September 23, 2025 • 52 mins
After a disappointing loss to the Detroit Lions, Colin Cowherd questions whether Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens are true Super Bowl contenders this season.
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert joins Colin to discuss the team’s impressive 3-0 start and what it’s like playing for Jim Harbaugh
Colin delivers his updated Herd Hierarchy following week 3 of the NFL season — and for the second consecutive week, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are not on the list.
Plus, Fox Sports NFL analyst Greg Olsen weighs in on Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and his development under new head coach Ben Johnson, and why he's a believer in the young QB's upside.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, it is a Tuesday. This will be the best
show in a long time. I hope, hope. What am
I talking about?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hope?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Of course it is Greg Old from Nick right, justin
Herbert Herd Hierarchy. One hour from now on a Tuesday,
we are live. It is the Herd. Wherever you may be,
however you may be watching or listening. Thank you for
making us part of your day. Jmax, you and I
didn't have a very good week. It was a weird,
(00:54):
weird week. But when you dig deep on Detroit, you
know we talked about this brand new coordinators. Don't take
Week one to two seriously or the preseason. It looks
like they've righted the ship. They looked like Detroit the
last several years. Physically upfront, pushing people around.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Yeah, it what questions about the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Hopefully you can answer it all right. So last night
was the perfect example of how you beat a superstar
quarterback when you're the road team. Detroit dominates time of possession,
they're aggressive on fourth down, they convert in the red zone,
no field goals, we're getting touchdowns. They bullied the home
Ravens for three and a half hours, super aggressive. And
(01:39):
you think of Baltimore as tough and physical and resilient.
Now this defense is just as soft as the Dallas
Cowboys defense. Baltimore's last in total defense. They surrender a
ton of yards. I don't want to hear about the
pass rushers they were missing. That wasn't about pass rushing
last night. They invested a lot of money in Kyle Hamilton,
Rokwan Smith or top to draft picks. They got over
(02:01):
one hundred million on defense, and then they're soft and
by week four and five in the NFL season, we're
getting to be a quarter of the way through it.
Some of your problems you can't solve unless at the
trading deadline you take a big swing. So this was
three and a half hours of total domination. It may
have been thirty eight to thirty, it felt like forty
eight to seventeen. And here's the weird thing is that
(02:25):
Lamar Jackson is so explosive that when he does lead
a scoring drive, it's often very quick. So they send
that crappy defense back on the field. They don't get
any rest. So the Ravens bizarrely have the second fewest
plays per drive in the league and the number one
(02:46):
total offense, so they don't play complimentary football. And if
you look at the last ten Super Bowls, which is
twenty total teams, there's been one awful defense Atlanta. What
happened to Atlanta in that Super Bowl? A huge lead,
you're not a Super Bowl team with that defense. So
the Ravens have a huge dilemma, which I don't know
(03:08):
if it's solvable, is that they score because they're so
dynamic with Lamar Jackson, He's so gifted. They score quickly,
and then the defense doesn't get a rest. It goes
right back onto the field. It's not complimentary football. Like
last year, the Lions defense stunk, but the Lions were
number two in the league last year in time of possession,
so at least they kept their average defense on the
(03:30):
sidelines and they won fifteen games. That's not what Baltimore does.
Plus they got a Derreck Henry fumbles in imperfect times issue.
So and again by week four, week five, you know
you kind of you kind of know what your issues are.
I mean, the Lions had ninety six yard drive and
seventy yard drive and ninety eight yard drive and sixty
(03:53):
yard drive. They did whatever they wanted to do. And
if you look at the Baltimore game, their defense against
Detroit last night and the Ravens defense against Buffalo combined
those two games, they only forced those teams to punt
three times, three times out of thirteen total possessions. So
(04:14):
I went this morning and looked at the Ravens defense,
their NFL rank, their last thirtieth, thirty first and everything. Yeah,
they were missing a double pass rushers. That wasn't about
pass rush. Detroit was in control. I mean by the
third quarter, you every time Baltimore sent that defense out
to make a stop, they couldn't. So the Ray Lewis
at Reed days are over. This defense doesn't do a
(04:36):
lot well. They've spent money on it, and bizarrely, they
score too quickly. If you are weak defensively. We've talked
about this a lot, like one of the issues Kansas
City has. They have no run game, so their defense
is good, but it looks worn down in the second half. Well,
Ravens defense looks worn down in the first half. And
(04:56):
again Lamar is so explosive that you that defense is
on the field way too many snaps. And John Harbaugh
saw the same thing we did.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
The biggest problem is we didn't play good run defense.
I mean, we didn't as a defense complete. We didn't
do it. And that's not going to be good enough.
There's nobody in that locker room that thinks that's good enough.
That's disappointing, that's bad run defense, and that's not who
we are. It cannot be who we are. It's just
it's not gonna be good enough. It's not going to
be acceptable, and it's got to be better.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So again, when you get to this point of the season,
trade deadlines up in about three weeks, Rams may need
a corner. Ravens have to figure out something defensively. Now
they will have pass rushers return, which could help them
in close games late if they have a lead, But
(05:54):
right now this defense is just not good and they've
invested in it, and it was a major problem last night.
Let's talk Lions. Let's give him some credit. So there's
a big difference. It's a fine line, but there is
a difference between stubborn guy and guy who has a
very strong self belief. And I initially thought Dan Campbell
(06:15):
was a little stubborn when he would always go for
it on fourth because I didn't like their personnel. But
now that they have really good personnel, he's self belief guy.
He's never wavered on what he does. He's go for
it guy. When they went for it with a buck
fifty six left in the fourth quarter, fourth and two,
and despite the fact they'd run at will on Baltimore
(06:36):
and they throw it downfield. That is self belief. That
is believing in your dudes, and they should again. I
thought Dan was reckless in his first couple of years
because going forward on fourth down with average players is dumb.
Detroit drafts really well. They got a great front office.
Going for it last night. I would have run. I
(06:57):
think we all thought they were gonna run. But on
the two fourth downs, the one at the goal line
kind of the double pitch, and then that they throw
it over the top. So I mean that was really clever.
Both of those caught you off guard. They don't have
a touch push, and yet the last three years they're
number one in the league on fourth down conversions. They
(07:20):
don't have a touch push. They have a golf hands
it off, give it to Gibbs, but they don't have
a touch push. So again there's a fine line between
stubborn guy and hey, I believe in what we are.
And Dan Campbell took over a very flimsy franchise. The
Lions always had talent, Barry Sanders, Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson.
They always had talent, they had no identity, and so
(07:42):
Dan came into a fault and said, we're gonna be tough,
relentless and physical and super aggressive. And again I was like,
I don't know, but going forward on fourth down, it's
got a Jim Harbaugh field to it. It's completely authentic,
and he's not wavering. This is who he is. Home
(08:02):
or away, good team are bad, He's gonna go for it.
And here's Dan Campbell after.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
I got a tremendous amount of trust in those guys,
and that that's been built up now in five years
you're right, and that helps. And that offensive line the
way they were playing, and we just felt like that
was we felt like that was the right call. And
it's man, it's those guys. It's the players, man, They're
the ones who make this stuff come to life. And
(08:29):
they've earned that trust, you know, and they just once again, man,
they step up and make huge plays at critical times,
and it's I mean, it's unbelievable. It really is. It's
a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
If you look at the best teams in this league,
you almost never ask what are they like the Chargers
in hardball, what are they? Physical? Aggressive? What are the Lions?
You have never asked what Dan Campbell like, what are
they They've had bad they've had bad defenses. You always
(09:02):
know what they are. They are hyper aggressive. In the
best days of the Ravens when they were winning Super Bowls,
they were physical. You didn't want to play the Ravens
like the Patriots would go into games. But Tom Brady
said it, Yeah, I didn't really love playing those teams.
That those teams you felt you were sore the next
three days. And that's a big part. Like the Tush
push the Eagles, you never doubt what they are, and
(09:24):
there's a lot of talented players in this league. But
go look at the standings this morning, and if you
look at the top the three and ozero teams, of
the two and one teams, almost ohas they have an identity,
you kind of know what they are and what they
stand for. Eber Flus, head coach of the Bears, what
were they? They weren't even good on defense all the time.
(09:44):
Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins, they're fast. You never asked
that with the Lions and Dan Campbell, so J mackett is.
It is a fascinating dilemma for the Ravens is that
they have all sorts of good players, but it's not
a complimentary football team. You cannot win Super Bowl. You
(10:06):
can't win a World Series with a bad bullpen. You
can't leak runs in the seven, eighth, and nine. You
can't win a Super Bowl with a really bad defense,
because even if you outplay a team like Atlanta and
the Patriots, you'll subsequently give up that You'll give that
lead up eventually. And I look at Baltimore last night
and unlike no, that team can't win a super Bowl
at their current state, at their current roster. I don't
(10:29):
think they can win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
It's interesting. I think they started zero to two last
year and then peeled off five in a row. But
there's only six teams in the AFC.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Colin right now with a winning record, that's it.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
And one of them is like the Colts, you know,
and the other with Jaguars. So the AFC is actually down,
and I feel like Baltimore is maybe finding themselves early.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I have a theory on this, Okay, So in the
last two years, I believe the NFC is caught up
and surpassed the AFC. So what happened was AFC team
There were a lot of bad AFC teams like Buffalo
they're a bad team, or a Cincinnati, Yeah, they're not
a very good team. And at Chargers, what are they?
(11:09):
Philip Rivers is getting old? They were a lot. And
then all these AFC teams hit on quarterbacks Josh Allen,
Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Well, I mean to some degree,
like Trevor Lawrences, justin Herbert. So when you didn't have
to pay Patrick Mahomes Kansas City, when you didn't have
to pay those quarterbacks yet the top of the NFL
(11:31):
was all these great quarterbacks on rookie deals. Then Baltimore,
Kansas City is Cincinnati, Buffalo. Now you have to pay
your star quarterbacks. What happens those teams in the AFC's
rosters aren't very good. The NFC, many of the teams
(11:52):
have quarterbacks on friendly deals. Darnold and the Seahawks, Baker
in the Bucks, Purty in the Niners, Hurts in the Eagles.
So in the NFC you don't have the superstars, but
you have very good B plus A minus quarterbacks on
team friendly deals, and therefore your rosters are better. I
(12:15):
think the rosters now are better in the NFC. The
quarterback elite talent, now very expensive, is better in the AFC.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
What do you eating neurogum over there? That is a hot,
awesome take, and that's good stuff from you.
Speaker 7 (12:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Denver flies in the face of that. They have a
young quarterback.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
They're one and two, but they lost two games at
the Buzzer, right, so maybe they're going to be fine.
But I do kind of like that you pay your quarterback,
you can't the rest.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Of the Rocks four to five year stretch that we
looked at Baltimore, Buffalo, Kansas City. We're like, oh, yeah,
those are easily the best teams because you have stack
rosters and superstar quarterbacks. But Easington, look at Kansas City's
O line and run game bad, Baltimore's defense bad, Buffalo's
back end not very good. That's the one. I mean, like,
(13:00):
even the Chargers like, we like him, but god, they
could use another to this. They couldn't keep Bosa, they
could keep Khalil Mack. He gets hurt. You're like, uh oh,
So that's the reality is the NFC has got better
value on very good quarterbacks, though not mahomes Lamar Josh Allen. Great.
So there you go. Heard hierarchy forty five minutes from now.
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Speaker 2 (13:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (13:45):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get.
Speaker 9 (13:53):
To and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show, so we never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, you blubber list lame me.
Speaker 8 (14:08):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 9 (14:12):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 8 (14:26):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 9 (14:36):
There you go, over Promising, and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Well, no quarterback in the last two decades for the
Chargers has been hit as many times as Justin Herbert
got hit against the Denver Broncos. But the obviously they
got some offensive line injuries. The Broncos are a great
front and Justin Herbert, one of the most likable, humble guys,
(15:09):
has given us ten minutes today, which I totally appreciate that.
And he knows that he's joining us live. So Hardball
said yesterday, Jim is funny. He's like, you know, Justin
gets hit, he never shows that, he never wins his
yet he's just like a superpower. And I thought, driving
in today, I thought, do you ever get hit Sunday
and it really hurts? I mean it really hurts, but
(15:31):
you know you have to go back into the huddle
and you can't show that. Are you ever in some
pain and you're just masking it and not letting your
teammates know?
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, well, first of thanks for having me. I always
always look forward to being on the show. And that
is a good question. There were a couple times in
the game where I was maybe a little slow to
get up got back to the huddle, and you know,
I might have called the play a little slower for
the guys, and so they might have recognized that. But
as long as coach Harbaugh thinks that, then you know,
that's great for me.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Justin when you get hit. And again, all quarterbacks get hit.
Lamar Jackson last night got sacked seven times. It's the
reality of the NFL. There's great athletes up front. How
do you not hear footsteps? How does it not affect
you later in a game?
Speaker 7 (16:17):
Yeah, that's a really tough thing.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And I think that's part of playing quarterback, of understanding
that you know you're going to get hit and the
defenses that you're going up against are really fast and athletic,
and you just got to have enough time to get
the ball off and understand that those split seconds of
you know, if I stand in the pod for you know,
just a half second more, I can get the ball
off and we can have a big play. It makes
it all worth it. And obviously we do a great
(16:40):
job taking care of our bodies, and you know, we've
got a training staffs I get to none.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
So knowing that you feel comfortable going out there.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So the first time Jim Harbaugh came up to you,
pregame and it started banging on your shoulder pads. I mean,
that's what he does now, and I actually think there
it works. It kind of like it startles you were
getting the good Jim. I thought Jim was a little crazy,
and then he came to the Chargers and he's like
likable Jim and funny Jim. I mean that's all you know, right,
(17:13):
you only know that Jim.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, that's that's all we know. We just know the
most authentic competitor. You know. He cares so much about
the team, about winning, about football, and he'd do anything
for us.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
And you know when I first got on.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
The sideline and he was hitting my pads and things
like that, I just thought it was awesome. He kind
of explained the story about you know, getting that first hit,
and you know, as soon as you get that first hit,
you're ready to go. And so he felt like, if
you could do that before the game, then there's no
time wasted.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Quentin Johnson worried me he had drops. It looked like
he almost lacked confidence. Well that's over. You guys have
been aggressive. He is the downfield weapon. Can you take
me a little bit into the off season of taking
a guy that had talent wasn't quite there yet whatever
you guys did. But it feels like he's turned a corner.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah'sq's done such a great job. And I think one
of the really special things about him is he had
a great year last year. It was it was kind
of a quieter great year, and I think he had
eight touchdowns and caught a whole bunch of yards. And
you know, he came back this year and he's just
continued to work.
Speaker 7 (18:20):
He's continuing to get better, and he's having fun.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
He's playing confidently, and he's making a bunch of plays.
There was a play that you know, he went up
and caught a fifty to fifty ball on Sunday and
obviously it was an irresponsible throw by me. But to
have a guy like that go up and get it
and you know, kind of save me was was really
cool to.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
See what do you do when you get hit fourteen times?
Give me a take me behind the curtain? What is
your Monday rehab? Like? What you do? Don't tell me?
You just go get a frappucino and just sit in
the couch. What is Monday rehab? Like?
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Yeah, I actually get in the pool and I move
around in the pool.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know, I think it's easy on my joints, and
whether it's swimming, running, it's it's good to just get movement.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
I do a lot of icing on my shoulder. You know.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I think I threw the ball a bunch, And you know,
it was kind of the game that we knew was
going to happen. We know how good their front seven was,
and you know, watching the film of the quarterbacks the
week before, they had to move a bunch and they
had to throw on the run and that's just kind
of what you had to do against the Broncos.
Speaker 7 (19:22):
And you know, obviously we do a good job.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
We've got all the facilities here at our team facility,
so it makes my job so much easier.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So you had thirty six pass attempts, that's what you're
kind of doing on a weekly basis. It was close
sort of twenty nine last year. How does that change
prep for you? Now? You may say, oh, it's only
seven pass attempts, but you got some offensive line injuries.
So is your mindset change a little bit justin from
last year? Like, hey, I'm going to get up near
(19:50):
the forties here.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Like like that?
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Do you are you a little more? Are there certain
throws now you'll like hold it back and think, hey,
I got forty pass attempts, it's the first quarter. Does
it change any for you psychologically?
Speaker 7 (20:03):
Not so much.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I think the thing that we do recognize is, you know,
they are multiple ways to win a football game, and
whether that's throwing it forty times or whether we're going
to run the ball forty times, you got to put
the team in a position to win and understanding that
the defense that we have that they're going to force
a bunch of stops and turnovers, and you just gotta
be smart with the ball. And I think as long
as we're limiting turnovers, scoring in the red zone, and converting.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
On third downs, which I think we've done a pretty
good job.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Of the past couple of weeks, you know, I'm happy
to throw the ball as much as I can.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Explain to me how Keenan Allen multiple surgeries. He's not
a four to three to eight guy anymore a four
to four guy. How does Keenan Allen get open on
every third down his entire career? Explain it to me.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
He just the way he works routes, his understanding of
defenses and leverage.
Speaker 7 (20:57):
I don't know how he does it.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
He came a few weeks here, maybe three or four
weeks ago and picked up the offense like he'd been
running his entire life.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
And I've never really seen anything like that. And that's
how you can.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Tell, you know, he's a true pros He's one of
the best to ever do it.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
And you know, he's just so smart.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
He understands how defenses are trying to play him and
where to go. And it's basically like having another quarterback
out there.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah here, relationship with him. All young quarterbacks need somebody
they can trust. He's your trust guy. Do you guys
have like an unscripted language eye contact, Like on that
big play this weekend, did you know it was going
to him? Did you sense it was?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I think that's where we're just so lucky to have him,
you know, especially when I came into the league, to
have him and Mike Williams, where we're two guys that
kind of just showed me the way and just we're
true receivers and sometimes you take them for granted. But
that play, No, I break out of the pocket, and
I know that he's the first to react.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
He sees what I'm doing and takes off.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And you know, as long as you're the first to react,
and you've got to to make something happen downfield.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
And even if it is a fifty to fifty ball.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Keenan Allen, you know, he's he's a huge body, he's
he's so talented and athletic. I know he's going to
go fight for that ball. And didn't see the actual catch,
but watching it on the replay.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
Was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, it was. By the way, Oregon's at Penn State
this weekend. It's gonna be the biggest game of the
college football weekend. How can you do you have time
to ever watch those games?
Speaker 7 (22:23):
Yeah? I always make time to watch Oregon.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You know, growing up a Duck fan playing there, you know,
it's been so fun to watch them play. And you know,
I think that's kind of the cool thing about going
to the Big ten and playing all these these fun
teams is you're gonna go to the East Coast and
you're gonna have some big games, and you know, not
always was that the case in the Pac twelve And
you know, I know the Ducks are really excited and
and you know, Eugene is loving it too, so it's
(22:47):
really cool to see.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
So our graphics department thought they were very funny yesterday
because I said, you and Harbaugh's as good as Reid
and Mahomes. It's just a perfect If Jim could go
to a lab and build a quarterback, and I swear
to God he would build you humble, coachable, hard work
and tough. You were, Jim. You just have a better
arm than Jim had. And so so our graphic department
thought it was very funny, and they made up all
(23:09):
these Simon and Garfunkle and yo, you guys. They just
thought that was the funniest thing in the world. What
else do we have? Mario and Luigi I think was
on that. Yeah, there we go. When you look at Horrball.
If somebody never met Jim and you said, hey, Colin,
come on over to my place. I want to introduce
you to my head coach, Jim Harbaugh. Would you warn me?
(23:30):
What would you say about Jim Harra as somebody that
got Batman and Robin? What would just say to me
if I'd never met Jim Harball, how would you explain him?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
I would say, this guy loves football. I've never met
anyone that loves football more than he does. He thinks
about football when he wakes up, and thinks about football
when he goes to bed, and he wants to win.
And I think the coolest thing about him is he's
a competitor. If we have any games going on, he's
gonna try.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
And beat you.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Whether we're playing ping pong, whether we're you know, playing cornhole,
it doesn't matter.
Speaker 7 (24:00):
He's going to do.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Everything he can to win, and he's going to find
you know your weaknesses. He's going to watch film, oney,
he's gonna ask questions, and he loves the game.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
So it's really cool to see fifteen seconds. Has he
ever been mad at you?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
There are definitely been times where he's mad at me,
whether I'm throwing the ball downfield irresponsibly, laid over the middle,
you know. He tells me to just check the ball down,
you know, go to the next play and be smart
with the ball. But there are definitely times where we're
talking about practice in the game.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Hey man, it's great seeing you. You look fantastic. You're
crushing it. Try to stay upright between you and Lamar.
I don't like my star quarterbacks getting hit like that.
Congrats on all your success.
Speaker 7 (24:40):
I'll do my best. Thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
All right, Justin Herbert one of the truly great guys.
I've said this before. We are lucky that all the
star quarterbacks in this league. It can be Lamar, it
can be Mahomes, it's Herbert, it's Jalen Hurts. How lucky
are we? They're all good dudes, They're all I mean
to be that young, good looking, rich and that good
of a dude. We're lucky, all of us, heard Hierarchy,
(25:03):
Nick Kraig. He's not gonna like the Herd Higherarchy to
get contentious.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific, heard Hierarchy.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
No go the top ten.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
NFL teams according to College number ten.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I'm gonna put Baltimore at ten the Chiefs despite a
winner eleven. Why because Baltimore is a road favorite. Baltimore
is the better offensive team, and like the NBA, the
NFL is an offensive league. First, they're scoring thirty seven
a game. The problem is their defense is basically the
Dallas Cowboys without the star on the helmet. They got
(25:46):
bullied for three and a half hours and they spent
money on it. Five of their six highest paid players
are on defense, so they've got a little bit of
a dilemma. And they score so quickly that they always
just send that bad defense back out on the field.
I'm gonna put them at ten Chiefs of eleven, number
nine the Bucks. Now their schedule gets tougher. The fact
(26:06):
that they have to go to the whistle to beat
the Falcons and the Jets does not, you know, feel
great coming up now with the Eagles and the Seahawks,
the lines, the Niners coming up. They've been doing it though,
missing three offensive linemen and Chris Godwin, Baker Mayfield like
a Sam Darnold, has established himself as a legit franchise quarterback.
(26:28):
Eleven straight games with one hundred plus rushing yards. That
is hard to do in this league, especially when you're
missing many top offensive linemen. I have the Bucks at nine,
number eight, the Niners at eight. Maybe it's a bit high.
Mac Jones is the current starter now Bosa is gone
(26:51):
for the year. Listen Ricky Pearsall has emerged as a
really nice weapon. Two of their wins, though, are against
the Cardinals at home and the Saints, and they don't
have a by until Week fourteen. This team could use
a bye now, but the coach, the quality of offense,
McCaffrey pearsall Kittles coming back. I put him at eight
(27:12):
number seven. Here's what we learned about the Lions. If
you have new coordinators, don't count the preseason, the Hall
of Fame game or Week one since then, nine hundred
total yards last night was not as close as the
score indicated. Jamier Gibbs and David Montgomery are an unblievable
running back tandem. Eleventh career game. They both scored a
(27:35):
rushing touchdown Aiden hushes In, and that defensive front gobbled
up Lamar Jackson. They are twelve and two in primetime games,
beating the best Monday Night quarterback ever last night, Lamar Jackson.
Lions at seven number six. Well, I think the Seahawks
are a handful Kenneth Walker highest reated running back, Sam
(27:56):
Darnold PFF highest redted quarterback, and it does look like
JSN is a number one receiver. But it's the defense
that makes them the second best point differential in the league.
They have held all three opponents to seventeen points for
fewer and a lot of credit goes to John Snyder,
the GM who has had back to back to back
(28:18):
very good drafts. They're not even paying a lot of
these top defensive guys Seahawks at six, number five, Listen,
the Rams can't beat the Eagles one in six Sean
McVeigh against the Eagles, they win seventy five percent of
their other games. Their defense is young, inexpensive, and excellent
most sacks in the NFL. Offense scored on six straight
(28:40):
drives to take a huge lead against the Eagles. They've
got weapons at tight end, wide receiver Devonte Adams. People
aren't talking about it enough. He's just gonna keep getting better.
But they don't match up with Philadelphia because they've got
no corner big enough to stop aj Brown.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Number four.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
The Chargers great red zone defense, so when you can
drive against them, they are the stingiest red zone defense
in the league. Amarion Hampton looks like he's gonna be
a real deal. Keenan Allen does this guy ever? Age?
Number two? Passing offense, they're asking more of Justin Herbert
now he's getting hit way too much. But Quinton Johnson
(29:21):
doesn't appear to be a bust. He's emerged as a
big time downfield threat. I like their culture and their toughness.
Chargers at four, Number three, Packers listen fewest yards per
play allowed Green Band. It's one of my favorite stats
in the league. They don't allow you any yards. They've
held all three opponents in twenty twenty five in the
NFL under two hundred and fifty total yards. Jordan Love
(29:45):
it's his first pick in a regular season game in
ten games. It was a stinker. They came in flat,
they had extra days off, and Cleveland's got an excellent defense.
One of the things that worries me they're not running
the football as well as they should, but I think
the Pack still have a chance to hoist a Lombardi.
Number two Buffalo, It's almost crazy. Twenty five straight games.
(30:08):
They've won the turnover battle right now. Over the last
twelve to fifteen games. Josh Allen's doing something that's hard
to do. You get all the upside and literally no turnovers.
They have the best Super Bowl odds. I don't love
their defense on the back end, but I don't like
the Ravens defense anywhere. I have Buffalo at number two,
(30:29):
number one. They have really bad halfs like this past weekend.
But it is the best roster in the league. They
could probably at the trade deadline go and get another corner,
but you know, Nick Seriani, I didn't get it, but
the team does. And Jalen Hurts maybe a little small,
but he throws well up the sideline. Toughness and leadership,
(30:52):
best third and fourth down team in the league, best roster,
most aggressive GM. Here is the Herd hierarchy. I take
the Ravens over Kansas City Chiefs at eleven due to
the fact the Ravens are the road favorite, and I
think it's an offensive league and they've got an incredibly
dynamic offense.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
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 (31:22):
Welcome back. He does a remarkable job for us. Fourteen
years in the NFL, three time pro bowler, a Fox
Sports analyst, kind of enough to take some time for
us today. My friend Greg Olsen now joining us. We've
been bringing him on since. I may have brought him
on when he was a hurricane. By the way they look,
they look physical, holy got her throwing people at Miami
for the front and I mean, they're legit. We'll get
(31:43):
to that in a second. They're legit. They passed the
eye test. So I said, you know, when Dan Campbell
came in, I thought he's kind of reckless because I
didn't like their personnel. Now it's like an all star team.
I'm like, yeah, you should go for it all the
time on fourth when they went forward on fourth and two,
and it was funny because Troy Aman was like, man,
(32:03):
he's got to set on them, and I'm like, no,
that's kind of what they are. Like, I know, you're
a believer in this. Like, I think the whole identity
of the franchise in Detroit is you know, we're aggressive.
We are an aggressive franchise. I think it's a great brand.
Your thoughts, Yeah, so, I think there's a lot of
(32:23):
levels to it.
Speaker 10 (32:24):
At no point in that game that I think if
they got in this situation that they weren't going to
go for it right, it was just a matter of
what play did they have. They have an entire section
on the play sheet for those gotta have it moments,
the fourth and ones. The fourth and two's the goal
to go situations that is not decided upon in the
moment they have them ranked. First time we're in this situation,
(32:45):
it's this call, and then they just work their way
down the list. They probably carry more of those calls
than most teams because they're in that situation.
Speaker 7 (32:53):
But I think there's multiple factors.
Speaker 10 (32:55):
I think your point I heard you before the break
about the culture and the identity. Since Dan Campbell took
over in Detroit, there has been no wavering that that
was going to be what they are. They believe in it.
He believes in his players. There is no doubt in
the huddle amongst the eleven guys in the huddle. When
they get tackled short on third down, they don't look
(33:16):
to the sideline.
Speaker 7 (33:17):
They don't start walking off.
Speaker 10 (33:18):
The punt team doesn't start walking on, or the field
goal unit like there's not even a consideration.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Number one.
Speaker 10 (33:24):
That's super powerful Number two. And this, I think is
the biggest point around the league. You look at how
many games are won and lost because teams decide every
time you kick the ball, a punt or a field goal,
your chance of winning that game goes exponentially down. And
that's just the nature of the game teams that built.
You know, you look at Sirianni. I did the Eagles
(33:45):
game the other day. They were only in that game
because they forced six field goals, they blocked two of
them of the Rams in a game that the Rams
for three quarters of it pretty much dominated. So it
takes a strong personality as a coach to stand at
the podium him in a playoff game like Dan Campbell.
Speaker 7 (34:02):
Had to do a couple of years ago.
Speaker 10 (34:03):
We called that game where the fourth downs ended up
biting them and they lost the game, and he had
to stand up there, tall and proud and heartbroke in
and say I would do it again. Those are the
guys you believe in. Those are the guys that this
is not just a flash of the pan. It's baked
into every decision they make, and in my opinion, it's
the only way to play NFL football in today's day.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, and so you let's let's talk about that. We
both love Sean McVay and we both love Stafford and
they have really nice skill players. When McVeigh kept settling
for field goals when it was happening because you had
that game, why do they do that? Is it a
belief that, you know what, we've got a better game
plan are in defense. I kind of thought watching the game, well,
(34:46):
they just don't think Philadelphia is going to be able
to come back, so let's just keep adding three.
Speaker 10 (34:52):
That was my take. Yours, Yeah, there seems to be
And I don't think this is unique to McVeigh. I
think mcveigh's in the conversation of the top two to
maybe three, if not, he's in the top three, no
question in my mind, as the best coaches in the NFL,
and I think universally amongst his peers.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
That's how he's regarded.
Speaker 10 (35:10):
I think in a game like that, when you start
fast and you score early and then your every time
you score, you're just increasing your lead. When the opposing
team's offense is struggling as much as Phillies was in
the first half. The human nature is my defense is
really strong. That LA defense is for real now, Like
they're really young and super talented. They've hit that, they've
(35:32):
hit it out of the park with those draft picks
the last couple of years. But I'm always of the
opposite belief, like, if I think my defense is superior,
I'm going to give them the short end of the stick.
You know, how often do we hear so this is
kind of a larger level question, Colin, but like, how
often do we hear coaches say, why.
Speaker 7 (35:48):
Did you punt at midfield?
Speaker 10 (35:49):
Well, my defense was playing so well, so I decided
to punt and play the field position battle. And I
sit there and say, if your defense is playing so
well and your offense is the side of the ball
that might be struggling. So not necessarily the case for
the Rams in that one particular game, but just in general,
give your offense the extra down. Give your offense tip
the scales in their favor, and if one side of
(36:11):
the ball does have to carry the load for a
little while, make it the team. Make it the side
of the ball that you're telling everybody has been so dominant.
Why give your defense the short field in that situation
and not give your offense an extra down? And I
think that's what teams are starting to realize. You see
Sirianni on their opening drive touchdown. Now, granted they have
(36:31):
the ultimate X factor play in the quarterback sneak, they
go for two fourth downs, they end up with an
opening drive touchdown and start the game strong. So, like
I think We're going to continue to see teams understand
field goals get you beat if no matter how well
you think your defense is playing, if you continue. I
told you this in the break, if I was a
head coach, unless it was the walk off field goal
(36:53):
to win the game or take the lead lead, or
if it was a fourth and ten plus, it would
never kick a field goal less than thirty five yards.
I just think it's a wasted opportunity of getting down
in the red zone. And I think we're going to
see more teams adopt that strategy.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
So you're lucky. You got to go to Dublin, Ireland,
which is it's just a great place to go for anything.
It could be a Guinness Irish whiskey or a football game.
It's just a great place to go. And you have
the Vikings and the Steelers. And I think the Vikings
are a fascinating team because I've watched this with Donald
(37:32):
and Baker. Is that their careers get resurrected and this
didn't happen ten to fifteen years ago. My take is
there are so many smart young offensive coaches. The beneficiary
of that is these quarterbacks who get drafted by the
Jets and go to the Panthers Donald or it's Baker
and he's not quite mature enough in Cleveland. He goes
to la and then he finds Tampa is that it's
(37:54):
giving guys. This used to be a total outlier. Then
now it's happening all the time because there's so many
good offensive coaches. And I argue this last week, I said, well,
Carson Wentz can play. And how do I know that?
Because all the coaches that like him are all these
Rerealdy smart offensive guys, and they're like all put Carson
Wentz on my roster. So you're looking at tape now,
(38:15):
I think today he's better than JJ McCarthy. Maybe not
in eight weeks, maybe not next year. Today when you
look at film, can you go on a five game
winning streak with Carson Wentz in Minnesota?
Speaker 10 (38:28):
Yeah, I think if the Vikings have proved one thing,
if Kevin O'Connell has proved one thing, and they've proved
many things in his time in Minnesota, it's I'm not
sure there is a coach in the league, a head
coach for sure, or an offensive coordinator who gets the
most out of their quarterback within their system and blends
the idea of play caller quarterback whisper, confidant, mentor enough
(38:54):
to kick him in the behind and get him going,
but also when.
Speaker 7 (38:57):
It's time to put their arm around them.
Speaker 10 (38:58):
He has such a unique quality to check all of
those boxes.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
It sounds like that would be the given.
Speaker 10 (39:05):
But as we all know, a lot of those quarterbacks
you just mentioned did not enter into those kind of
organizations with that kind of fit earlier in their career.
I mean, look what he did with Cousins, and obviously
Cousins goes in free agency and gets the big deal
post injury with Atlanta. Then what he does last year
with Sam who goes and gets a huge contract in Seattle.
Now you know JJ McCarthy, he gets hurt, and now
(39:26):
in comes Carson Wentz, who hasn't been a starter in
this league. He's been on six teams I think, or
whatever it's been like. And again this was a one
game sample size. Can they continue to do that week
in a week out. We'll find out this week in Ireland.
But he has such a unique quality where yes he
has the x's and o's, yes he has the schematic advantage,
but it's all the other stuff. It's the Sean McVay qualities.
(39:49):
It's those are just really unique guys and there's just
not many of them. And again this is a larger question,
but that's why when you get an opportunity to get
him in your building and you got to hire him
away from LA, you got to make them your head coach.
And you see why teams are going towards young offensive
minds on the head coaching search. And it gets into
that whole conversation. When you have a guy like Kevin
(40:11):
O'Connell and obviously the talent on the roster, your ability
to weather quarterback change injuries is just bigger than most
not everybody, but it's bigger than most teams around the league.
And Kevin O'Connell has proven to be as good, if
not better than any coach in the league in regards
to developing and getting the best out of his quarterback.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
So I said, being a quarterback in Chicago is harder
than Buffalo. So when Josh Allen's first year and a half,
he was completing fifty six percent of his throws, had
more picks than touchdowns. They've been to multiple Super Bowls,
they had Jim Kelly. There is a sense, Hey it's
a small market. It's the media is kind of supportive.
We're going to make Josh Allen work. He's too talented.
(40:53):
In Chicago. I mean, it's loud. The guy's up north,
a thirty minute train ride up north. Green Bay have
owned you for three decades. And even though Caleb had
twenty touchdowns and six picks, had amazing moments like, there's
this sense that if you don't get it right this year,
we're moving on. And I think to myself, I wish
(41:15):
Chicago had a little buffalo. The media wasn't as loud,
the organization didn't suffer from a neighbor up north being dominant.
How long? Because I think Caleb is going to be
like Josh. I think it's going to take time, tons
of horsepower, great freelancer. I think it's going to take
some years. How long do you give him?
Speaker 10 (41:37):
Well, I'll say you based off this past weekend against Dallas.
I caught parts of the game. I was traveling home
for my game, so I only saw parts of it.
The parts that I saw, he looked great. I mean,
I call it, and granted it's a preseason game. The
only time I got to see him up close and
personal this year was in a preseason game where they
blew out Buffalo, And again, preseason games are always tricky.
You kind of got to read through the tea leaves
(41:58):
as far as how the whole matchup were out. But
I think Ben Johnson is as brilliant an offensive mind
as there is in the game of football. I felt
that way now for a couple of years. I think
it's going to take as much as it's going to
take Kayleb Williams time to continue, I think it's going
to take Ben Johnson time to figure out, all right,
what works with this personnel group, what works in this
(42:19):
locker room, what works in these meetings, what works in
these installs.
Speaker 7 (42:22):
Like as as much.
Speaker 10 (42:24):
Success as he's had in his time as a play
caller in Detroit, and as much time as Kayleb Williams
and a success he had in college, it doesn't always
just automatically translate to the next place, because every place
is uniquely different and every place has their strengths and weaknesses.
Ben Johnson is still working through what that looks like
being the head coach in Chicago. Everything you just said
(42:44):
is spot on. I played there for four years. I
understand firsthand, what expectations and the noise and the media.
Speaker 7 (42:50):
It's real.
Speaker 10 (42:51):
It's not an easy place to play. I think Ben
Johnson's personality and demeanor is a good fit.
Speaker 7 (42:56):
I don't think he.
Speaker 10 (42:57):
Worries too much about outside noise. I think he's very
internally confident. I think as Ben Johnson continues to push
Caleb Williams and coach them hard and hold them accountable,
I think we're going to steadily see and improved Caleb
Williams overtime.
Speaker 7 (43:13):
Now, what is that ceiling?
Speaker 10 (43:14):
Physically, the ceiling is as high, as high as anybody
Kenny tie all of it together. Obviously, time will tell.
I don't know if any of us really can predict it.
But Ben Johnson didn't take that job because he didn't
think Caleb Williams was going to be a good player.
That was all baked into that decision. And I think
it's just here we are, three weeks in. We've seen
(43:36):
a lot of good They did really well against Dallas,
but their defense is a whole nother story.
Speaker 7 (43:42):
My guest right now is we're going to.
Speaker 10 (43:44):
Continue to see that relationship in that offense in Chicago
steadily improve.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I was watching the Ravens last night, and their brand's
always been tough, relentless physical, and that defense it doesn't
do much good. I mean, it's just really struggling, basically
the Cowboys defense without the star and the discussion like
on the helmet, like they're just not good. And I
thought to my Cello, was strange watching them that Lamar
(44:09):
scores so quickly. It's not complimentary football. The bad defense
goes back on the field. Like the Lions last year.
The defense was bad, but they dominated a time of
possession number two in the league. And I watched Baltimore, Greg,
I do not think you can win a Super Bowl
with a bad defense. Atlanta's the only team in the
last decade that got there, and they blew a huge
(44:30):
fourth quarter league. I looked at Baltimore last night and
I'm like, we're in week four. Is that solvable? I mean,
I know that we're missing a pass rusher or two,
but that wasn't a pass rush issue. That wasn't getting
bulldozed for three and a half hours. I don't know
if you can win a Super Bowl with that defense.
Can you solve stuff by week four, five, and six?
Speaker 10 (44:50):
I mean the answer is yes, you can I mean
Baltimore did it last year. I mean in the first
half the season, their defense was abysmal. They had a
hard time replacing McDonald. Obviously, he went on and took
the head job out in Seattle, and they had some
growing pains figuring out what that defensive structure was going
to look like. They lost a lot of their coaching
staff to other teams to head coaching jobs. There were
(45:13):
some shuffling. So it took them, call it, half the
season last year to really find their way and then
down the stretch. I called their game on Christmas Day,
so it was late in the year, and they beat
Houston and they were dominant, and obviously the rest is
history through the playoffs and the matchups and losing obviously,
But I do think they can get it better. I
think Harball, although not a defensive guy by trade, is
(45:36):
a long time, you know, very established head coach.
Speaker 7 (45:39):
He's been through.
Speaker 10 (45:40):
Good offense is bad offenses, good defense is bad defenses.
Speaker 7 (45:44):
I think programs like that.
Speaker 10 (45:45):
That do have stability at the head coaching position, with
the experience that he has, I think they can get
it right. But I agree with you, they've got a
lot of work to do. The explosive nature of Baltimore's
offense is exactly what you want. And today is day
and age. You don't want to score on ten plus
play drives every time. If you are ultra dependent on
time of possession and sit on the ball and go
(46:08):
in the length of the field every time. That's a
very hard model in today's game to sustain. So their
quick strike offense is what you want. But then your
point is exactly correct on the inverse. When my defense
is not playing great, the more I put them right
back on the field to match possession for possession with
my opponent, you're going to see a high scoring game.
(46:28):
And obviously we've seen them play a few of them now,
so they've got to get the defense squared away. I
would always rather have an offense that can score thirty
any given day and fix the defense. I think it's
harder in today's NFL to say, okay, my defense can
keep you.
Speaker 7 (46:43):
I'm the Browns right, like.
Speaker 10 (46:45):
That defense is going to keep you fifteen to seventeen
points a lot. But then you're just holding your breath, like,
how are we ever going to score? Is it sustainable?
Beating the Packers in a game in the teams over
the length of the season always rather at offense that
can score, and then we can figure out together how
we can get that defense to just keep those number
(47:07):
as low as possible.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
On the other side, Well, I gotta ask you this.
Justin Herbert got hit fourteen times, he got pressured fifty
five and Jim Harbaugh said after the game, you'd never
know it in his facial expression. He never wins this.
And there is something about toughness. I had a GM
tell me this year's ago. He said, you know the
key in this league is you think all football players
(47:30):
are tough. He goes, some guys don't like getting hit,
and some guys like Andrew Luck love to get popped.
Just I want to get involved. I look at Herbert
and I'm like, Greg, I mean, you played in the
NFL for years. You had the ability. You were a
rare tight end. You could be tough in block, Tony
Gonzalez could do this, or you could get down the field.
(47:53):
But were there quarterbacks you played with that you knew
that had a tight end. And then the other guys
they were quarterbacks, they didn't want to get hit. Because
I watched Herbert and I'm like, that's not everybody is that.
Speaker 10 (48:09):
Yeah, I think there's a the spectrum there is very wide.
I don't think I ever played with the guy. Now,
I played with a lot of quarterbacks. I don't think
any of them ever were afraid to get hit.
Speaker 7 (48:20):
But two come to mind that remind me of.
Speaker 10 (48:22):
Herbert as far as the physicality of the game brought
out the best in them, and that was obviously Cam
and in Chicago was Jay Cutler. Like there was a
mentality to both of them that if they got sacked,
if they got hit hard, they were going to beat
you up off the ground, get to their feet faster,
to just show like even though I'm dying inside, even
(48:43):
though you got the best of me and I'm hurt,
and like I'm never going to let you see that.
Speaker 7 (48:47):
Cam had that.
Speaker 10 (48:47):
Like we used to joke, Cam's game didn't start until
he either got hit like sacked or like hit as
a passer, or we just had to call a quarterback
run and let him just run headfirst into the Mike
linebacker on quarterback power and then we're like, okay, the
games officially started. Cutler was the same way, like not
so much as a designed runner.
Speaker 7 (49:06):
Like Cam was, but in the open field.
Speaker 10 (49:09):
He wasn't a big slider, he wasn't getting down like
there was multiple times that I could picture him in my
head where he's taking guys on at the line of scrimmage,
I mean at the goal line, lowering his shoulder like
So those two.
Speaker 7 (49:19):
Guys in my time come to mind.
Speaker 10 (49:21):
As like that physical, not scared, not going to flinch,
can get hit ten times in a row, and on
the eleventh play, they're going to hold that ball and
let that dig open up just one half clicks longer,
because that's when he needs to deliver it. Like I
agree that you can't coach that, like that's ingrained in
the DNA of who these guys are. And to play
(49:42):
in today's game with the struggles of offensive line and
the defensive lineman just getting so good, and the defensive
coordinators these simulated pressures and free runners, and we see
these good quarterbacks under fire very often.
Speaker 7 (49:55):
If you can't stand in there and take shots in the.
Speaker 10 (49:58):
Pocket, and you you can't manipulate outside the pocket and
every once in a while just be respectable as a runner.
It is a very hard way to play quarterback in
today's NFL. If you don't have that level of toughness,
and I think for the most part, you look around
the league at the guy's baker, Sam Darnold, like, these
guys are inherently tough, physically got physically tough guys.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
Finally, all the football you've played through, all the years,
there's something weird about college football. It's the only sport
that makes me mad. When my Trojan struggle, I'm gonna
bad mood the rest of Saturday. I watched Miami this year.
They I've been sold Miami for years. I think this
team's legit physically. What say you, Oh, there's no question.
Speaker 10 (50:44):
So Mario Cristaball, You're not going to find a bigger
fan of Mario than me. I've known Mario since I
was a freshman in high school when I first met
him when he was a GA at Miami, and then
he went with Greg Chiao to Rutgers and I grew
up in Jersey, so they were always at all of
our games and all of our sporting mens. So I
go back thirty years with twenty five years with Mario.
So I think the job he's done. I've always said
(51:06):
if he couldn't do it, then nobody could do it. Well,
obviously he was the guy to do it. They are
so physical, It's in everything that Mario crystal Ball is about.
He's got a little bit of that Dan Campbell where
the physicality and the size and his toughness and the
way he communicates is so aggressive, yet there is an
element of sophistication and cerebral and they're good recruiters and
(51:27):
coaches and motivators. Like he kind of reminds me a
little bit of Dan that in that perspective. But man,
what a job he's done. But I'm with you, I
was sitting with I was in Philly. I'm at the
Four Seasons in Philly, amazing hotel, kicking my feet up.
Speaker 7 (51:42):
I'm gonna have a nice night after production meetings and dinner.
Speaker 10 (51:44):
I'm gonna watch the Miami game and I'm literally sweating
in my room. That touchdown got called back for the
inadvertent whistle. Then Florida goes on that big drive and
I'm like, yeah, oh my god, We're gonna lose this
game all because of that inadvertent whistle.
Speaker 7 (51:57):
Now I'm mad at the refs.
Speaker 10 (51:58):
Like it is an emotion experience watching a college or
a team that you're invested in.
Speaker 7 (52:03):
I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Yeah, I can get over an NFL loss in fifteen minutes.
Speaker 7 (52:07):
For the cold beer.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
College football losses putting me on our tail spin for
thirty six hours.
Speaker 10 (52:15):
You should see me with my middle school football team
that I coach. It'll take me three weeks to get
over a bad game.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
Well, at least you're not kicking field goals. I know
that about no field goals.
Speaker 7 (52:25):
We only go for two.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
There you go. Great seeing you, buddy, You're amazing.
Speaker 7 (52:28):
I appreciate you. Thanks calling.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
I've had the good fortune to run into Greg off
the air from time to time. He is just about
as good a human being as you're going to meet.
We had good dudes on the show today. I mean,
we tolerated Nick Wright, but I got Justin Herbert, Greg Olsen,
you can't do better than that.
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 Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, it is a Tuesday. This will be the best
show in a long time. I hope, hope. What am
I talking about?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hope?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Of course it is Greg Old from Nick right, justin
Herbert Herd Hierarchy. One hour from now on a Tuesday,
we are live. It is the Herd. Wherever you may be,
however you may be watching or listening. Thank you for
making us part of your day. Jmax, you and I
didn't have a very good week. It was a weird,
(00:54):
weird week. But when you dig deep on Detroit, you
know we talked about this brand new coordinators. Don't take
Week one to two seriously or the preseason. It looks
like they've righted the ship. They looked like Detroit the
last several years. Physically upfront, pushing people around.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Yeah, it what questions about the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Hopefully you can answer it all right. So last night
was the perfect example of how you beat a superstar
quarterback when you're the road team. Detroit dominates time of possession,
they're aggressive on fourth down, they convert in the red zone,
no field goals, we're getting touchdowns. They bullied the home
Ravens for three and a half hours, super aggressive. And
(01:39):
you think of Baltimore as tough and physical and resilient.
Now this defense is just as soft as the Dallas
Cowboys defense. Baltimore's last in total defense. They surrender a
ton of yards. I don't want to hear about the
pass rushers they were missing. That wasn't about pass rushing
last night. They invested a lot of money in Kyle Hamilton,
Rokwan Smith or top to draft picks. They got over
(02:01):
one hundred million on defense, and then they're soft and
by week four and five in the NFL season, we're
getting to be a quarter of the way through it.
Some of your problems you can't solve unless at the
trading deadline you take a big swing. So this was
three and a half hours of total domination. It may
have been thirty eight to thirty, it felt like forty
eight to seventeen. And here's the weird thing is that
(02:25):
Lamar Jackson is so explosive that when he does lead
a scoring drive, it's often very quick. So they send
that crappy defense back on the field. They don't get
any rest. So the Ravens bizarrely have the second fewest
plays per drive in the league and the number one
(02:46):
total offense, so they don't play complimentary football. And if
you look at the last ten Super Bowls, which is
twenty total teams, there's been one awful defense Atlanta. What
happened to Atlanta in that Super Bowl? A huge lead,
you're not a Super Bowl team with that defense. So
the Ravens have a huge dilemma, which I don't know
(03:08):
if it's solvable, is that they score because they're so
dynamic with Lamar Jackson, He's so gifted. They score quickly,
and then the defense doesn't get a rest. It goes
right back onto the field. It's not complimentary football. Like
last year, the Lions defense stunk, but the Lions were
number two in the league last year in time of possession,
so at least they kept their average defense on the
(03:30):
sidelines and they won fifteen games. That's not what Baltimore does.
Plus they got a Derreck Henry fumbles in imperfect times issue.
So and again by week four, week five, you know
you kind of you kind of know what your issues are.
I mean, the Lions had ninety six yard drive and
seventy yard drive and ninety eight yard drive and sixty
(03:53):
yard drive. They did whatever they wanted to do. And
if you look at the Baltimore game, their defense against
Detroit last night and the Ravens defense against Buffalo combined
those two games, they only forced those teams to punt
three times, three times out of thirteen total possessions. So
(04:14):
I went this morning and looked at the Ravens defense,
their NFL rank, their last thirtieth, thirty first and everything. Yeah,
they were missing a double pass rushers. That wasn't about
pass rush. Detroit was in control. I mean by the
third quarter, you every time Baltimore sent that defense out
to make a stop, they couldn't. So the Ray Lewis
at Reed days are over. This defense doesn't do a
(04:36):
lot well. They've spent money on it, and bizarrely, they
score too quickly. If you are weak defensively. We've talked
about this a lot, like one of the issues Kansas
City has. They have no run game, so their defense
is good, but it looks worn down in the second half. Well,
Ravens defense looks worn down in the first half. And
(04:56):
again Lamar is so explosive that you that defense is
on the field way too many snaps. And John Harbaugh
saw the same thing we did.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
The biggest problem is we didn't play good run defense.
I mean, we didn't as a defense complete. We didn't
do it. And that's not going to be good enough.
There's nobody in that locker room that thinks that's good enough.
That's disappointing, that's bad run defense, and that's not who
we are. It cannot be who we are. It's just
it's not gonna be good enough. It's not going to
be acceptable, and it's got to be better.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So again, when you get to this point of the season,
trade deadlines up in about three weeks, Rams may need
a corner. Ravens have to figure out something defensively. Now
they will have pass rushers return, which could help them
in close games late if they have a lead, But
(05:54):
right now this defense is just not good and they've
invested in it, and it was a major problem last night.
Let's talk Lions. Let's give him some credit. So there's
a big difference. It's a fine line, but there is
a difference between stubborn guy and guy who has a
very strong self belief. And I initially thought Dan Campbell
(06:15):
was a little stubborn when he would always go for
it on fourth because I didn't like their personnel. But
now that they have really good personnel, he's self belief guy.
He's never wavered on what he does. He's go for
it guy. When they went for it with a buck
fifty six left in the fourth quarter, fourth and two,
and despite the fact they'd run at will on Baltimore
(06:36):
and they throw it downfield. That is self belief. That
is believing in your dudes, and they should again. I
thought Dan was reckless in his first couple of years
because going forward on fourth down with average players is dumb.
Detroit drafts really well. They got a great front office.
Going for it last night. I would have run. I
(06:57):
think we all thought they were gonna run. But on
the two fourth downs, the one at the goal line
kind of the double pitch, and then that they throw
it over the top. So I mean that was really clever.
Both of those caught you off guard. They don't have
a touch push, and yet the last three years they're
number one in the league on fourth down conversions. They
(07:20):
don't have a touch push. They have a golf hands
it off, give it to Gibbs, but they don't have
a touch push. So again there's a fine line between
stubborn guy and hey, I believe in what we are.
And Dan Campbell took over a very flimsy franchise. The
Lions always had talent, Barry Sanders, Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson.
They always had talent, they had no identity, and so
(07:42):
Dan came into a fault and said, we're gonna be tough,
relentless and physical and super aggressive. And again I was like,
I don't know, but going forward on fourth down, it's
got a Jim Harbaugh field to it. It's completely authentic,
and he's not wavering. This is who he is. Home
(08:02):
or away, good team are bad, He's gonna go for it.
And here's Dan Campbell after.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
I got a tremendous amount of trust in those guys,
and that that's been built up now in five years
you're right, and that helps. And that offensive line the
way they were playing, and we just felt like that
was we felt like that was the right call. And
it's man, it's those guys. It's the players, man, They're
the ones who make this stuff come to life. And
(08:29):
they've earned that trust, you know, and they just once again, man,
they step up and make huge plays at critical times,
and it's I mean, it's unbelievable. It really is. It's
a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
If you look at the best teams in this league,
you almost never ask what are they like the Chargers
in hardball, what are they? Physical? Aggressive? What are the Lions?
You have never asked what Dan Campbell like, what are
they They've had bad they've had bad defenses. You always
(09:02):
know what they are. They are hyper aggressive. In the
best days of the Ravens when they were winning Super Bowls,
they were physical. You didn't want to play the Ravens
like the Patriots would go into games. But Tom Brady
said it, Yeah, I didn't really love playing those teams.
That those teams you felt you were sore the next
three days. And that's a big part. Like the Tush
push the Eagles, you never doubt what they are, and
(09:24):
there's a lot of talented players in this league. But
go look at the standings this morning, and if you
look at the top the three and ozero teams, of
the two and one teams, almost ohas they have an identity,
you kind of know what they are and what they
stand for. Eber Flus, head coach of the Bears, what
were they? They weren't even good on defense all the time.
(09:44):
Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins, they're fast. You never asked
that with the Lions and Dan Campbell, so J mackett is.
It is a fascinating dilemma for the Ravens is that
they have all sorts of good players, but it's not
a complimentary football team. You cannot win Super Bowl. You
(10:06):
can't win a World Series with a bad bullpen. You
can't leak runs in the seven, eighth, and nine. You
can't win a Super Bowl with a really bad defense,
because even if you outplay a team like Atlanta and
the Patriots, you'll subsequently give up that You'll give that
lead up eventually. And I look at Baltimore last night
and unlike no, that team can't win a super Bowl
at their current state, at their current roster. I don't
(10:29):
think they can win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
It's interesting. I think they started zero to two last
year and then peeled off five in a row. But
there's only six teams in the AFC.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Colin right now with a winning record, that's it.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
And one of them is like the Colts, you know,
and the other with Jaguars. So the AFC is actually down,
and I feel like Baltimore is maybe finding themselves early.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I have a theory on this, Okay, So in the
last two years, I believe the NFC is caught up
and surpassed the AFC. So what happened was AFC team
There were a lot of bad AFC teams like Buffalo
they're a bad team, or a Cincinnati, Yeah, they're not
a very good team. And at Chargers, what are they?
(11:09):
Philip Rivers is getting old? They were a lot. And
then all these AFC teams hit on quarterbacks Josh Allen,
Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Well, I mean to some degree,
like Trevor Lawrences, justin Herbert. So when you didn't have
to pay Patrick Mahomes Kansas City, when you didn't have
to pay those quarterbacks yet the top of the NFL
(11:31):
was all these great quarterbacks on rookie deals. Then Baltimore,
Kansas City is Cincinnati, Buffalo. Now you have to pay
your star quarterbacks. What happens those teams in the AFC's
rosters aren't very good. The NFC, many of the teams
(11:52):
have quarterbacks on friendly deals. Darnold and the Seahawks, Baker
in the Bucks, Purty in the Niners, Hurts in the Eagles.
So in the NFC you don't have the superstars, but
you have very good B plus A minus quarterbacks on
team friendly deals, and therefore your rosters are better. I
(12:15):
think the rosters now are better in the NFC. The
quarterback elite talent, now very expensive, is better in the AFC.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
What do you eating neurogum over there? That is a hot,
awesome take, and that's good stuff from you.
Speaker 7 (12:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Denver flies in the face of that. They have a
young quarterback.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
They're one and two, but they lost two games at
the Buzzer, right, so maybe they're going to be fine.
But I do kind of like that you pay your quarterback,
you can't the rest.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Of the Rocks four to five year stretch that we
looked at Baltimore, Buffalo, Kansas City. We're like, oh, yeah,
those are easily the best teams because you have stack
rosters and superstar quarterbacks. But Easington, look at Kansas City's
O line and run game bad, Baltimore's defense bad, Buffalo's
back end not very good. That's the one. I mean, like,
(13:00):
even the Chargers like, we like him, but god, they
could use another to this. They couldn't keep Bosa, they
could keep Khalil Mack. He gets hurt. You're like, uh oh,
So that's the reality is the NFC has got better
value on very good quarterbacks, though not mahomes Lamar Josh Allen. Great.
So there you go. Heard hierarchy forty five minutes from now.
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(13:23):
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Speaker 2 (13:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (13:45):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get.
Speaker 9 (13:53):
To and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show, so we never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, you blubber list lame me.
Speaker 8 (14:08):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 9 (14:12):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 8 (14:26):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 9 (14:36):
There you go, over Promising, and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Well, no quarterback in the last two decades for the
Chargers has been hit as many times as Justin Herbert
got hit against the Denver Broncos. But the obviously they
got some offensive line injuries. The Broncos are a great
front and Justin Herbert, one of the most likable, humble guys,
(15:09):
has given us ten minutes today, which I totally appreciate that.
And he knows that he's joining us live. So Hardball
said yesterday, Jim is funny. He's like, you know, Justin
gets hit, he never shows that, he never wins his
yet he's just like a superpower. And I thought, driving
in today, I thought, do you ever get hit Sunday
and it really hurts? I mean it really hurts, but
(15:31):
you know you have to go back into the huddle
and you can't show that. Are you ever in some
pain and you're just masking it and not letting your
teammates know?
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, well, first of thanks for having me. I always
always look forward to being on the show. And that
is a good question. There were a couple times in
the game where I was maybe a little slow to
get up got back to the huddle, and you know,
I might have called the play a little slower for
the guys, and so they might have recognized that. But
as long as coach Harbaugh thinks that, then you know,
that's great for me.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Justin when you get hit. And again, all quarterbacks get hit.
Lamar Jackson last night got sacked seven times. It's the
reality of the NFL. There's great athletes up front. How
do you not hear footsteps? How does it not affect
you later in a game?
Speaker 7 (16:17):
Yeah, that's a really tough thing.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And I think that's part of playing quarterback, of understanding
that you know you're going to get hit and the
defenses that you're going up against are really fast and athletic,
and you just got to have enough time to get
the ball off and understand that those split seconds of
you know, if I stand in the pod for you know,
just a half second more, I can get the ball
off and we can have a big play. It makes
it all worth it. And obviously we do a great
(16:40):
job taking care of our bodies, and you know, we've
got a training staffs I get to none.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
So knowing that you feel comfortable going out there.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So the first time Jim Harbaugh came up to you,
pregame and it started banging on your shoulder pads. I mean,
that's what he does now, and I actually think there
it works. It kind of like it startles you were
getting the good Jim. I thought Jim was a little crazy,
and then he came to the Chargers and he's like
likable Jim and funny Jim. I mean that's all you know, right,
(17:13):
you only know that Jim.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, that's that's all we know. We just know the
most authentic competitor. You know. He cares so much about
the team, about winning, about football, and he'd do anything
for us.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
And you know when I first got on.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
The sideline and he was hitting my pads and things
like that, I just thought it was awesome. He kind
of explained the story about you know, getting that first hit,
and you know, as soon as you get that first hit,
you're ready to go. And so he felt like, if
you could do that before the game, then there's no
time wasted.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Quentin Johnson worried me he had drops. It looked like
he almost lacked confidence. Well that's over. You guys have
been aggressive. He is the downfield weapon. Can you take
me a little bit into the off season of taking
a guy that had talent wasn't quite there yet whatever
you guys did. But it feels like he's turned a corner.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah'sq's done such a great job. And I think one
of the really special things about him is he had
a great year last year. It was it was kind
of a quieter great year, and I think he had
eight touchdowns and caught a whole bunch of yards. And
you know, he came back this year and he's just
continued to work.
Speaker 7 (18:20):
He's continuing to get better, and he's having fun.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
He's playing confidently, and he's making a bunch of plays.
There was a play that you know, he went up
and caught a fifty to fifty ball on Sunday and
obviously it was an irresponsible throw by me. But to
have a guy like that go up and get it
and you know, kind of save me was was really
cool to.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
See what do you do when you get hit fourteen times?
Give me a take me behind the curtain? What is
your Monday rehab? Like? What you do? Don't tell me?
You just go get a frappucino and just sit in
the couch. What is Monday rehab? Like?
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Yeah, I actually get in the pool and I move
around in the pool.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know, I think it's easy on my joints, and
whether it's swimming, running, it's it's good to just get movement.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
I do a lot of icing on my shoulder. You know.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I think I threw the ball a bunch, And you know,
it was kind of the game that we knew was
going to happen. We know how good their front seven was,
and you know, watching the film of the quarterbacks the
week before, they had to move a bunch and they
had to throw on the run and that's just kind
of what you had to do against the Broncos.
Speaker 7 (19:22):
And you know, obviously we do a good job.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
We've got all the facilities here at our team facility,
so it makes my job so much easier.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So you had thirty six pass attempts, that's what you're
kind of doing on a weekly basis. It was close
sort of twenty nine last year. How does that change
prep for you? Now? You may say, oh, it's only
seven pass attempts, but you got some offensive line injuries.
So is your mindset change a little bit justin from
last year? Like, hey, I'm going to get up near
(19:50):
the forties here.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Like like that?
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Do you are you a little more? Are there certain
throws now you'll like hold it back and think, hey,
I got forty pass attempts, it's the first quarter. Does
it change any for you psychologically?
Speaker 7 (20:03):
Not so much.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I think the thing that we do recognize is, you know,
they are multiple ways to win a football game, and
whether that's throwing it forty times or whether we're going
to run the ball forty times, you got to put
the team in a position to win and understanding that
the defense that we have that they're going to force
a bunch of stops and turnovers, and you just gotta
be smart with the ball. And I think as long
as we're limiting turnovers, scoring in the red zone, and converting.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
On third downs, which I think we've done a pretty
good job.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Of the past couple of weeks, you know, I'm happy
to throw the ball as much as I can.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Explain to me how Keenan Allen multiple surgeries. He's not
a four to three to eight guy anymore a four
to four guy. How does Keenan Allen get open on
every third down his entire career? Explain it to me.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
He just the way he works routes, his understanding of
defenses and leverage.
Speaker 7 (20:57):
I don't know how he does it.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
He came a few weeks here, maybe three or four
weeks ago and picked up the offense like he'd been
running his entire life.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
And I've never really seen anything like that. And that's
how you can.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Tell, you know, he's a true pros He's one of
the best to ever do it.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
And you know, he's just so smart.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
He understands how defenses are trying to play him and
where to go. And it's basically like having another quarterback
out there.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah here, relationship with him. All young quarterbacks need somebody
they can trust. He's your trust guy. Do you guys
have like an unscripted language eye contact, Like on that
big play this weekend, did you know it was going
to him? Did you sense it was?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I think that's where we're just so lucky to have him,
you know, especially when I came into the league, to
have him and Mike Williams, where we're two guys that
kind of just showed me the way and just we're
true receivers and sometimes you take them for granted. But
that play, No, I break out of the pocket, and
I know that he's the first to react.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
He sees what I'm doing and takes off.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And you know, as long as you're the first to react,
and you've got to to make something happen downfield.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
And even if it is a fifty to fifty ball.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Keenan Allen, you know, he's he's a huge body, he's
he's so talented and athletic. I know he's going to
go fight for that ball. And didn't see the actual catch,
but watching it on the replay.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
Was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, it was. By the way, Oregon's at Penn State
this weekend. It's gonna be the biggest game of the
college football weekend. How can you do you have time
to ever watch those games?
Speaker 7 (22:23):
Yeah? I always make time to watch Oregon.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You know, growing up a Duck fan playing there, you know,
it's been so fun to watch them play. And you know,
I think that's kind of the cool thing about going
to the Big ten and playing all these these fun
teams is you're gonna go to the East Coast and
you're gonna have some big games, and you know, not
always was that the case in the Pac twelve And
you know, I know the Ducks are really excited and
and you know, Eugene is loving it too, so it's
(22:47):
really cool to see.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
So our graphics department thought they were very funny yesterday
because I said, you and Harbaugh's as good as Reid
and Mahomes. It's just a perfect If Jim could go
to a lab and build a quarterback, and I swear
to God he would build you humble, coachable, hard work
and tough. You were, Jim. You just have a better
arm than Jim had. And so so our graphic department
thought it was very funny, and they made up all
(23:09):
these Simon and Garfunkle and yo, you guys. They just
thought that was the funniest thing in the world. What
else do we have? Mario and Luigi I think was
on that. Yeah, there we go. When you look at Horrball.
If somebody never met Jim and you said, hey, Colin,
come on over to my place. I want to introduce
you to my head coach, Jim Harbaugh. Would you warn me?
(23:30):
What would you say about Jim Harra as somebody that
got Batman and Robin? What would just say to me
if I'd never met Jim Harball, how would you explain him?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
I would say, this guy loves football. I've never met
anyone that loves football more than he does. He thinks
about football when he wakes up, and thinks about football
when he goes to bed, and he wants to win.
And I think the coolest thing about him is he's
a competitor. If we have any games going on, he's
gonna try.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
And beat you.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Whether we're playing ping pong, whether we're you know, playing cornhole,
it doesn't matter.
Speaker 7 (24:00):
He's going to do.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Everything he can to win, and he's going to find
you know your weaknesses. He's going to watch film, oney,
he's gonna ask questions, and he loves the game.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
So it's really cool to see fifteen seconds. Has he
ever been mad at you?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
There are definitely been times where he's mad at me,
whether I'm throwing the ball downfield irresponsibly, laid over the middle,
you know. He tells me to just check the ball down,
you know, go to the next play and be smart
with the ball. But there are definitely times where we're
talking about practice in the game.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Hey man, it's great seeing you. You look fantastic. You're
crushing it. Try to stay upright between you and Lamar.
I don't like my star quarterbacks getting hit like that.
Congrats on all your success.
Speaker 7 (24:40):
I'll do my best. Thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
All right, Justin Herbert one of the truly great guys.
I've said this before. We are lucky that all the
star quarterbacks in this league. It can be Lamar, it
can be Mahomes, it's Herbert, it's Jalen Hurts. How lucky
are we? They're all good dudes, They're all I mean
to be that young, good looking, rich and that good
of a dude. We're lucky, all of us, heard Hierarchy,
(25:03):
Nick Kraig. He's not gonna like the Herd Higherarchy to
get contentious.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific, heard Hierarchy.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
No go the top ten.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
NFL teams according to College number ten.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I'm gonna put Baltimore at ten the Chiefs despite a
winner eleven. Why because Baltimore is a road favorite. Baltimore
is the better offensive team, and like the NBA, the
NFL is an offensive league. First, they're scoring thirty seven
a game. The problem is their defense is basically the
Dallas Cowboys without the star on the helmet. They got
(25:46):
bullied for three and a half hours and they spent
money on it. Five of their six highest paid players
are on defense, so they've got a little bit of
a dilemma. And they score so quickly that they always
just send that bad defense back out on the field.
I'm gonna put them at ten Chiefs of eleven, number
nine the Bucks. Now their schedule gets tougher. The fact
(26:06):
that they have to go to the whistle to beat
the Falcons and the Jets does not, you know, feel
great coming up now with the Eagles and the Seahawks,
the lines, the Niners coming up. They've been doing it though,
missing three offensive linemen and Chris Godwin, Baker Mayfield like
a Sam Darnold, has established himself as a legit franchise quarterback.
(26:28):
Eleven straight games with one hundred plus rushing yards. That
is hard to do in this league, especially when you're
missing many top offensive linemen. I have the Bucks at nine,
number eight, the Niners at eight. Maybe it's a bit high.
Mac Jones is the current starter now Bosa is gone
(26:51):
for the year. Listen Ricky Pearsall has emerged as a
really nice weapon. Two of their wins, though, are against
the Cardinals at home and the Saints, and they don't
have a by until Week fourteen. This team could use
a bye now, but the coach, the quality of offense,
McCaffrey pearsall Kittles coming back. I put him at eight
(27:12):
number seven. Here's what we learned about the Lions. If
you have new coordinators, don't count the preseason, the Hall
of Fame game or Week one since then, nine hundred
total yards last night was not as close as the
score indicated. Jamier Gibbs and David Montgomery are an unblievable
running back tandem. Eleventh career game. They both scored a
(27:35):
rushing touchdown Aiden hushes In, and that defensive front gobbled
up Lamar Jackson. They are twelve and two in primetime games,
beating the best Monday Night quarterback ever last night, Lamar Jackson.
Lions at seven number six. Well, I think the Seahawks
are a handful Kenneth Walker highest reated running back, Sam
(27:56):
Darnold PFF highest redted quarterback, and it does look like
JSN is a number one receiver. But it's the defense
that makes them the second best point differential in the league.
They have held all three opponents to seventeen points for
fewer and a lot of credit goes to John Snyder,
the GM who has had back to back to back
(28:18):
very good drafts. They're not even paying a lot of
these top defensive guys Seahawks at six, number five, Listen,
the Rams can't beat the Eagles one in six Sean
McVeigh against the Eagles, they win seventy five percent of
their other games. Their defense is young, inexpensive, and excellent
most sacks in the NFL. Offense scored on six straight
(28:40):
drives to take a huge lead against the Eagles. They've
got weapons at tight end, wide receiver Devonte Adams. People
aren't talking about it enough. He's just gonna keep getting better.
But they don't match up with Philadelphia because they've got
no corner big enough to stop aj Brown.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Number four.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
The Chargers great red zone defense, so when you can
drive against them, they are the stingiest red zone defense
in the league. Amarion Hampton looks like he's gonna be
a real deal. Keenan Allen does this guy ever? Age?
Number two? Passing offense, they're asking more of Justin Herbert
now he's getting hit way too much. But Quinton Johnson
(29:21):
doesn't appear to be a bust. He's emerged as a
big time downfield threat. I like their culture and their toughness.
Chargers at four, Number three, Packers listen fewest yards per
play allowed Green Band. It's one of my favorite stats
in the league. They don't allow you any yards. They've
held all three opponents in twenty twenty five in the
NFL under two hundred and fifty total yards. Jordan Love
(29:45):
it's his first pick in a regular season game in
ten games. It was a stinker. They came in flat,
they had extra days off, and Cleveland's got an excellent defense.
One of the things that worries me they're not running
the football as well as they should, but I think
the Pack still have a chance to hoist a Lombardi.
Number two Buffalo, It's almost crazy. Twenty five straight games.
(30:08):
They've won the turnover battle right now. Over the last
twelve to fifteen games. Josh Allen's doing something that's hard
to do. You get all the upside and literally no turnovers.
They have the best Super Bowl odds. I don't love
their defense on the back end, but I don't like
the Ravens defense anywhere. I have Buffalo at number two,
(30:29):
number one. They have really bad halfs like this past weekend.
But it is the best roster in the league. They
could probably at the trade deadline go and get another corner,
but you know, Nick Seriani, I didn't get it, but
the team does. And Jalen Hurts maybe a little small,
but he throws well up the sideline. Toughness and leadership,
(30:52):
best third and fourth down team in the league, best roster,
most aggressive GM. Here is the Herd hierarchy. I take
the Ravens over Kansas City Chiefs at eleven due to
the fact the Ravens are the road favorite, and I
think it's an offensive league and they've got an incredibly
dynamic offense.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
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 (31:22):
Welcome back. He does a remarkable job for us. Fourteen
years in the NFL, three time pro bowler, a Fox
Sports analyst, kind of enough to take some time for
us today. My friend Greg Olsen now joining us. We've
been bringing him on since. I may have brought him
on when he was a hurricane. By the way they look,
they look physical, holy got her throwing people at Miami
for the front and I mean, they're legit. We'll get
(31:43):
to that in a second. They're legit. They passed the
eye test. So I said, you know, when Dan Campbell
came in, I thought he's kind of reckless because I
didn't like their personnel. Now it's like an all star team.
I'm like, yeah, you should go for it all the
time on fourth when they went forward on fourth and two,
and it was funny because Troy Aman was like, man,
(32:03):
he's got to set on them, and I'm like, no,
that's kind of what they are. Like, I know, you're
a believer in this. Like, I think the whole identity
of the franchise in Detroit is you know, we're aggressive.
We are an aggressive franchise. I think it's a great brand.
Your thoughts, Yeah, so, I think there's a lot of
(32:23):
levels to it.
Speaker 10 (32:24):
At no point in that game that I think if
they got in this situation that they weren't going to
go for it right, it was just a matter of
what play did they have. They have an entire section
on the play sheet for those gotta have it moments,
the fourth and ones. The fourth and two's the goal
to go situations that is not decided upon in the
moment they have them ranked. First time we're in this situation,
(32:45):
it's this call, and then they just work their way
down the list. They probably carry more of those calls
than most teams because they're in that situation.
Speaker 7 (32:53):
But I think there's multiple factors.
Speaker 10 (32:55):
I think your point I heard you before the break
about the culture and the identity. Since Dan Campbell took
over in Detroit, there has been no wavering that that
was going to be what they are. They believe in it.
He believes in his players. There is no doubt in
the huddle amongst the eleven guys in the huddle. When
they get tackled short on third down, they don't look
(33:16):
to the sideline.
Speaker 7 (33:17):
They don't start walking off.
Speaker 10 (33:18):
The punt team doesn't start walking on, or the field
goal unit like there's not even a consideration.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Number one.
Speaker 10 (33:24):
That's super powerful Number two. And this, I think is
the biggest point around the league. You look at how
many games are won and lost because teams decide every
time you kick the ball, a punt or a field goal,
your chance of winning that game goes exponentially down. And
that's just the nature of the game teams that built.
You know, you look at Sirianni. I did the Eagles
(33:45):
game the other day. They were only in that game
because they forced six field goals, they blocked two of
them of the Rams in a game that the Rams
for three quarters of it pretty much dominated. So it
takes a strong personality as a coach to stand at
the podium him in a playoff game like Dan Campbell.
Speaker 7 (34:02):
Had to do a couple of years ago.
Speaker 10 (34:03):
We called that game where the fourth downs ended up
biting them and they lost the game, and he had
to stand up there, tall and proud and heartbroke in
and say I would do it again. Those are the
guys you believe in. Those are the guys that this
is not just a flash of the pan. It's baked
into every decision they make, and in my opinion, it's
the only way to play NFL football in today's day.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, and so you let's let's talk about that. We
both love Sean McVay and we both love Stafford and
they have really nice skill players. When McVeigh kept settling
for field goals when it was happening because you had
that game, why do they do that? Is it a
belief that, you know what, we've got a better game
plan are in defense. I kind of thought watching the game, well,
(34:46):
they just don't think Philadelphia is going to be able
to come back, so let's just keep adding three.
Speaker 10 (34:52):
That was my take. Yours, Yeah, there seems to be
And I don't think this is unique to McVeigh. I
think mcveigh's in the conversation of the top two to
maybe three, if not, he's in the top three, no
question in my mind, as the best coaches in the NFL,
and I think universally amongst his peers.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
That's how he's regarded.
Speaker 10 (35:10):
I think in a game like that, when you start
fast and you score early and then your every time
you score, you're just increasing your lead. When the opposing
team's offense is struggling as much as Phillies was in
the first half. The human nature is my defense is
really strong. That LA defense is for real now, Like
they're really young and super talented. They've hit that, they've
(35:32):
hit it out of the park with those draft picks
the last couple of years. But I'm always of the
opposite belief, like, if I think my defense is superior,
I'm going to give them the short end of the stick.
You know, how often do we hear so this is
kind of a larger level question, Colin, but like, how
often do we hear coaches say, why.
Speaker 7 (35:48):
Did you punt at midfield?
Speaker 10 (35:49):
Well, my defense was playing so well, so I decided
to punt and play the field position battle. And I
sit there and say, if your defense is playing so
well and your offense is the side of the ball
that might be struggling. So not necessarily the case for
the Rams in that one particular game, but just in general,
give your offense the extra down. Give your offense tip
the scales in their favor, and if one side of
(36:11):
the ball does have to carry the load for a
little while, make it the team. Make it the side
of the ball that you're telling everybody has been so dominant.
Why give your defense the short field in that situation
and not give your offense an extra down? And I
think that's what teams are starting to realize. You see
Sirianni on their opening drive touchdown. Now, granted they have
(36:31):
the ultimate X factor play in the quarterback sneak, they
go for two fourth downs, they end up with an
opening drive touchdown and start the game strong. So, like
I think We're going to continue to see teams understand
field goals get you beat if no matter how well
you think your defense is playing, if you continue. I
told you this in the break, if I was a
head coach, unless it was the walk off field goal
(36:53):
to win the game or take the lead lead, or
if it was a fourth and ten plus, it would
never kick a field goal less than thirty five yards.
I just think it's a wasted opportunity of getting down
in the red zone. And I think we're going to
see more teams adopt that strategy.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
So you're lucky. You got to go to Dublin, Ireland,
which is it's just a great place to go for anything.
It could be a Guinness Irish whiskey or a football game.
It's just a great place to go. And you have
the Vikings and the Steelers. And I think the Vikings
are a fascinating team because I've watched this with Donald
(37:32):
and Baker. Is that their careers get resurrected and this
didn't happen ten to fifteen years ago. My take is
there are so many smart young offensive coaches. The beneficiary
of that is these quarterbacks who get drafted by the
Jets and go to the Panthers Donald or it's Baker
and he's not quite mature enough in Cleveland. He goes
to la and then he finds Tampa is that it's
(37:54):
giving guys. This used to be a total outlier. Then
now it's happening all the time because there's so many
good offensive coaches. And I argue this last week, I said, well,
Carson Wentz can play. And how do I know that?
Because all the coaches that like him are all these
Rerealdy smart offensive guys, and they're like all put Carson
Wentz on my roster. So you're looking at tape now,
(38:15):
I think today he's better than JJ McCarthy. Maybe not
in eight weeks, maybe not next year. Today when you
look at film, can you go on a five game
winning streak with Carson Wentz in Minnesota?
Speaker 10 (38:28):
Yeah, I think if the Vikings have proved one thing,
if Kevin O'Connell has proved one thing, and they've proved
many things in his time in Minnesota, it's I'm not
sure there is a coach in the league, a head
coach for sure, or an offensive coordinator who gets the
most out of their quarterback within their system and blends
the idea of play caller quarterback whisper, confidant, mentor enough
(38:54):
to kick him in the behind and get him going,
but also when.
Speaker 7 (38:57):
It's time to put their arm around them.
Speaker 10 (38:58):
He has such a unique quality to check all of
those boxes.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
It sounds like that would be the given.
Speaker 10 (39:05):
But as we all know, a lot of those quarterbacks
you just mentioned did not enter into those kind of
organizations with that kind of fit earlier in their career.
I mean, look what he did with Cousins, and obviously
Cousins goes in free agency and gets the big deal
post injury with Atlanta. Then what he does last year
with Sam who goes and gets a huge contract in Seattle.
Now you know JJ McCarthy, he gets hurt, and now
(39:26):
in comes Carson Wentz, who hasn't been a starter in
this league. He's been on six teams I think, or
whatever it's been like. And again this was a one
game sample size. Can they continue to do that week
in a week out. We'll find out this week in Ireland.
But he has such a unique quality where yes he
has the x's and o's, yes he has the schematic advantage,
but it's all the other stuff. It's the Sean McVay qualities.
(39:49):
It's those are just really unique guys and there's just
not many of them. And again this is a larger question,
but that's why when you get an opportunity to get
him in your building and you got to hire him
away from LA, you got to make them your head coach.
And you see why teams are going towards young offensive
minds on the head coaching search. And it gets into
that whole conversation. When you have a guy like Kevin
(40:11):
O'Connell and obviously the talent on the roster, your ability
to weather quarterback change injuries is just bigger than most
not everybody, but it's bigger than most teams around the league.
And Kevin O'Connell has proven to be as good, if
not better than any coach in the league in regards
to developing and getting the best out of his quarterback.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
So I said, being a quarterback in Chicago is harder
than Buffalo. So when Josh Allen's first year and a half,
he was completing fifty six percent of his throws, had
more picks than touchdowns. They've been to multiple Super Bowls,
they had Jim Kelly. There is a sense, Hey it's
a small market. It's the media is kind of supportive.
We're going to make Josh Allen work. He's too talented.
(40:53):
In Chicago. I mean, it's loud. The guy's up north,
a thirty minute train ride up north. Green Bay have
owned you for three decades. And even though Caleb had
twenty touchdowns and six picks, had amazing moments like, there's
this sense that if you don't get it right this year,
we're moving on. And I think to myself, I wish
(41:15):
Chicago had a little buffalo. The media wasn't as loud,
the organization didn't suffer from a neighbor up north being dominant.
How long? Because I think Caleb is going to be
like Josh. I think it's going to take time, tons
of horsepower, great freelancer. I think it's going to take
some years. How long do you give him?
Speaker 10 (41:37):
Well, I'll say you based off this past weekend against Dallas.
I caught parts of the game. I was traveling home
for my game, so I only saw parts of it.
The parts that I saw, he looked great. I mean,
I call it, and granted it's a preseason game. The
only time I got to see him up close and
personal this year was in a preseason game where they
blew out Buffalo, And again, preseason games are always tricky.
You kind of got to read through the tea leaves
(41:58):
as far as how the whole matchup were out. But
I think Ben Johnson is as brilliant an offensive mind
as there is in the game of football. I felt
that way now for a couple of years. I think
it's going to take as much as it's going to
take Kayleb Williams time to continue, I think it's going
to take Ben Johnson time to figure out, all right,
what works with this personnel group, what works in this
(42:19):
locker room, what works in these meetings, what works in
these installs.
Speaker 7 (42:22):
Like as as much.
Speaker 10 (42:24):
Success as he's had in his time as a play
caller in Detroit, and as much time as Kayleb Williams
and a success he had in college, it doesn't always
just automatically translate to the next place, because every place
is uniquely different and every place has their strengths and weaknesses.
Ben Johnson is still working through what that looks like
being the head coach in Chicago. Everything you just said
(42:44):
is spot on. I played there for four years. I
understand firsthand, what expectations and the noise and the media.
Speaker 7 (42:50):
It's real.
Speaker 10 (42:51):
It's not an easy place to play. I think Ben
Johnson's personality and demeanor is a good fit.
Speaker 7 (42:56):
I don't think he.
Speaker 10 (42:57):
Worries too much about outside noise. I think he's very
internally confident. I think as Ben Johnson continues to push
Caleb Williams and coach them hard and hold them accountable,
I think we're going to steadily see and improved Caleb
Williams overtime.
Speaker 7 (43:13):
Now, what is that ceiling?
Speaker 10 (43:14):
Physically, the ceiling is as high, as high as anybody
Kenny tie all of it together. Obviously, time will tell.
I don't know if any of us really can predict it.
But Ben Johnson didn't take that job because he didn't
think Caleb Williams was going to be a good player.
That was all baked into that decision. And I think
it's just here we are, three weeks in. We've seen
(43:36):
a lot of good They did really well against Dallas,
but their defense is a whole nother story.
Speaker 7 (43:42):
My guest right now is we're going to.
Speaker 10 (43:44):
Continue to see that relationship in that offense in Chicago
steadily improve.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I was watching the Ravens last night, and their brand's
always been tough, relentless physical, and that defense it doesn't
do much good. I mean, it's just really struggling, basically
the Cowboys defense without the star and the discussion like
on the helmet, like they're just not good. And I
thought to my Cello, was strange watching them that Lamar
(44:09):
scores so quickly. It's not complimentary football. The bad defense
goes back on the field. Like the Lions last year.
The defense was bad, but they dominated a time of
possession number two in the league. And I watched Baltimore, Greg,
I do not think you can win a Super Bowl
with a bad defense. Atlanta's the only team in the
last decade that got there, and they blew a huge
(44:30):
fourth quarter league. I looked at Baltimore last night and
I'm like, we're in week four. Is that solvable? I mean,
I know that we're missing a pass rusher or two,
but that wasn't a pass rush issue. That wasn't getting
bulldozed for three and a half hours. I don't know
if you can win a Super Bowl with that defense.
Can you solve stuff by week four, five, and six?
Speaker 10 (44:50):
I mean the answer is yes, you can I mean
Baltimore did it last year. I mean in the first
half the season, their defense was abysmal. They had a
hard time replacing McDonald. Obviously, he went on and took
the head job out in Seattle, and they had some
growing pains figuring out what that defensive structure was going
to look like. They lost a lot of their coaching
staff to other teams to head coaching jobs. There were
(45:13):
some shuffling. So it took them, call it, half the
season last year to really find their way and then
down the stretch. I called their game on Christmas Day,
so it was late in the year, and they beat
Houston and they were dominant, and obviously the rest is
history through the playoffs and the matchups and losing obviously,
But I do think they can get it better. I
think Harball, although not a defensive guy by trade, is
(45:36):
a long time, you know, very established head coach.
Speaker 7 (45:39):
He's been through.
Speaker 10 (45:40):
Good offense is bad offenses, good defense is bad defenses.
Speaker 7 (45:44):
I think programs like that.
Speaker 10 (45:45):
That do have stability at the head coaching position, with
the experience that he has, I think they can get
it right. But I agree with you, they've got a
lot of work to do. The explosive nature of Baltimore's
offense is exactly what you want. And today is day
and age. You don't want to score on ten plus
play drives every time. If you are ultra dependent on
time of possession and sit on the ball and go
(46:08):
in the length of the field every time. That's a
very hard model in today's game to sustain. So their
quick strike offense is what you want. But then your
point is exactly correct on the inverse. When my defense
is not playing great, the more I put them right
back on the field to match possession for possession with
my opponent, you're going to see a high scoring game.
(46:28):
And obviously we've seen them play a few of them now,
so they've got to get the defense squared away. I
would always rather have an offense that can score thirty
any given day and fix the defense. I think it's
harder in today's NFL to say, okay, my defense can
keep you.
Speaker 7 (46:43):
I'm the Browns right, like.
Speaker 10 (46:45):
That defense is going to keep you fifteen to seventeen
points a lot. But then you're just holding your breath, like,
how are we ever going to score? Is it sustainable?
Beating the Packers in a game in the teams over
the length of the season always rather at offense that
can score, and then we can figure out together how
we can get that defense to just keep those number
(47:07):
as low as possible.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
On the other side, Well, I gotta ask you this.
Justin Herbert got hit fourteen times, he got pressured fifty
five and Jim Harbaugh said after the game, you'd never
know it in his facial expression. He never wins this.
And there is something about toughness. I had a GM
tell me this year's ago. He said, you know the
key in this league is you think all football players
(47:30):
are tough. He goes, some guys don't like getting hit,
and some guys like Andrew Luck love to get popped.
Just I want to get involved. I look at Herbert
and I'm like, Greg, I mean, you played in the
NFL for years. You had the ability. You were a
rare tight end. You could be tough in block, Tony
Gonzalez could do this, or you could get down the field.
(47:53):
But were there quarterbacks you played with that you knew
that had a tight end. And then the other guys
they were quarterbacks, they didn't want to get hit. Because
I watched Herbert and I'm like, that's not everybody is that.
Speaker 10 (48:09):
Yeah, I think there's a the spectrum there is very wide.
I don't think I ever played with the guy. Now,
I played with a lot of quarterbacks. I don't think
any of them ever were afraid to get hit.
Speaker 7 (48:20):
But two come to mind that remind me of.
Speaker 10 (48:22):
Herbert as far as the physicality of the game brought
out the best in them, and that was obviously Cam
and in Chicago was Jay Cutler. Like there was a
mentality to both of them that if they got sacked,
if they got hit hard, they were going to beat
you up off the ground, get to their feet faster,
to just show like even though I'm dying inside, even
(48:43):
though you got the best of me and I'm hurt,
and like I'm never going to let you see that.
Speaker 7 (48:47):
Cam had that.
Speaker 10 (48:47):
Like we used to joke, Cam's game didn't start until
he either got hit like sacked or like hit as
a passer, or we just had to call a quarterback
run and let him just run headfirst into the Mike
linebacker on quarterback power and then we're like, okay, the
games officially started. Cutler was the same way, like not
so much as a designed runner.
Speaker 7 (49:06):
Like Cam was, but in the open field.
Speaker 10 (49:09):
He wasn't a big slider, he wasn't getting down like
there was multiple times that I could picture him in my
head where he's taking guys on at the line of scrimmage,
I mean at the goal line, lowering his shoulder like
So those two.
Speaker 7 (49:19):
Guys in my time come to mind.
Speaker 10 (49:21):
As like that physical, not scared, not going to flinch,
can get hit ten times in a row, and on
the eleventh play, they're going to hold that ball and
let that dig open up just one half clicks longer,
because that's when he needs to deliver it. Like I
agree that you can't coach that, like that's ingrained in
the DNA of who these guys are. And to play
(49:42):
in today's game with the struggles of offensive line and
the defensive lineman just getting so good, and the defensive
coordinators these simulated pressures and free runners, and we see
these good quarterbacks under fire very often.
Speaker 7 (49:55):
If you can't stand in there and take shots in the.
Speaker 10 (49:58):
Pocket, and you you can't manipulate outside the pocket and
every once in a while just be respectable as a runner.
It is a very hard way to play quarterback in
today's NFL. If you don't have that level of toughness,
and I think for the most part, you look around
the league at the guy's baker, Sam Darnold, like, these
guys are inherently tough, physically got physically tough guys.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
Finally, all the football you've played through, all the years,
there's something weird about college football. It's the only sport
that makes me mad. When my Trojan struggle, I'm gonna
bad mood the rest of Saturday. I watched Miami this year.
They I've been sold Miami for years. I think this
team's legit physically. What say you, Oh, there's no question.
Speaker 10 (50:44):
So Mario Cristaball, You're not going to find a bigger
fan of Mario than me. I've known Mario since I
was a freshman in high school when I first met
him when he was a GA at Miami, and then
he went with Greg Chiao to Rutgers and I grew
up in Jersey, so they were always at all of
our games and all of our sporting mens. So I
go back thirty years with twenty five years with Mario.
So I think the job he's done. I've always said
(51:06):
if he couldn't do it, then nobody could do it. Well,
obviously he was the guy to do it. They are
so physical, It's in everything that Mario crystal Ball is about.
He's got a little bit of that Dan Campbell where
the physicality and the size and his toughness and the
way he communicates is so aggressive, yet there is an
element of sophistication and cerebral and they're good recruiters and
(51:27):
coaches and motivators. Like he kind of reminds me a
little bit of Dan that in that perspective. But man,
what a job he's done. But I'm with you, I
was sitting with I was in Philly. I'm at the
Four Seasons in Philly, amazing hotel, kicking my feet up.
Speaker 7 (51:42):
I'm gonna have a nice night after production meetings and dinner.
Speaker 10 (51:44):
I'm gonna watch the Miami game and I'm literally sweating
in my room. That touchdown got called back for the
inadvertent whistle. Then Florida goes on that big drive and
I'm like, yeah, oh my god, We're gonna lose this
game all because of that inadvertent whistle.
Speaker 7 (51:57):
Now I'm mad at the refs.
Speaker 10 (51:58):
Like it is an emotion experience watching a college or
a team that you're invested in.
Speaker 7 (52:03):
I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Yeah, I can get over an NFL loss in fifteen minutes.
Speaker 7 (52:07):
For the cold beer.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
College football losses putting me on our tail spin for
thirty six hours.
Speaker 10 (52:15):
You should see me with my middle school football team
that I coach. It'll take me three weeks to get
over a bad game.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
Well, at least you're not kicking field goals. I know
that about no field goals.
Speaker 7 (52:25):
We only go for two.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
There you go. Great seeing you, buddy, You're amazing.
Speaker 7 (52:28):
I appreciate you. Thanks calling.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
I've had the good fortune to run into Greg off
the air from time to time. He is just about
as good a human being as you're going to meet.
We had good dudes on the show today. I mean,
we tolerated Nick Wright, but I got Justin Herbert, Greg Olsen,
you can't do better than that.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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