon. But we got pictures here Bill and
Chapel Hill. Listen, he's got a new girlfriend. It's younger,
(10:54):
he's exciting, excited. It's a college campus. It could you know,
maybe he is going to be turning a new leaf.
It's gregarious and joyful, Bill. But the football coaching's fine.
The personality fit with Lombardi is gonna be really interesting.
It's like Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame. Charlie Weiss, the
schemes were fine. He wore everybody out, you know, Charlie
(11:18):
wore people out. The schemes were smart. That wasn't the issue.
J Mack. I love I love doing this job. It's
so much fun. All I thought about last night is
Nick Wright said it to me yesterday. Can you imagine
Bill Belichick and the Pop Tart Bowl? It will look different.
He's going on, you saw that schedule right there. Come on,
they could go to ten or eleven wins.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
By the way, you.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Mentioned a it's gonna be rocky. There's gonna be problems.
You know who else had some problems and some rocky
stuff happened. Deon Sanders, Yeah, he had. I'm looking here,
three years of coaching at Jackson State.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
That's it.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
He goes to Colorado, they start hot, finished four and eight.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Oh g on, he can't hang.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
They're gonna get blasted nine and.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Three this year now, So let's be fair. If Carolina
is bumpy to start, and I don't think they will be.
The schedule's easy, the conference is bad, and Bill's.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Theirs with the portal.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
They got to get a quarterback. But again, Bill will
be able to win without great talent. He spent a
lot of his dynasty in New England having the second
third best roster in the AFC. Bill's won with less talent.
So again this is it's not a terrible fit. From there,
he will not have as much talent if he goes
into a playoff as Texas, Oregon, Georgia. He's not going
(12:33):
to have that. And I think we all have to
be fair. I have to be fair. I'm rooting for it,
not against it. I have. I don't think it's a
great fit. I think this is a nobody is interested
in the NFL. I think is ideal. I think Bill
would rather be coaching the Chicago Bears next year and
the and the New York Giants next year.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
What evidence is there that.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Seth withck Wickersham's article is that well, I seth Wickersham.
I trust he is great. So his articles basically Bill
wanted an NFL jobs, but they weren't interested in him,
and he got disgusted by the league. And my take
is the league is fine.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
You don't think he's disgusted like Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles,
who haven't done Jack squat, they're the one saying I
don't know about Belichick. I would be disgusted too, wouldn't you.
I mean, that's life. I think the Atlanta Falcons were like,
I don't know about this Belichick guy. The Atlanta Falcons
who had never won anything.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Those guys in the front office, look at their record.
They haven't done anything well.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
And Belichick is the most accomplished coach in NFL history.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You're not contextualizing it. He wants total control and his
personnel decisions are awful. They remember at the end, it's
remembered Bobby Knight as the age wouldn't recruit. So if
you hire Bobby Knight, oh, he's the most accomplished coach.
When he leaves, you have no players. They have no
(13:51):
players in New England. So when you hire Lane Kiffen,
you may not love his personality, but if he leaves,
you are left with a stacks If Sark doesn't work
at Texas, you're left with a stacked roster. When Bobby
Knight left school done in Texas, they have no players.
As he wanted to give the job to his son
because he refused to do things that you have to do.
(14:13):
It's a young man's game. So when you hire these legends,
be very careful. College athletic is a young man's game.
I always say this, if you're gonna roll the dice
on a coach, get a young great recruiter. Oklahoma did
this years ago. They hired a guy I think was
John Blake, and John didn't work as a coach, but
he was a tremendous recruiter. Year two, Bob stoops Windinnati
(14:35):
with tons of NFL guys. You hire older coaches who
are aren't gonna play any games. If it doesn't work,
it's a three year rebuild to get players because they're
not gonna outbid Georgia Florida State SEC schools for players.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Well, I would largely agree with that, but this whole
like doesn't recruit thing.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
The game has changed. It's no less about recruiting.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
I had a guy wo my podcast, former quarterback at
Arizona State, who said, listen, there's offensive linemen out there
who are like, Oh, this team wants me, this team
wants me. I don't even know where these schools are
on a map, but they're offering five hundred thousand dollars.
I'm going there, like that's where we are, and it's
let's about recruiting more about show me the money, show me.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
The I remember most schools have, like the big schools
have sixteen to eighteen million, the quarterback increasing at least
taking four to five. So you don't just have the
ability to buy a roster. You have to recruit at
least sixty to seventy percent of your roster has to
be high schoolers. The other thing is Brian Kelly, who
(15:37):
is a better college coach today than Bill Belichick has
proven to be. He's a better college coach. He's finding out.
When you go buy a roster, your chemistry's brutal. You
got to buy the right guy. Well again, there is
no perfect guy for the perfect program. Lincoln Riley's finding
out and Brian Kelly successful college coaches. This is what
they do. You can't just buy a roster. You can't.
(16:00):
You have to have foundational high school connections.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
How's this better shot at the playoff next year?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Lincoln Riley or Bill Belichick? Well, Belichick is in a
much easier conference. I mean the ACC is Clemson and nonsense.
I mean, that's time.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
I'm in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I'll see what the odds are on Belichick. Making man
look at look at, look at Carolina's schedule.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
I don't even know Carolina's roster now, and I can
tell you that's that's ten.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Wins right there at Syracuse and home against Clemson are
tough games. Okay, that's it. ACC Football's back, baby, Well,
I'll watch it. You made a rayco sports references. That's
so classical. I'm watching it. I'm not rooming against him.
(16:47):
We want more topics like Caitlin Clark saved us in August?
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noonon Easter not a em Pacific on Fox Orts
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
You're now entering the Noble Zone sponsored by Credible Great
Rates none of the Bowl. As Belichick was signing that
deal with Carolina, it made me actually think of Andy Reid,
who has aged very, very well, and I don't think
he's going to end his career with a job in
the ACC. Andy Reid, as you recall, got fired in
Philadelphia and had a job four days later in Kansas City,
(17:27):
and there were multiple NFL suitors. Andy Reid's coaching tree
is much superior to Belichick's. He's been to a super
Bowl in both conferences. He's won with multiple quarterbacks and styles.
The league's been trending in his direction finally for years.
And here's what's amazing, how undervalued Andy Reid is. Andy
(17:48):
Reid only needs six more playoff wins. That's it to
surpass Belichick. I bet you didn't know that. That's how
good he is. Belichick had a twenty year run. How
many years has Andy had Mahomes five? Andy by the
way five and one in the regular season as a
(18:09):
Chiefs coach against Belichick. But if Mahomes and Andy Reid
stay together just two to three more seasons, he will
surpass Belichick in all time wins and all time playoff wins,
I would imagine. And so I think Belichick looks at that,
and I'm not sure he thinks he's going to have
some Don Shuler record for long anyway. And I've said
(18:30):
this is that I think one of the reasons I
call Bill Parcells the greatest, one of the greatest coaches
of all time, Bill one with multiple quarterbacks. Bill one
immediately with multiple owners overnight, like he walked into dumpster
(18:51):
fires and the next year they were good. Urban Myers
done this in college Parcells does this in the NFL.
And this is not a shot at Belichick, but Belichick
five years in Cleveland for losing seasons, the year in
New England pre Brady losing season, the two years after
Brady left losing seasons. Belichick never won without Parcels or Brady.
(19:13):
Andy wins with everybody. And I mean so, I mean
Andy Reid was getting to conference championships in the NFC
when other teams were stacked, and he was doing it
with B and B plus quarterbacks. So Andy Reid's career
is not beholden to one coach or one player. And
I've said this before. If the NFL would have been
(19:34):
fourth right and honest about CTE concerns twenty years ago
and written a check and made the league safeer twenty
years ago to the level it's safe now, then Andy
Reid would be Belichick. Belichick was very fortunate that he
got a great generational quarterback pretty early in his career
(19:55):
and Andy had to wait twenty years. That is not
to say that Belichick isn't right now now viewed the
greatest all time coach. He deserves all the roses for that,
but it is interesting when he got this job. I
thought it's remarkable how few years Andy Reid needs to
keep winning to surpass him. That's how great he's been.
(20:17):
He just got his generational quarterback. So Nick right earlier
this week on Belichick leaving the NFL for college and
Andy Reid potentially passing him on that wins list.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Even if you go get that record, are you just
holding it for a year for Andy Reid? And I
know people like on Nick, your chief's guy. Here are
the numbers. He's going to end this season right around
three hundred. If he's at two ninety six right now,
he'll be forty seven away from Shula himself. That means
(20:53):
three great years or four mediocre years. So how important
is that all time code record if you actually only
hold it for twelve months before Andy Reid comes blows.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Past you, I think there's real legitimacy. I think Seth
Wickersham pointed out in the article. But I think Nick
makes a great point is if Andy's health holds up,
cross your fingers there, and he's gonna end up the
all time winning as coach, and he's one with a
multitude of C, B and A plus quarterbacks in both
(21:27):
conferences and It's why it's so easy for me to
root for Kansas City as they dominate the league. I
never rooted against New England. I thought they were smarter
than everybody. I think I feel the same way about
Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Now, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon eastern non am Pacific.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
With that forty five years NFL films, nobody's more objective.
Greg Josel joins us the value of the running back.
Nine months ago, the media lamenting running backs, lamenting the future,
their economic future, and here we watch Detroit and Green
Bay and Baltimore and Washington, these power running teams are
(22:09):
now front and center. Do you think there's a reason
for it schematically?
Speaker 4 (22:14):
I do. I think there's a number of reasons, and
maybe we don't know the exact why all these teams
and Philly obviously is probably the number one example they
leave the league in rushing. But what you're seeing more
of in the league are a couple of things in
no particular order, Colin. You're seeing a lot more twelve
personnel offenses are playing with more multiple tight ends, two
(22:35):
sometimes three tight ends. You're seeing issues with offensive lines
in pass protection, that's been a major issue throughout the
league for a lot of teams. So if you have
issues in pass protection, you try to run the football
and alleviate that problem. I would say there's been a
far more two high safety structure coverages in the league.
(22:56):
That's been a trend over the last couple of years,
where there's more two high safeties as opposed to a
safety sitting in the box. So the numbers tend to
favor the run game. And I would say another thing
is more and more teams are playing what we call
big nickel, playing with three safeties as sort of a
base defense as opposed to a third linebacker, So you're
(23:17):
seeing smaller players on the field. So the run game
has become more and more prevalent. But overall, the pass
protection thing really stands out to me because I remember
years ago I had a conversation with John Gruden and
one of the first things he said to me was,
you don't have a pass game if you can't protect.
And protection has been a big issue in the league.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, we're getting more athletic defensive end and pass rushers
and less guys on the athletic can block them. Okay,
so the Eagles have clearly since the buye became more
of a run first team, fewer attempts for Jalen Hurts.
It may not make AJ Brown happy, but it makes
him a better team. So the game of the week
arguably is Steelers and Eagles. So the Steelers they see
(23:58):
a lot of Lamar Jackson, so Jalen Hurt's movement is
not going to intimidate them or flummex them. I think
Pittsburgh sort of matches up, even though I do believe
Philadelphia's roster is arguably the best in the league. What
are you expecting with the Eagles Steelers matchup?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
You know, it's funny you say that the Steelers overall
have played the run very well. They have really good
players up front, and the numbers their run defense statistics
are very good. But believe it or not, they don't
play their run as well from their nickel defense as
they do from their base defense. So I'm very curious
to see if the Eagles, in this game, as they
did a week ago, play a lot out of eleven
(24:39):
personnel with three wide receivers. Keeping in mind also that
Dallas Goddard is out, so they may want to be
in eleven personnel anyway. But to me, that's a critical
part of this matchup. And there's one player on the
Steeler defense who I think is really really important. It's
to Sean Elliott. He is a really smart, savvy player.
Not a well known player, he's been around the league,
(25:00):
but he is really aware, really smart, understands offensive line play,
understands formations. He's a critical piece of that Steelers defense
in the run game.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
So last week I watched the Rams dissect the Bills defense.
It looked like a seven on seven drill, but there
was also something about the Bills offense that was a
bit concerning. Earlier this year, I said, I love Josh
Allen to be Superman, but I like him to go
(25:33):
into the phone booth and do it once or twice
a game. I don't want him to show up after
the anthem in the Cape, and I thought, they they're
losing a little bit of the balance. They're becoming a
little more Hey Josh, save us. This is the Bills.
I don't love is the film saying that?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Well, I think last week's game was probably a little
bit of anathema to what they want to be. I
think that they fell early on in that game that
the opposing offense, the Rams offense, was really moving the
ball well, and the game was snowballing early, and they
did try to run and couldn't. And I think they
felt that they had to keep pace in a high
(26:13):
scoring contest, and in their mind, the way to keep
pace is to put the ball in Josh Allen's hands,
argue arguably the most dynamic individual player in the league. So,
you know, I think that particular game they felt that's
how they have to play. I don't think they're changing
their philosophy. They still play more with six offensive linemen,
(26:35):
more snaps with six offensive linemen, far and away than
any team in the league. We'll see how it turns
out this week as they're in Detroit. And one of
the things that stood out with their defense a week
ago they couldn't really generate any pressure with a four
man pass rush, and their zone coverages were eaten up
by McVeigh. And keep in mind, you know this Colin
(26:55):
Ben Johnson does as good a job as any offensive
coordinator in the league versus zone with his spacing, his
route spacing, his understanding of how to put zone defenders
in conflict. So we'll see how this week plays out.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
So an interesting matchup. And I got to give Jay
Mack and you credit because I asked both of you
before the season, what's a team that's better than people think?
And you said the Seahawks and j Mack said the Seahawks,
and you both said, like their roster, let's see Mike McDonald. Well,
the Ravens defense has cratered without Mike McDonald, and the
(27:29):
Seahawks defense, now that it's healthy with McDonald, is outstanding.
So Green Bay become a bit more of a power
run team against Seattle this weekend. I'm fascinated to watch that.
What do you expect?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Well, the Seahawks defense vanilla is not the right word,
but they're not a high percentage blitz defense. But they
have a really good defensive line rotation. And they made
changes at linebacker, oh three, four weeks ago when they
traded for Ernest and they put the rookie Knight in
who replaced Terrel Dotson who they released, And they're much
(28:05):
much better at the linebacker position. And also, you know,
it's funny I mentioned Big Nickel a few minutes ago
talking about the run game. Since they got the safety
Jenkins back from injured reserve. They've gone to a lot
of big nickel playing three safeties and that has really
helped them. And Julian Love one of their safeties. He
is one of the best safeties in the league, and
(28:26):
he's not talked about enough. So they have really good
people and that the line rotation is really really impressive.
All right, So.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I got you a Baker Mayfield credit. Now, I've always
liked Jason light the GM. I've always thought they draft
well and Baker. You know, he and Darnold Donald's bigger,
more athletic, and Baker can have rough quarters. But when
you look at Tampa, is it a Baker story or
a roster story? What has them in first place?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
You could argue, Again, I guess that's our theme for
the day. If I told you they were a top
eight rushing team in the NFL, were you aware of that?
They've rushed for over one hundred and fifty yards I
think in six or seven games this year, including last week.
They've become incredibly multiple with their run game. They play
two backs, what we call the Pony package. They'll play
Irving and White, they'll play White and Tucker, they'll play
(29:22):
Irving and Tucker. They'll play with the Pony package quite
a bit, and they're really multiple with how they attack
in the run game. And when you have Irving and
White on the field, they are both really good receivers
as well. So Baker's playing well, there's no question about it.
But I think they have multiple ways in which to
attack defenses, and their run game has become a big factor.
And by the way, they're a really snapshot of what
(29:46):
I was talking about. They're o line much better run
blocking than they are in pass protection.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Okay, so I'm interested for this. The other day on
the internet, I saw somebody posted it. I apologize for
not remembering what it was, but they put Russell Wilson's
stats last year in Denver up against bow Knicks stats
this year in Denver, and they were kind of similar,
very similar. But yet I feel differently about bow Knicks
(30:12):
than Russell Wilson, though the numbers are the same and
the offensive personnel is mostly the same. Soh and the
coach Peyton's the same bow Knicks, Russell Wilson. What's Denver
doing offensively? That feels different to me because I feel
they're more explosive.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
And they are. The numbers are the numbers, but it
looks different because it is different. One thing about bon Nicks,
which I'm not sure many of us expected Colin, is
he is very good throwing the ball in the middle
of the field between the numbers at the intermediate level,
and I think there were questions about whether he could
do that at the NFL level. But he's done a really,
(30:54):
really good job with that. So in terms of the
timing and structure of their offense, the rhythm of it,
and the past game, it just is better than it
was a year ago. And so numbers are, They're just
a cumula thing over time. But the way you achieve
those numbers is more important. It's the process of achieving
those numbers, and the process in Denver, the way their
(31:16):
offense looks and plays is much more consistent with bo
Nicks than it was a year ago with Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Before we get to the Niners. To end this, I
want to talk about the Rams. I've said this, you
could make an argument take out maybe the Lions. Maybe
that if you said head coach, quarterback, two receivers running back,
the Rams are in a very rarefied air. They Kyron Williams, Pooka,
(31:44):
Cooper McVeigh, Stafford. You and I both love Stafford. He
is so much fun to watch. So they play a
beat up Niners team tonight. Let's but my takeaway is,
are the Rams a year away with their offensive line
and another draft class, or when you watch them beat Buffalo,
(32:05):
do you believe like that's who they are they can
beat anybody.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Well, I think they can beat anybody that. Whether they
do or not, I guess that remains to be seen.
But when Stafford can be protected, and of course the
Bills did not generate much pass rush, so you have
to be concerned when they play teams that can really
rush the quarterback because I think their O line is
still a bit of a work in progress. But in
terms of the schematics of their offense, I think it's
(32:32):
really really difficult to defend. I mean, it's play action
under center, it's motion, it's shifting, it's reduced splits, Receivers
get free access. They're really good attacking zone coverage with
their spacing. Defensively, they have a very young D line,
but those guys are dynamic and athletic and a few
of them could end up being special and They made
(32:53):
a major change about a month or so ago with
what they do on defense with their personnel, So you know,
I think he gets a team that could theoretically beat anybody,
but you've got to protect Stafford. When he's protected, there
may be no one who throws a prettier ball to
Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Okay, brock perty is having to play without Christian McCaffrey
look pretty good against the Bears. Your thoughts about that?
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Yeah, I thought that last week. That was a clinic
by Kyle Shanahan. He knew exactly what he was going
to get from the Bears defense. They played a ton
of ZWN coverage. He attacked it beautifully. Purdy was able
to throw the ball to his primary quite a bit.
They got the screen game involved, which is basically a
no red throw, and it just looked on tape in particular,
it looked good on TV too, but in tape it
(33:38):
just looked like a clinic. And there was one play
early on in the game that really stood out to me,
and that's going to be our play of the week,
and we can get to that right now because it's
so symptomatic and emblematic of what they did and This
was a thirty three yard completion to Kittle relatively early
in the game, and you'll see he catches it in
(33:58):
there's room, there's space for him. And Kittle was very
involved last week in their offense, and I'm sure that
was by design. So as we look to break this down,
what you're going to see here is Kittle, who's on
the left side of the formation to start, He's going
to shift to the other side of the formation. And
so what that does is it makes it what we
call a three by one set with three receivers to
(34:21):
the wide side of the field and a single receiver
to the boundary. Now, the coverage to the three receiver
side is going to be Cover two. Okay, so they're
going to attack this Cover two Again, it looked like
Kyle knew exactly what he was going to get through
much of this game. He's going to run Connolly and
pearsall on two vertical routes. They're the outside receivers that
(34:44):
it take attacks the Cover two safety, and then Kittle's
going to run an outcut underneath those two verticals, and
then you're going to have the back Garndo worked through
the line into the flat to the same side. So
four receivers to the same side, what we call four strong,
very difficult in zone coverage to defend. So again, just
(35:06):
as we walk through it, you get the two verticals
that forces that safety, the half field safety, to have
to retreat. Now you're going to get the hook defender underneath.
He's going to expand. He doesn't really need to, but
he does for a couple of reasons. One, he has
eyes on Girndo, who's going to get into the flat.
But the main reason he's going to expand has to
(35:29):
do with what Brock Purdy does here. Purdy does a
great job right here of pumping as if he's going
to throw to the outside void to Connolly, and that
gets that hook defender to really expand, and he shouldn't
because now what you get is you get Kittle in
that void in the coverage. And this was beautifully set up.
As I said, four strong, very very hard to defend
(35:53):
in zone coverage. You just don't have enough bodies. And
this was very reflective and representative of what Yle Shanahan
did against the Bears last week. As we see Kittle
here running his route, and when you get the ball
to Kittle and he has room to run. You know
what that's like, Colin, He's a very difficult guy to tackle.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Forty five years NFL Films, Greg co Selezo was good
seeing him a man.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
College football is a very fluid sport. One of the
guys that is close to mastering it and has really
I mean we thought Dan Lanning. I covered Oregon for years.
He had big energy, big recruiting, good resume. He's really
hit it out of the park at Oregon. And it's hard.
This is a very it's like technology. It's a very
fluid sport with boundaries that are changing. And Dan Lanning
(36:50):
at Oregon has crushed it. And he's the only undefeated
college football coach joining us now live three years at Oregon.
You don't watch that Bill Belichick press conference. I gotta
tell you if you could say, hey, Bill, here's one
thing about college football, Like what one thing would you
give any coach, legend or young guy one piece of advice?
Speaker 7 (37:14):
Dan, Hey, get ready to adapt what it is today?
Speaker 8 (37:19):
Might be something different tomorrow, So you better be ready
to play on your toes because it's consistently changing.
Speaker 7 (37:24):
That's the one thing that's consistent about college ball right now.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
So you've been a DC it in the SEC, You've
been a head coach in the Pac twelve. Now you're
a head coach in the Big Ten. So that your
journey's crazy. You're you're bouncing all over the country. Now,
I think it's an advantage. But this year in the
Big Ten, I thought, because Oregon's got the kind of weather,
youre weren't a warm weather team. You play in rain
and Eugene, you can handle the Midwest? Was the Big Ten?
(37:51):
What you expected? Mostly?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Coach?
Speaker 9 (37:55):
Yeah, I don't know what I expect to be on
great football, and I do think we got the express
that and some of the story competitions that exist in
this conference, you know, getting to go some of these
great venues.
Speaker 8 (38:07):
Yeah, I guess in a lot of ways, it was
what I expected. It was a great challenge and a
lot of fun for our team.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
A lot of coaches, Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley, they got
money in their collective. Yours has worked. You've been able
to sew the fabric of chemistry together the two things.
When I watch Oregon, they play hard every snap and
they are fast. You've made the portal work for you,
(38:33):
and I think it's harder than people think. I mean,
in the NFL you often bring back most of your
roster ten years ago. In college, you know you'd replace
fifteen eighteen guys. How have you done it? What has
been the key to the balance of fresh new faces
but really strong Oregon football culture? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (38:52):
I think a lot of that credit, you know, lies
within our players and our staff. They've created a standard
and I get to work with great people every single day.
Speaker 7 (39:00):
I think there's a clear cut.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
You know, balance of what we really want, what kind
of people we want to bring into the organization, and
then our players that pulled in the standard of what,
you know, what great football looks like, what being a
great teammate looks like. Uh, and our guys have really
attacked that. And you know, we talk about player led teams.
I think every coach talks about player led teams, but
we truly have a player lead team here and they're
gonna make sure the guys around them come to work,
you know, every single day, and that's paid off for us.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
You know, it's funny. I love your intensity. It jumps
through the screen. There was a game this year and
I knew you were good, and I had predicted before
the season that I thought you would beat Ohio State
at home. But the Wisconsin game you didn't play well
in one and that was the game. I was like, Okay,
they can win a Nattie because Otson's hard to win,
(39:44):
and I'm like, well, they're gonna beat anybody at Outson.
But that game was interesting because I'm like, boy, they
had their B game. Was there a moment for you
this season where there was something where you were flying
home or driving home after a game and thought, boy,
there's this team may have a little something I didn't
think we had.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (40:02):
I don't know if I ever really had that moment.
Speaker 8 (40:03):
I think maybe what excites me the most about this
team is we've been able to win in different ways,
you know, and you don't ever want that as your
as a coach, you always want your a game in
every phase. But when we played Boise State early in
the year, we struggled and we won on special teams.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
We had a punt returning, a kickoff return, you know,
to create that win.
Speaker 8 (40:20):
You play Wisconsin, we really won on defense, and you
go last week, you know, playing Penn State in the
Big Ten championship game. Our offense was clicking on all cylinders.
And what's good for us is knowing that you can
win in a variety of ways. But when we put
that all together, I think you're talking about a really
special team. So that's the hope, you know, as we
try to finish this thing off, is to be able
to put all three phases together and have a great run.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
You know, it's interesting, Dan, when you have young teams
in the NFL, an older team like a Kansas City Chiefs,
getting a buye is good for the team, but a
lot of times young teams don't give them time off.
They heal faster, get them out there. Would you rather
be playing or are you comfortable saying, hey, Aisle State, Tennessee,
you bang around. I mean, I guess it's an advantage sitting,
(41:03):
but you're already sitting, and I think with young players
in your momentum, are you worried a little bit about
this is quite a layoff for you.
Speaker 8 (41:13):
Yeah, it's on us as a coaching staff. To me,
it's about how you use your time right. If you're
just sitting and waiting for the for the next opportunity,
then you definitely are are not putting yourself in an advantage.
Speaker 7 (41:24):
For us, it's all about how we use this time, right.
Speaker 8 (41:26):
How can we study ourselves as coaches, How can we
study ourselves as players, utilize the opportunity for recovery, you know,
challenge the parts of the game that we can be
better at. Uh So, for us, we've got a detailed
plan for where we're trying to improve what we want
to attack.
Speaker 7 (41:40):
And obviously there's some chaos in college football right now.
Speaker 8 (41:42):
You're dealing with the transfer portal and everything else that
exists right now.
Speaker 7 (41:45):
So we're trying to utilize that time the best.
Speaker 8 (41:48):
And I think that's what will create an advantage for us,
is if we have a great plan for that.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
By the way, I got to ask you about bow Nick.
So I brought him here. He sat in the couch
for a half hour.
Speaker 4 (41:55):
He was great.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
I loved him. He is way feistier I've watched in
the NFL. He'd dog cussing, he getting in Sean Payton's face,
and I'm like, man, he and then I read a
story of the other day that like you have no
idea how feisty bon Nicks is. Was was was that
the bow Nicks at Oregon that he'd get after guys.
Speaker 7 (42:18):
He's always been competitive man.
Speaker 8 (42:20):
He I think he has a competitive spirit that people
don't realize because you know, he's just a great young man.
Like he's a great dude, but when you stepped on
the football field, he'd be angry. He'd be angry if
it didn't go his way, and you could challenge him
every single day in practice. You know, I was pretty
fired up the other day I got a bon Nicks
Christmas card.
Speaker 7 (42:37):
That's that's a shout out to his wife Izzy. You
know I was.
Speaker 8 (42:41):
I was fired up to know that they were on
their piece and Ques I don't I don't think the
Landings have sent out a Christmas card yet. So as
good as he's playing, they got their whole house in
order right now. I think that's a great example of
how they compete.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Well, you've done a remarkable job. Congrats on the win
over Penn State, and Oregon is humming. I don't think
the committee got it right. I thought you deserved a
better placement, But you know what, you didn't complain about it.
It's the job, it's the task. Go win games. And
I can't wait to watch you play, and congrats and
all your success.
Speaker 8 (43:11):
Appreciate it, Colin, and we're certainly excited about the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Can't wait.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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