December 5, 2025 • 36 mins
Colin Cowherd breaks down a pivotal Thursday Night Football match up as the Detroit Lions bounce back with a massive win over the Dallas Cowboys to stay alive in the NFC playoff race
Then, it’s time for Colin’s Blazing 5 — his best bets and sharpest NFL picks for Week 14, featuring deep dives into Bengals vs. Bills, Texans vs. Chiefs, and more marquee matchups
Plus, former Chicago Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt joins the show to break down the Bears’ surprising rise to the best record in the NFC and how head coach Ben Johnson is maximizing rookie QB Caleb Williams on their path toward championship contention
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go, capping off the week with a Friday
before a huge college football weekend, the Weirdest Blazing five
and the history of Blazing fives in one hour from
now Detroit Deliver. I mean, it was a wild shootout,
thirty seven thirty with two minutes thirty seconds left, the
(00:50):
trash meet by the Detroit line, So let's talk about that.
I like Dallas last night, but it was pretty clear
by the middle of the second quarter that Detroit found
their rhythm. This felt like the Ben Johnson offensive coordinator
for the Lions. Lion seven point two yards of play.
(01:13):
They have crazy offensive talent. They have two running backs
I like, two wide receivers that are stars. They always
get an offensive line push, and it's a well constructed roster.
David Montgomery, the bruiser, Jamiir Gibbs, the home run hitter,
homor On Saint Brown, the volume receiver, receiver Jamison Williams,
acceleration guy, speed guy. They can be physical or finas.
(01:35):
They can score slowly and eat up the clock, or
they can score quickly. They had a three play drive
fifty three yard touchdown that took up ninety seconds. They
had a ten play drive for a field goal that
took up six minutes. For about three years, they were
the most talked about offense. They looked like the best
constructed offense even before Jamiir Gibbs. It was Pro bowlers
(01:58):
and should be Pro bowlers. That's never been the issue.
We didn't even really question Dan Campbell, didn't. We always
thought Dan was a great culture guy. Since he's taken
over the play calling, though he's a little better scheme
guy than we give him credit for. They're averaging six
point eight yards of play and last night their last
seven drives they had no punt, So I would say
(02:21):
we've never criticized their front office.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
We think Dan Campbell has established himself as a franchise
culture builder, kind of like a Vrabel, big guy physically
culture builder. We also like Jared Goff. Don't listen to anybody,
He's really good. But we kind of this last night
looked like the team with Ben Johnson, and by the way,
we've seen glimpses of it this year. I went and
(02:44):
looked up this morning. They've scored thirty eight against Baltimore.
They scored fifty two way back, went against the Bears,
forty four against Washington, forty four last night against Dallas,
so we know it's there. But they also gave us
pause because they scored nine against Philly and seventeen against
the Chiefs. It's not about talent with Detroit, and we've
(03:05):
seen this. The Niners defense is more depleted than last year,
but it's better because they got the right coordinator, Robert Salla.
And we've said when you lose Ben Johnson, an all
time offensive coordinator, even if you're replace him with a
solid guy, a pretty good guy, it doesn't look quite
as unique and quite as clever. So Dan Campbell stepped
in and said, listen, our defense still isn't great. We're
(03:28):
going to mostly win by track meets. And since Dan
Campbell's taken it over, you're getting you're seeing this, but
remember this is a team that also lost to JJ McCarthy.
But I thought it was a beautiful thing to watch.
By about the mid second quarter and you were looking
at the Ben Johnson Lions. So ideally a coach does
not want to take over play calling duties offensively or
(03:49):
defensively from a coordinator. But I also feel like it's
time right now. Last night was a must win for them.
They've signed a lot of their guys to big contracts
in Detroit, a lot of them, A couple of them
have injuries. As players get older, they get banged up,
and so these windows we all know this, windows close
very quickly in the NFL. So I'm watching it last
(04:11):
night by the mid second quarter and I'm like, oh, okay,
these Lions. I've seen these Lions for about two three
years with Ben Johnson it felt like every Sunday. This
year it's like every third Sunday, and it was last
night on Thursday. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
(04:31):
The roster construction's outstanding. You look at their schedule now
at LA Steelers, at Minnesota, at Bears.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
They're an eight and five team.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
They're going to control most of their destiny here is
Dan Campbell.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
After these guys do a great job of they take
it for what it is. Man. They don't don't get panicked,
they don't get panicked, they don't make something out of
it that it's not. I think by doing that and
keeping it that way, our guys are able to always
answer back.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You know they do.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I think where you get in trouble is if you
start just that, you start panicking, and you start you know,
I mentioned this last week. You got to start doing
more than you need to do, just do your job.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
The more often we get that Detroit and that offense
and that explosion and speed, that feels like a playoff
team because their ceiling is very high. Okay, let's talk Cowboys.
They lost a shootout. Two things are obvious and two
things jumped out to us. One we kind of knew
(05:36):
is the truth. One we were hoping would never be
the truth. Again, let's start with the first. We told
you we like Dallas's O line, but there are a
much better run blocking O line than a pass blocking
O line. And last night they got exposed Tyler Geiton.
Their left tackle was out. Yeah, that was bad because
the right tackle is not good. So Dak Prescott was
getting whacked. He got hit, sacked, knocked down eleven times.
(06:00):
Do you realize this year Dak Prescott is the third
most pressured quarterback in the league. First as Herbert, seconds
cam Ward, Third is Dak. So Aiden Hutchison had ten pressures,
seven in the fourth quarter. So when Dallas absolutely had
to throw when time was running out, it got ugly.
So Dallas has two first round picks. It's a good
offensive tackle draft, it's a good edge rusher draft. They
(06:23):
need both. That's they can solve one massive concern and
getting an edge just gives their pass rush even more push.
But last night it was very obvious Jared Goff was
the much more comfortable quarterback. This is not on Dak.
I've defended Justin Herbert all year. I've defended cam Ward,
(06:44):
I'll defend Dak. When you're facing that kind of pass rush,
you have.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
To speed it up.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You make more mistakes. I don't care if you're a typist,
a pianist, or a quarterback. When you're playing faster than
you're supposed to, it gets ugly. So Dak. In Deck's
six wins, he's been sacked six times, seven times in
Dak's six losses, he's in sacked fourteen times. So there's
the answer to the test. The second thing, and I
didn't think this was going to be a thing again.
(07:10):
George Pickens became the Steelers. George Pickens uninterested, uninspired, immature,
He still had five catches. But every Cowboy fan you saw,
we saw, we all saw. Now Ceedee Lamb is so
great and they've got enough other receivers like Turpin, you
know where you don't have to keep George Pickens. But
(07:33):
George Pickens has been so good this year. When Dak
in the first eleven games was throwing the Pickens, he
had one hundred and thirty five passer rating. In the
last two games Dak thrown at George Pickens has a
twenty nine passer rating, and that's not on Dak. So remember,
Dallas moved off Des Bryant. Dallas moved off Michael Parsons,
(07:53):
Jerry Jones. If you are committed, you're an adult, and
you're productive, Jerry, he'll overpay you. But if you're not,
remember Jerry got tired of Zeke. He moved off Dez
Micah had his world famous podcast, Jerry wantsh You committed.
Jerry wants you you grinding, okay, Jerry has been all
(08:15):
in on Dak. Dax's mature, Dax committed, Dak Smiths games.
Dak's been hurt, but he knows Dak is one hundred
percent about the team. George Pickens, this is what we
all feared. Pickens pouts on Prime is not the headline
anybody wanted this morning. And Richard Sherman, good for him,
(08:39):
called it out after.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
The big story. Here's George Pickens.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
George Pickens throughout the game, especially late in the game,
just looked uninterested, uninterested in playing football, you know. And
that's what you can't have if you're going to be
a superstar, if you want to be the best receiver
in the National Football League, you can ever be disengaged.
You can't just disappear in these games or else you're
not gonna have impact. You're the guy, You're the guy.
Ceedee Lamba's not in this game.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
He's out.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
It's unacceptable. And if you're the Dallas Cowboys and you're
looking at him and you're looking to pay him big
time receiver money forty million dollars, you gotta look at
this state and say, hey, Is this a guy we
can trust paying forty million dollars to show up regardless
of circumstance.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Good for Richard Sherman, regardless of circumstance, regardless of circumstance.
George Pickens when the going's good, but now and I'm
just gonna guess here. His agents called Jerry looking for
a big contract, and they've said, let's wait till the
seasons over. Agent tells Pickens Pickings starts pouting. Remember those
(09:42):
words from Richard Sherman. Regardless of circumstance, Because regardless of circumstance,
Dak Prescott always delivers, winning, losing hurt. Dak is a
leader on the worst of Sundays and the best of Thursdays. Okay,
just because the the workplace environment is an ideal. Don't
(10:03):
do a Dez because Jerry moved off Dez and it
distracted in his mind and a replaceable Micah. He got
tired of Zeke. So I, Richard Sherman, circumstance superstars, circumstance superstars,
They're not going to get the bag in Dallas, And
I know everybody's gonna go. He's been so great last
(10:24):
couple of games. You're getting the Pittsburgh guy. Hey, Dez
Bryant to the end in Dallas got into the end
zone a lot. I talked to Jason Garrett off the
air once about that. He's like, I love Dez. He
got into the end zone. It's hard to get in
the end zone. So that's not a good look. And
again Dak was getting hammered, picking starts pouting. That is
(10:47):
not on Dak last night. And I'll say this about
the Dallas defense, it's better, but I've seen Detroit do
that this year to all sorts of teams, including the
Ravens who have a very good defense banged up. But
I I it's just one of those nights where standalone
games kind of feels like you quit late in the
game when Ceedee Lamb left And that's the thing. CD
(11:10):
was out, gets taken off the field. Now it's your
time to shine, and it looked like you just quit
on a football.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
You don't get the bag. You get the boot in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
If you're a circumstances superstar, boot over the bag. So Jmack,
we have a blazing five today. It's reminiscent of one
of yours. Because I'm doing something that I am not
prone to do, which is bet games I don't want
to watch. It's a lot of bad teams, including one
(11:44):
year close to that. I really really like this weekend.
And did I talk you into the Falcons yesterday. I'm
not even gonna get into it. I'm going to tease
it for the audience. But as I was making my picks,
the staff was like, did you steal jmaxx picks? Because
these are the games one you start going to AFC
South NFC South games. You know I'm not on a heater.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I'm looking for.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
W Well, yeah, listen, you gotta bounce back. By the way,
I did wear black. For the people who aren't watching
on TV, this is a funeral day for the Cowboys season.
It's over the picking stuff. You nailed it absolutely, you know.
I'm sure Jerry said, hey, well, franchise tag him. Yeah yeah,
And Pickens don't want to hear that.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
You know, you know how this goes.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
I'm just telling you that was a massive swing game,
not only for this year for the Cowboys Colin, but
I think for next year because they probably looked at
that defensive front.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Hey we got three defensive tackles. They couldn't stop the run?
What are we doing?
Speaker 6 (12:36):
I think they got a lot of changes coming to
Dallas next time.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
All right, be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
And in addition to hearing us live week nights from
seven to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we
are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's right, You can now watch The Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 7 (13:09):
Oh you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Let's blaze it up, Fire it up.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's Collins blazing five Bengals and Bills.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I like Cincinnati getting T Higgins back plus six coming
off extra rest nineteen and nine last five years December January.
That's Burrow, by the way. Watch Burrow in his last
eight starts eight and oh he is back. The Bills
have not been good. McDermott's one for one for four
(13:52):
against the Bengals. The offense now for Buffalo, multiple giveaways
in four straight games. They can't stop the and the
Bengals three straight games rushing for over one hundred yards.
T Higgins is backed. Joey Bosa out for Buffalo. Joe
Burrow more time to throw upset. Take Cincinnati plus the
(14:17):
six to beat Buffalo outright, Joe Burrow, T Higgins, Here
they go thirty twenty eight. Colt said Jaguars. I'll take
the Jaguars at home plus one and a half. They've
won ten straight games against the Colts in Jayville.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
They own him in.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Jacksonville, and they're on a three game winning streak, and
they have the number one rush defense that will force
force the Colts to throw. The problem is Daniel Jones
has a fibula fracture, not moving particularly well, and over
the last couple of games he's completing fifty seven percent
of his throws. The offense feels a little broken. Since
(14:58):
Week nine, two different teams Jacksonville very good. The Colts
average at about twenty two a game, one in three.
Jaguars always good against the Colts in this spot. Win
it thirty to twenty four. Dolphins and Jets what am
I doing. I'm taking the Jets as a home dog
(15:20):
plus two and a half Tyrod Taylor. I'm gonna go
with him. A d Mitchell, that wide receiver that came
over from the Colts. Did you see what he did
last week? Yeah? Ah, got some good numbers, eight catches.
You see that top ten pass defense without Sauce Gardner. Listen,
the Jets are playing their butt off. They've won three
(15:42):
of five, and they're scoring points, and they're at home
and they're a dog. And did you watch Tua over
the last month. I don't know what's wrong. First of all,
he's terrible in cold weather. No touchdowns for Tua and
three of his last four games leaves the NFL with
fourteen interceptions. Tua, Sumton's off, it's getting cold. The Jets
are playing hard for Aaron Glenn's not a great team
(16:05):
playing hard. I take the Jets to win and cover
twenty seven twenty four. Take them in the point. Texans
ad Chiefs, I have to take the hook. I'm taking
the Texans plus the hook three and a half, four
game winning straight. Five of their six road games this
season have been one score games, Number one scoring defense
(16:25):
held opponents in five of their last six games under
twenty points. Hunter and Will Anderson against a beat up
Kansas City offensive line that three of their five starters
on the O line are injured, including left tackle, guard,
right tackle. I'm sorry, it's a low scoring game. I've
got to take the hook here. Chiefs have been out
(16:46):
gained in three of their last four games. By the way,
in twelve games, they have twenty two sacks Kansas City's
twenty seventh. So CJ. Stroud gonna have a little extra time.
I don't know who wins. I don't know who wins,
but I'm taking the points in the Hawk twenty four
to twenty three Kansas City in the last second field goal.
I am taking Houston though three and a half point.
(17:09):
Eagles at Chargers, I'm gonna take the Eagles minus two
and a half is my only favorite. They're four and
two on the road. They beat Kansas City at Bucks
and Green Bay on the road. Number one red zone offense,
number five offensive line, and Saquon Barkley may not be running,
but Jalen Hurts, for some reason, is often a better
road quarterback. The Chargers have faced two teams with a
(17:32):
winning record over the last ten weeks, they got hammered
by both of them and the offensive line. It's not
good at all. So Jalen hurts last two years on
the road, I'm telling you he's better away from Philly,
and I think I think I have maybe the best
O line and unquestionably the worst O line. I think
(17:54):
it's close. I think the crowd is sixty five thirty five.
Philadelphia feels a little bit like a home game. I'm
gonna swallow the two and a half. I'm gonna take
Philly twenty four to twenty. Jamacha reaction. I don't take dogs.
I don't like to bet games like the Jags Colts,
which I find hard to watch. But I'm taking the
(18:16):
underdog Bengals. I get the Jaguars. I'm taking the Chats,
I know, but I love the Jets call.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
By the way, you know what they're calling Tyrod Taylor,
ty god Taylor is. He's seven to zho to one
against the spread in his last eight starts. All he
does is cover and it is cold in New York
this week. I like that call, buddy.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Last time the Chicago Bears won a road playoff game,
Dave Wonstat was the coach he's now joining us live
here in the studio in Chicago, thirty nine years college
or pro coach. So you must love Ben Johnson because
last week they ran at what forty seven times? And
my argument is we always think of physicality with defense.
(19:01):
Actually Kyle Shanahan and his physicality is with defense and
running the football. So your thoughts on Ben Johnson's willingness,
even with Caleb and all those receivers to run.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
It, well, I got fired for running the ball too much, Okay,
So I mean I was the extreme, but I didn't
have a quarterback right, So I love what he's doing.
And when you really think about it, you mentioned Kyle
Shanahan when we were working together at Fox on the
pregame show. I was assigned once to do a study
when the Niners and Shanahan were going to the Super Bowl,
(19:31):
and the thing that jumped at me they were shifting
and motioning, calling more than anybody in the NFL. And
they had runs and passes as you were watching that tape,
and if the play first started with a line stepping
in the back, you couldn't tell if it was a
runner pass. And that's what he Ben's doing. I mean,
Ben is mirroring the run with the pass and motion
(19:54):
and shifting. The guy's doing a phenomenal job. And let's
give this offensive lines credit. Four of the five starters
on the Bears offensive line are new, started from a
year ago. And and I'll tell you what, Ryan Poles,
the general manager, you know, the people have been on them,
but they signed the center and two guards. No one's
(20:15):
been hurt, and these guys have just gotten better every
week and every week. So combination of been with what
he's doing on offense, and I'm gonna give the offensive
line credit for how they've come along and stayed healthy.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
This rivalry has been one sided. Did Packer games feel different?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
They do now. I mean, you know, I mean they
two now. I mean the Bears beat them in the
last game of the season last year, you know, and
it was just a mess here with everything going on.
But I think the biggest difference has been a quarterback.
I mean the six years that I was with the Bears,
I had six starting different quarterbow six good good luck, Okay,
I don't care how much you're running the ball. And
(20:54):
that's when Brett Favre was starting, and then it was Rogers,
So you know, I got to believe that the consistency
had quarterback has been the difference with the Packers over
the years. And you know, I don't see it changing
right now. And this is talking about Bears quarterbacks now,
Mitch Trubisky first round pick, Justin Fields first round pick.
So it wasn't a bunch of free agent that they
(21:16):
signed off the field. It just hasn't worked for Bears
at the quarterback position. So I think this year with Tatum, so.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Mike Tomlin, former player Big Ben saying things this week,
the fans channing fire Tomlin. My take has always been
with Pittsburgh. I mean, they haven't won a playoff game
in eight years. You can be a really good coach,
but the league is pivoted offense. I mean, if you
start looking now, who ends up in Super Bowls and
(21:45):
conference championships. It's overwhelming the offensive coaches. I mean, Chicago
turned it around offensive coach. Denver's got a young quarterback
offensive coach you look at. I mean, Jacksonville's good again
offensive coach. Is it possible that Tomlin, the message gets lost.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
It's an old team.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
They've heard the stories and the motivational tactics. Is it possible.
It's time to just good coach, get a different environment.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, because there's not as much turnover in college. You're
turning guys over two or three years, so you can
have college coaches that last a long time. Al Davis.
Al Davis used to always say, I remember when we
were working against the Raiders. I was at the Cowboys
and he was talking to Jimmy or Jerry or someone,
and he was always talking about ten years would be
(22:29):
the maximum that he felt that goat coach could be
in one position and one Just for what you're saying,
I mean, and yeah, players move around a little bit
more now than they did back then, but you know,
you got to have a special group of guys before
it gets told. And you know, you talk about the
Steelers and the standard. I mean, you know it's I
(22:51):
think now that the fans have turned, ex players have turned.
And I was back there in June for the US
Open and I had lunch with Dart Rooney and Mike
Touman came in and we were sitting here talking. Those
guys are connected at the hip. I mean, there's not
going to be a problem there. But I just wonder
how long Mike really wants to put up with that
(23:11):
type of approach because I don't see it getting any better.
I mean, I don't, you know. I mean, Aaron is
what he is. The defense is getting old. So I
mean it's a tough situation. I mean, looking back on it,
and I was curious when it was going back. It
was June and they had signed Aaron Rodgers. You remember,
it was late who's the quarterback? I was waiting for
(23:31):
them to trade TJ. Watt for a couple ones and
go with Mason Rudolph the backup quarterback for this year,
because where are they going next year? You tell me
where they going to be picking. They're going to be
in the middle of the pack, and they're right back
to the quarterback scenario. It's tough to get out of
that cycle unless you do something drastic, you know. And
(23:52):
I know that's all hindsight, but I'm sure they're thinking
about that now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I suggested it a couple of years ago. Is that
with TJ. Watt, the defense hasn't been very good for
the last three years, not nearly as good as what
they're paying for it, So go get a quarterback. So
you know, listen, the Cowboys lost the track meet last night.
They need a right tackle. They have two first round picks.
It's a good tackle draft to replace my kids, a
good edge draft. I like where Dallas is going. The
(24:18):
George Pickens thing is interesting. Yeah, so Jerry has shown
if you're not committed or focused, Des Bryant, he'll move
off you. Zeke, he got tired of him. Micah the
Podcast The Celebrity. Dak is always football first.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah. I gotta love Dak, right, he always football first.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Those offensive linemen Tyron Smith, Zach Martin football first. The
Pickens thing would bother me.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah, you know, And I remember when we first went
to Dallas. We were going to be we were trying.
We had no players. We were turning everything over, I
mean from the ground floor, you know that. And we
signed a couple free agents that were out there and
people were and they have talented guys, uh like Pickens.
(25:07):
And after it didn't work out, I remember us all
sitting around and Jimmy making the comment, you know, there's
a lesson to be learned here. Those guys are out
there for a rest, and the team that they're coming
from there's a lot more about Look at the Steelers, Mike.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Tomlin and tolerant drama coach.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I mean Colin, I mean it's you know, I used
to call calling coach all the time.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
You know, I'm the coach of f S one.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Yes, you are, you are, you are the head coach.
But when you look at antonio'bron the Bears made a
trade for Chase Claypole, remember to receive them not long ago,
gave up a second round.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Patty got to Chicago.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
And they got rid of him well in five weeks
or a half a year or something. So my point is,
Mike Tomlin, if he's going to be as patient with
a player as anybody as anybody in the league, and
you jump up there and.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You them, Uh, free agency can be a little bit
of a used car lot.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Oh, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Owner knows what the odometer is. You got to buy on.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
There's risk involved, one hundred percent. And you know they
were And it's not about talent and it's you know,
but it's just the long season. You want guys that
during the ups and downs of a game, are going
to be able to stay at that high level. And uh,
obviously Pickings and I'm not putting the game last night
on him. I mean, they turned the ball over and
(26:29):
that defense. Matt Ibraflus is really Matt Ebraflus is a
good defensive coach. Trust me. I mean, I know Matt.
When he was here at the Bears, I sat with him,
We talked football. He knows what he's doing. They got
some players. They're improving. Becauesn't.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Detroit's got explosive players. You see in the last four
years they have. They have games like this at home especially,
But when you're.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
An average, when you're a defense, it's coming along. You
can't turn the ball over on the other side, you
know what I mean? And and three turnovers to none
last night.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
You got that had won a lot of the stats,
time of possession, first down, Dallas was fine, turnovers and
they couldn't make one big stop late.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
If I said to you one team had three turnovers
and the other one had zero, there it is. It's
a fourteen to twenty one point lot. Look at the
Rams in Carolina last week.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
If you turn the ball over, especially on the road,
good luck Philadelphia plays on money night. We're gonna get
to a couple of college topics. Philadelphia is interesting. Jalen
Hurts strangely is actually better on the road sometimes than
at home. He gets away from the pressure. It is
strange that Saquon Barkley there's no juice. Is it fatigue?
(27:38):
Is it the OC? Is it the offensive line? Sat
Quon Barkley looked like, next to Barry Sanders and Walter Payton,
the best running back I've ever seen, and this year nothing.
Did he just lose his fastball?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I don't mate. I think it's a little bit a
combination of a couple of things. One little bit of
Super Bowl hangover? Kay, okay, what's the team that's real?
That's real? And I think the other thing, too, is
I think the Dallas Cowboys tore their heart out the
week before they were up twenty one to nothing against Dallas,
and Dallas beats him twenty three to twenty one. I
(28:10):
think that because the look on that sideline was bad. Look,
why isn't Barkley running it more? Jalen Hurts is running
the ball now about seven times a game on an average.
When they had that Super Bowl run a couple of
years ago, he was ten eleven runs a game. And
anytime you're threatened by the quarterback running it. Speaking from
(28:30):
a defensive standpoint, you have to take somebody off the
running back and be accountable for the quarterback. And right
now they're not doing that. They're putting everything on Barkley,
and they're saying, Jalen Hurts, if you want to run it,
prove it that you're going to run the ball. But
I don't take Kevin Patola. I worked with him at Buffalo.
I know him. He's a good coach. This Nick Sirianni
(28:52):
is an offensive guy.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
I'm not talking to him to solve the problem.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Coach, tell I know. I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Floor's offense was broken a month ago. He solved it.
Thank you, I mean, dude, to take take it over.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
You're the head coach, you're an offensive guy. You and
Kevin have been together forever. Don't let the guy's house
get egged. Yeah, you get that right. It might be
better for Philly to get on the road.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
To get out. I think getting out of town actually
helps them. Plus, the Solfi crowd will be by sixty
five thirty five Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Oh absolutely, let's do.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Some college Big Ten championship. I worry a little bit
about Ohio State off the Michigan win and looking at
the playoff being, you know, dipping a little bit. But
I was told this by a coach who has been
on the sidelines for Ohio State in Indiana. Ohio State
looks like bigger. They look like they got fifteen NFL guys.
(29:49):
Ohio State's got better players, Their coaching staff's excellent. Julian
Sayan is great, Oh my, he is. I like Ohio
State here. I think it just it comes down to
they've got Indiana beat Oregon at Oregon, but Oregon doesn't
have as we saw at the end of last year,
Ohio State guys.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yet I like the buck eyes. You yeah, two things
here that Ohio State. Ohio State has not been behind
in a pressure situation at the end of the game.
And you've got Julian saying, who's playing leading the country
seventy how do you complete seventy almost seventy nine percent
of your pass?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Is incredibly good and accurate for a kid.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Oh It's unbelievable. And he's got two receivers he's leading.
You know, both Tate and Jeremiah Smith are leading the
nation in plays over forty yards, So he's got weapons
with him. Yes, but here's what I think this game
comes down to. You've got saying, who's a freshman, okay,
and you've got Mendoza, who's.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
A five year senior.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Okay, he's been around. So you've got a little bit
more experience, obviously, a lot more experience with Indiana. And
Indiana has been battle tested by that. I mean they
have been. It's final drive against Iowa, it's an end
of the game against Penn State, it's Oregon at the
end of the game. I mean, and they have found
ways when they look up at that scoreboard and there's
(31:12):
six seven minutes left or less against a talented team,
they have found ways to win the game. Ohio State
hasn't yet, you know, So I don't know. I'm not
selling Indiana short by any means. I think you know,
think about this, you said, Ohio State's offensive line, they
look the part. They've given up the fourth top ten
(31:35):
in the least amount of tackles for losses. Guess who's
number two in the nation, Indiana. As far as making
tackles for there's battle. It's going to be a battle
up front here. And then if it comes down to
a close game at the end, what quarterback can make
a play? I mean this and saying this could be
the first game that he's going to have to win
(31:55):
the game. Yep for Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I've already seen Mendoza do it at Penn State. Yeah,
that was one for the ages. Finally, you know the
Miami Hurricanes, Well, they beat Notre Dame head to head.
They had four common opponents, they were better against them.
Miami's got the better defense, Miami's got the better passing game.
And again once the records are the same head to head,
we know this in the NFL, that's the first thing
(32:19):
they use.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I have Mario Christabaul on last hour. I and I'm
a Notre Dame. I love Notre Dame, and I think
they'd be favored if they played. But that's not what
this is about. I think Miami's getting host here, don't you?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Oh? One hundred percent? One hundred percent? I mean I yeah,
if you look at both teams, everybody keeps saying, well,
Notre Dame would be favored. I would say, why, Well
they were favored the first time? Yeah? Why why? I mean,
you know, what defense would you like Miami? Thank you?
What quarterback would you like? Miami? Probably now Miami? No, absolutely,
(32:53):
did you see in the pick game. I guess Marl
Milwater the last game in the season. Those receivers made
some catches, you know, NFL catches for Miami.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
No, Miami's. Miami looks the part. We by the way,
they have the best edge rusher in the sport right now,
Vain that kid could be on the second third pick.
So Miami's got the great edge rusher, Miami's got great receivers.
What Notre Dame has is a terrific coach, so does Miami.
And I love the running back. He is a great player.
But again, I this can't be about the spread and
(33:24):
it can't be about what I think four common opponents
head to head matchup now and people have said, well,
I mean it was the first and I said this,
I said, you got to contextualize that first game. Well,
when I watched the pit game, it did make me
think differently, and it made me get a microscope out
and go look at their standings the NCAA, the head
(33:45):
to head I'm sorry, let me ask you this.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What about if Texas didn't go play Ohio State the
first game and lose by Yeah they did. We're talking
about you know what I mean. I mean, if so
I don't know. You shouldn't get penalized. Miami shouldn't get
penalized for playing Notre Dame. That's that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Siley, Penn State a little bit of a circus, you
know it well reportedly finalizing a deal for Matt Campbell
according to Yahoo give Yahoo credit. That's a pretty good debt.
Is it not for late in the process?
Speaker 3 (34:16):
It is for what you're working with at Iowa State.
I've been there, I've coached up against him. That's a
tough job, and he has done a very good job.
He's uh uh, you know, he's a smart guy. He's
good to good staff. Yeah, I don't know, you know
where it fits, but recruiting and stuff. He's kind of
a good recruiter East Coast guy, so he'll tie in there.
(34:39):
I think it's a good hire for him, I really do.
I know everybody's up in arms and stuff, but uh, yeah,
he's a good higher for him. And how do you know,
Calin You know, everybody wants to hire the name guy
that wasn't gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Brian Kelly didn't work at LSU No.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
So I mean, you know, hire the guy that that
you feel good about that you can communicate with and
I think that's what they've done.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, Dave wandstat last time the Bears won a road
playoff game. Wow, those are hard.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
And hoo did you beat We beat Minnesota in Minnesota? Yeah,
that was hard.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Was a quarterback for them?
Speaker 3 (35:14):
For them? It was Warren Moon home, I believe. Yeah,
Warren Moon, Chris Carter, Robert Smith. That was a good
offense coach. Remember the game? Do I remember the game third? Yeah?
I remember the game. We blocked the punt. We blocked
the punt. We had Steve Walsh was our quarterback, and
we were you know, we Warren Moon coach. We ran
the ball as you can imagine, and we had the
(35:34):
little boots and waggles, the movement passes that Chicago uses
and and uh. And then we forced them to kick
field goals rather than touchdowns in the red zone. That
was the difference in the game. That's field goals. Yeah,
nobody wants to kick those anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Go Ford up, go for it?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah? Did Detroit go for it last night?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Did Detroit scale back a little bit? And the go
for it stuff?
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Thank god?
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thank god?
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Damn cam oh for seven that would make you think
twice about it right in the colors. Thanks,
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 Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go, capping off the week with a Friday
before a huge college football weekend, the Weirdest Blazing five
and the history of Blazing fives in one hour from
now Detroit Deliver. I mean, it was a wild shootout,
thirty seven thirty with two minutes thirty seconds left, the
(00:50):
trash meet by the Detroit line, So let's talk about that.
I like Dallas last night, but it was pretty clear
by the middle of the second quarter that Detroit found
their rhythm. This felt like the Ben Johnson offensive coordinator
for the Lions. Lion seven point two yards of play.
(01:13):
They have crazy offensive talent. They have two running backs
I like, two wide receivers that are stars. They always
get an offensive line push, and it's a well constructed roster.
David Montgomery, the bruiser, Jamiir Gibbs, the home run hitter,
homor On Saint Brown, the volume receiver, receiver Jamison Williams,
acceleration guy, speed guy. They can be physical or finas.
(01:35):
They can score slowly and eat up the clock, or
they can score quickly. They had a three play drive
fifty three yard touchdown that took up ninety seconds. They
had a ten play drive for a field goal that
took up six minutes. For about three years, they were
the most talked about offense. They looked like the best
constructed offense even before Jamiir Gibbs. It was Pro bowlers
(01:58):
and should be Pro bowlers. That's never been the issue.
We didn't even really question Dan Campbell, didn't. We always
thought Dan was a great culture guy. Since he's taken
over the play calling, though he's a little better scheme
guy than we give him credit for. They're averaging six
point eight yards of play and last night their last
seven drives they had no punt, So I would say
(02:21):
we've never criticized their front office.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
We think Dan Campbell has established himself as a franchise
culture builder, kind of like a Vrabel, big guy physically
culture builder. We also like Jared Goff. Don't listen to anybody,
He's really good. But we kind of this last night
looked like the team with Ben Johnson, and by the way,
we've seen glimpses of it this year. I went and
(02:44):
looked up this morning. They've scored thirty eight against Baltimore.
They scored fifty two way back, went against the Bears,
forty four against Washington, forty four last night against Dallas,
so we know it's there. But they also gave us
pause because they scored nine against Philly and seventeen against
the Chiefs. It's not about talent with Detroit, and we've
(03:05):
seen this. The Niners defense is more depleted than last year,
but it's better because they got the right coordinator, Robert Salla.
And we've said when you lose Ben Johnson, an all
time offensive coordinator, even if you're replace him with a
solid guy, a pretty good guy, it doesn't look quite
as unique and quite as clever. So Dan Campbell stepped
in and said, listen, our defense still isn't great. We're
(03:28):
going to mostly win by track meets. And since Dan
Campbell's taken it over, you're getting you're seeing this, but
remember this is a team that also lost to JJ McCarthy.
But I thought it was a beautiful thing to watch.
By about the mid second quarter and you were looking
at the Ben Johnson Lions. So ideally a coach does
not want to take over play calling duties offensively or
(03:49):
defensively from a coordinator. But I also feel like it's
time right now. Last night was a must win for them.
They've signed a lot of their guys to big contracts
in Detroit, a lot of them, A couple of them
have injuries. As players get older, they get banged up,
and so these windows we all know this, windows close
very quickly in the NFL. So I'm watching it last
(04:11):
night by the mid second quarter and I'm like, oh, okay,
these Lions. I've seen these Lions for about two three
years with Ben Johnson it felt like every Sunday. This
year it's like every third Sunday, and it was last
night on Thursday. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
(04:31):
The roster construction's outstanding. You look at their schedule now
at LA Steelers, at Minnesota, at Bears.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
They're an eight and five team.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
They're going to control most of their destiny here is
Dan Campbell.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
After these guys do a great job of they take
it for what it is. Man. They don't don't get panicked,
they don't get panicked, they don't make something out of
it that it's not. I think by doing that and
keeping it that way, our guys are able to always
answer back.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You know they do.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I think where you get in trouble is if you
start just that, you start panicking, and you start you know,
I mentioned this last week. You got to start doing
more than you need to do, just do your job.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
The more often we get that Detroit and that offense
and that explosion and speed, that feels like a playoff
team because their ceiling is very high. Okay, let's talk Cowboys.
They lost a shootout. Two things are obvious and two
things jumped out to us. One we kind of knew
(05:36):
is the truth. One we were hoping would never be
the truth. Again, let's start with the first. We told
you we like Dallas's O line, but there are a
much better run blocking O line than a pass blocking
O line. And last night they got exposed Tyler Geiton.
Their left tackle was out. Yeah, that was bad because
the right tackle is not good. So Dak Prescott was
getting whacked. He got hit, sacked, knocked down eleven times.
(06:00):
Do you realize this year Dak Prescott is the third
most pressured quarterback in the league. First as Herbert, seconds
cam Ward, Third is Dak. So Aiden Hutchison had ten pressures,
seven in the fourth quarter. So when Dallas absolutely had
to throw when time was running out, it got ugly.
So Dallas has two first round picks. It's a good
offensive tackle draft, it's a good edge rusher draft. They
(06:23):
need both. That's they can solve one massive concern and
getting an edge just gives their pass rush even more push.
But last night it was very obvious Jared Goff was
the much more comfortable quarterback. This is not on Dak.
I've defended Justin Herbert all year. I've defended cam Ward,
(06:44):
I'll defend Dak. When you're facing that kind of pass rush,
you have.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
To speed it up.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You make more mistakes. I don't care if you're a typist,
a pianist, or a quarterback. When you're playing faster than
you're supposed to, it gets ugly. So Dak. In Deck's
six wins, he's been sacked six times, seven times in
Dak's six losses, he's in sacked fourteen times. So there's
the answer to the test. The second thing, and I
didn't think this was going to be a thing again.
(07:10):
George Pickens became the Steelers. George Pickens uninterested, uninspired, immature,
He still had five catches. But every Cowboy fan you saw,
we saw, we all saw. Now Ceedee Lamb is so
great and they've got enough other receivers like Turpin, you
know where you don't have to keep George Pickens. But
(07:33):
George Pickens has been so good this year. When Dak
in the first eleven games was throwing the Pickens, he
had one hundred and thirty five passer rating. In the
last two games Dak thrown at George Pickens has a
twenty nine passer rating, and that's not on Dak. So remember,
Dallas moved off Des Bryant. Dallas moved off Michael Parsons,
(07:53):
Jerry Jones. If you are committed, you're an adult, and
you're productive, Jerry, he'll overpay you. But if you're not,
remember Jerry got tired of Zeke. He moved off Dez
Micah had his world famous podcast, Jerry wantsh You committed.
Jerry wants you you grinding, okay, Jerry has been all
(08:15):
in on Dak. Dax's mature, Dax committed, Dak Smiths games.
Dak's been hurt, but he knows Dak is one hundred
percent about the team. George Pickens, this is what we
all feared. Pickens pouts on Prime is not the headline
anybody wanted this morning. And Richard Sherman, good for him,
(08:39):
called it out after.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
The big story. Here's George Pickens.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
George Pickens throughout the game, especially late in the game,
just looked uninterested, uninterested in playing football, you know. And
that's what you can't have if you're going to be
a superstar, if you want to be the best receiver
in the National Football League, you can ever be disengaged.
You can't just disappear in these games or else you're
not gonna have impact. You're the guy, You're the guy.
Ceedee Lamba's not in this game.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
He's out.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
It's unacceptable. And if you're the Dallas Cowboys and you're
looking at him and you're looking to pay him big
time receiver money forty million dollars, you gotta look at
this state and say, hey, Is this a guy we
can trust paying forty million dollars to show up regardless
of circumstance.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Good for Richard Sherman, regardless of circumstance, regardless of circumstance.
George Pickens when the going's good, but now and I'm
just gonna guess here. His agents called Jerry looking for
a big contract, and they've said, let's wait till the
seasons over. Agent tells Pickens Pickings starts pouting. Remember those
(09:42):
words from Richard Sherman. Regardless of circumstance, Because regardless of circumstance,
Dak Prescott always delivers, winning, losing hurt. Dak is a
leader on the worst of Sundays and the best of Thursdays. Okay,
just because the the workplace environment is an ideal. Don't
(10:03):
do a Dez because Jerry moved off Dez and it
distracted in his mind and a replaceable Micah. He got
tired of Zeke. So I, Richard Sherman, circumstance superstars, circumstance superstars,
They're not going to get the bag in Dallas, And
I know everybody's gonna go. He's been so great last
(10:24):
couple of games. You're getting the Pittsburgh guy. Hey, Dez
Bryant to the end in Dallas got into the end
zone a lot. I talked to Jason Garrett off the
air once about that. He's like, I love Dez. He
got into the end zone. It's hard to get in
the end zone. So that's not a good look. And
again Dak was getting hammered, picking starts pouting. That is
(10:47):
not on Dak last night. And I'll say this about
the Dallas defense, it's better, but I've seen Detroit do
that this year to all sorts of teams, including the
Ravens who have a very good defense banged up. But
I I it's just one of those nights where standalone
games kind of feels like you quit late in the
game when Ceedee Lamb left And that's the thing. CD
(11:10):
was out, gets taken off the field. Now it's your
time to shine, and it looked like you just quit
on a football.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
You don't get the bag. You get the boot in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
If you're a circumstances superstar, boot over the bag. So Jmack,
we have a blazing five today. It's reminiscent of one
of yours. Because I'm doing something that I am not
prone to do, which is bet games I don't want
to watch. It's a lot of bad teams, including one
(11:44):
year close to that. I really really like this weekend.
And did I talk you into the Falcons yesterday. I'm
not even gonna get into it. I'm going to tease
it for the audience. But as I was making my picks,
the staff was like, did you steal jmaxx picks? Because
these are the games one you start going to AFC
South NFC South games. You know I'm not on a heater.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I'm looking for.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
W Well, yeah, listen, you gotta bounce back. By the way,
I did wear black. For the people who aren't watching
on TV, this is a funeral day for the Cowboys season.
It's over the picking stuff. You nailed it absolutely, you know.
I'm sure Jerry said, hey, well, franchise tag him. Yeah yeah,
And Pickens don't want to hear that.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
You know, you know how this goes.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
I'm just telling you that was a massive swing game,
not only for this year for the Cowboys Colin, but
I think for next year because they probably looked at
that defensive front.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Hey we got three defensive tackles. They couldn't stop the run?
What are we doing?
Speaker 6 (12:36):
I think they got a lot of changes coming to
Dallas next time.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
All right, be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
And in addition to hearing us live week nights from
seven to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we
are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's right, You can now watch The Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 7 (13:09):
Oh you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Let's blaze it up, Fire it up.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's Collins blazing five Bengals and Bills.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I like Cincinnati getting T Higgins back plus six coming
off extra rest nineteen and nine last five years December January.
That's Burrow, by the way. Watch Burrow in his last
eight starts eight and oh he is back. The Bills
have not been good. McDermott's one for one for four
(13:52):
against the Bengals. The offense now for Buffalo, multiple giveaways
in four straight games. They can't stop the and the
Bengals three straight games rushing for over one hundred yards.
T Higgins is backed. Joey Bosa out for Buffalo. Joe
Burrow more time to throw upset. Take Cincinnati plus the
(14:17):
six to beat Buffalo outright, Joe Burrow, T Higgins, Here
they go thirty twenty eight. Colt said Jaguars. I'll take
the Jaguars at home plus one and a half. They've
won ten straight games against the Colts in Jayville.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
They own him in.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Jacksonville, and they're on a three game winning streak, and
they have the number one rush defense that will force
force the Colts to throw. The problem is Daniel Jones
has a fibula fracture, not moving particularly well, and over
the last couple of games he's completing fifty seven percent
of his throws. The offense feels a little broken. Since
(14:58):
Week nine, two different teams Jacksonville very good. The Colts
average at about twenty two a game, one in three.
Jaguars always good against the Colts in this spot. Win
it thirty to twenty four. Dolphins and Jets what am
I doing. I'm taking the Jets as a home dog
(15:20):
plus two and a half Tyrod Taylor. I'm gonna go
with him. A d Mitchell, that wide receiver that came
over from the Colts. Did you see what he did
last week? Yeah? Ah, got some good numbers, eight catches.
You see that top ten pass defense without Sauce Gardner. Listen,
the Jets are playing their butt off. They've won three
(15:42):
of five, and they're scoring points, and they're at home
and they're a dog. And did you watch Tua over
the last month. I don't know what's wrong. First of all,
he's terrible in cold weather. No touchdowns for Tua and
three of his last four games leaves the NFL with
fourteen interceptions. Tua, Sumton's off, it's getting cold. The Jets
are playing hard for Aaron Glenn's not a great team
(16:05):
playing hard. I take the Jets to win and cover
twenty seven twenty four. Take them in the point. Texans
ad Chiefs, I have to take the hook. I'm taking
the Texans plus the hook three and a half, four
game winning straight. Five of their six road games this
season have been one score games, Number one scoring defense
(16:25):
held opponents in five of their last six games under
twenty points. Hunter and Will Anderson against a beat up
Kansas City offensive line that three of their five starters
on the O line are injured, including left tackle, guard,
right tackle. I'm sorry, it's a low scoring game. I've
got to take the hook here. Chiefs have been out
(16:46):
gained in three of their last four games. By the way,
in twelve games, they have twenty two sacks Kansas City's
twenty seventh. So CJ. Stroud gonna have a little extra time.
I don't know who wins. I don't know who wins,
but I'm taking the points in the Hawk twenty four
to twenty three Kansas City in the last second field goal.
I am taking Houston though three and a half point.
(17:09):
Eagles at Chargers, I'm gonna take the Eagles minus two
and a half is my only favorite. They're four and
two on the road. They beat Kansas City at Bucks
and Green Bay on the road. Number one red zone offense,
number five offensive line, and Saquon Barkley may not be running,
but Jalen Hurts, for some reason, is often a better
road quarterback. The Chargers have faced two teams with a
(17:32):
winning record over the last ten weeks, they got hammered
by both of them and the offensive line. It's not
good at all. So Jalen hurts last two years on
the road, I'm telling you he's better away from Philly,
and I think I think I have maybe the best
O line and unquestionably the worst O line. I think
(17:54):
it's close. I think the crowd is sixty five thirty five.
Philadelphia feels a little bit like a home game. I'm
gonna swallow the two and a half. I'm gonna take
Philly twenty four to twenty. Jamacha reaction. I don't take dogs.
I don't like to bet games like the Jags Colts,
which I find hard to watch. But I'm taking the
(18:16):
underdog Bengals. I get the Jaguars. I'm taking the Chats,
I know, but I love the Jets call.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
By the way, you know what they're calling Tyrod Taylor,
ty god Taylor is. He's seven to zho to one
against the spread in his last eight starts. All he
does is cover and it is cold in New York
this week. I like that call, buddy.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Last time the Chicago Bears won a road playoff game,
Dave Wonstat was the coach he's now joining us live
here in the studio in Chicago, thirty nine years college
or pro coach. So you must love Ben Johnson because
last week they ran at what forty seven times? And
my argument is we always think of physicality with defense.
(19:01):
Actually Kyle Shanahan and his physicality is with defense and
running the football. So your thoughts on Ben Johnson's willingness,
even with Caleb and all those receivers to run.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
It, well, I got fired for running the ball too much, Okay,
So I mean I was the extreme, but I didn't
have a quarterback right, So I love what he's doing.
And when you really think about it, you mentioned Kyle
Shanahan when we were working together at Fox on the
pregame show. I was assigned once to do a study
when the Niners and Shanahan were going to the Super Bowl,
(19:31):
and the thing that jumped at me they were shifting
and motioning, calling more than anybody in the NFL. And
they had runs and passes as you were watching that tape,
and if the play first started with a line stepping
in the back, you couldn't tell if it was a
runner pass. And that's what he Ben's doing. I mean,
Ben is mirroring the run with the pass and motion
(19:54):
and shifting. The guy's doing a phenomenal job. And let's
give this offensive lines credit. Four of the five starters
on the Bears offensive line are new, started from a
year ago. And and I'll tell you what, Ryan Poles,
the general manager, you know, the people have been on them,
but they signed the center and two guards. No one's
(20:15):
been hurt, and these guys have just gotten better every
week and every week. So combination of been with what
he's doing on offense, and I'm gonna give the offensive
line credit for how they've come along and stayed healthy.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
This rivalry has been one sided. Did Packer games feel different?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
They do now. I mean, you know, I mean they
two now. I mean the Bears beat them in the
last game of the season last year, you know, and
it was just a mess here with everything going on.
But I think the biggest difference has been a quarterback.
I mean the six years that I was with the Bears,
I had six starting different quarterbow six good good luck, Okay,
I don't care how much you're running the ball. And
(20:54):
that's when Brett Favre was starting, and then it was Rogers,
So you know, I got to believe that the consistency
had quarterback has been the difference with the Packers over
the years. And you know, I don't see it changing
right now. And this is talking about Bears quarterbacks now,
Mitch Trubisky first round pick, Justin Fields first round pick.
So it wasn't a bunch of free agent that they
(21:16):
signed off the field. It just hasn't worked for Bears
at the quarterback position. So I think this year with Tatum, so.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Mike Tomlin, former player Big Ben saying things this week,
the fans channing fire Tomlin. My take has always been
with Pittsburgh. I mean, they haven't won a playoff game
in eight years. You can be a really good coach,
but the league is pivoted offense. I mean, if you
start looking now, who ends up in Super Bowls and
(21:45):
conference championships. It's overwhelming the offensive coaches. I mean, Chicago
turned it around offensive coach. Denver's got a young quarterback
offensive coach you look at. I mean, Jacksonville's good again
offensive coach. Is it possible that Tomlin, the message gets lost.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
It's an old team.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
They've heard the stories and the motivational tactics. Is it possible.
It's time to just good coach, get a different environment.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, because there's not as much turnover in college. You're
turning guys over two or three years, so you can
have college coaches that last a long time. Al Davis.
Al Davis used to always say, I remember when we
were working against the Raiders. I was at the Cowboys
and he was talking to Jimmy or Jerry or someone,
and he was always talking about ten years would be
(22:29):
the maximum that he felt that goat coach could be
in one position and one Just for what you're saying,
I mean, and yeah, players move around a little bit
more now than they did back then, but you know,
you got to have a special group of guys before
it gets told. And you know, you talk about the
Steelers and the standard. I mean, you know it's I
(22:51):
think now that the fans have turned, ex players have turned.
And I was back there in June for the US
Open and I had lunch with Dart Rooney and Mike
Touman came in and we were sitting here talking. Those
guys are connected at the hip. I mean, there's not
going to be a problem there. But I just wonder
how long Mike really wants to put up with that
(23:11):
type of approach because I don't see it getting any better.
I mean, I don't, you know. I mean, Aaron is
what he is. The defense is getting old. So I
mean it's a tough situation. I mean, looking back on it,
and I was curious when it was going back. It
was June and they had signed Aaron Rodgers. You remember,
it was late who's the quarterback? I was waiting for
(23:31):
them to trade TJ. Watt for a couple ones and
go with Mason Rudolph the backup quarterback for this year,
because where are they going next year? You tell me
where they going to be picking. They're going to be
in the middle of the pack, and they're right back
to the quarterback scenario. It's tough to get out of
that cycle unless you do something drastic, you know. And
(23:52):
I know that's all hindsight, but I'm sure they're thinking
about that now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I suggested it a couple of years ago. Is that
with TJ. Watt, the defense hasn't been very good for
the last three years, not nearly as good as what
they're paying for it, So go get a quarterback. So
you know, listen, the Cowboys lost the track meet last night.
They need a right tackle. They have two first round picks.
It's a good tackle draft to replace my kids, a
good edge draft. I like where Dallas is going. The
(24:18):
George Pickens thing is interesting. Yeah, so Jerry has shown
if you're not committed or focused, Des Bryant, he'll move
off you. Zeke, he got tired of him. Micah the
Podcast The Celebrity. Dak is always football first.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah. I gotta love Dak, right, he always football first.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Those offensive linemen Tyron Smith, Zach Martin football first. The
Pickens thing would bother me.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah, you know, And I remember when we first went
to Dallas. We were going to be we were trying.
We had no players. We were turning everything over, I
mean from the ground floor, you know that. And we
signed a couple free agents that were out there and
people were and they have talented guys, uh like Pickens.
(25:07):
And after it didn't work out, I remember us all
sitting around and Jimmy making the comment, you know, there's
a lesson to be learned here. Those guys are out
there for a rest, and the team that they're coming
from there's a lot more about Look at the Steelers, Mike.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Tomlin and tolerant drama coach.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I mean Colin, I mean it's you know, I used
to call calling coach all the time.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
You know, I'm the coach of f S one.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Yes, you are, you are, you are the head coach.
But when you look at antonio'bron the Bears made a
trade for Chase Claypole, remember to receive them not long ago,
gave up a second round.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Patty got to Chicago.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
And they got rid of him well in five weeks
or a half a year or something. So my point is,
Mike Tomlin, if he's going to be as patient with
a player as anybody as anybody in the league, and
you jump up there and.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You them, Uh, free agency can be a little bit
of a used car lot.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Oh, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Owner knows what the odometer is. You got to buy on.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
There's risk involved, one hundred percent. And you know they
were And it's not about talent and it's you know,
but it's just the long season. You want guys that
during the ups and downs of a game, are going
to be able to stay at that high level. And uh,
obviously Pickings and I'm not putting the game last night
on him. I mean, they turned the ball over and
(26:29):
that defense. Matt Ibraflus is really Matt Ebraflus is a
good defensive coach. Trust me. I mean, I know Matt.
When he was here at the Bears, I sat with him,
We talked football. He knows what he's doing. They got
some players. They're improving. Becauesn't.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Detroit's got explosive players. You see in the last four
years they have. They have games like this at home especially,
But when you're.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
An average, when you're a defense, it's coming along. You
can't turn the ball over on the other side, you
know what I mean? And and three turnovers to none
last night.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
You got that had won a lot of the stats,
time of possession, first down, Dallas was fine, turnovers and
they couldn't make one big stop late.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
If I said to you one team had three turnovers
and the other one had zero, there it is. It's
a fourteen to twenty one point lot. Look at the
Rams in Carolina last week.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
If you turn the ball over, especially on the road,
good luck Philadelphia plays on money night. We're gonna get
to a couple of college topics. Philadelphia is interesting. Jalen
Hurts strangely is actually better on the road sometimes than
at home. He gets away from the pressure. It is
strange that Saquon Barkley there's no juice. Is it fatigue?
(27:38):
Is it the OC? Is it the offensive line? Sat
Quon Barkley looked like, next to Barry Sanders and Walter Payton,
the best running back I've ever seen, and this year nothing.
Did he just lose his fastball?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I don't mate. I think it's a little bit a
combination of a couple of things. One little bit of
Super Bowl hangover? Kay, okay, what's the team that's real?
That's real? And I think the other thing, too, is
I think the Dallas Cowboys tore their heart out the
week before they were up twenty one to nothing against Dallas,
and Dallas beats him twenty three to twenty one. I
(28:10):
think that because the look on that sideline was bad. Look,
why isn't Barkley running it more? Jalen Hurts is running
the ball now about seven times a game on an average.
When they had that Super Bowl run a couple of
years ago, he was ten eleven runs a game. And
anytime you're threatened by the quarterback running it. Speaking from
(28:30):
a defensive standpoint, you have to take somebody off the
running back and be accountable for the quarterback. And right
now they're not doing that. They're putting everything on Barkley,
and they're saying, Jalen Hurts, if you want to run it,
prove it that you're going to run the ball. But
I don't take Kevin Patola. I worked with him at Buffalo.
I know him. He's a good coach. This Nick Sirianni
(28:52):
is an offensive guy.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
I'm not talking to him to solve the problem.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Coach, tell I know. I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Floor's offense was broken a month ago. He solved it.
Thank you, I mean, dude, to take take it over.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
You're the head coach, you're an offensive guy. You and
Kevin have been together forever. Don't let the guy's house
get egged. Yeah, you get that right. It might be
better for Philly to get on the road.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
To get out. I think getting out of town actually
helps them. Plus, the Solfi crowd will be by sixty
five thirty five Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Oh absolutely, let's do.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Some college Big Ten championship. I worry a little bit
about Ohio State off the Michigan win and looking at
the playoff being, you know, dipping a little bit. But
I was told this by a coach who has been
on the sidelines for Ohio State in Indiana. Ohio State
looks like bigger. They look like they got fifteen NFL guys.
(29:49):
Ohio State's got better players, Their coaching staff's excellent. Julian
Sayan is great, Oh my, he is. I like Ohio
State here. I think it just it comes down to
they've got Indiana beat Oregon at Oregon, but Oregon doesn't
have as we saw at the end of last year,
Ohio State guys.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yet I like the buck eyes. You yeah, two things
here that Ohio State. Ohio State has not been behind
in a pressure situation at the end of the game.
And you've got Julian saying, who's playing leading the country
seventy how do you complete seventy almost seventy nine percent
of your pass?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Is incredibly good and accurate for a kid.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Oh It's unbelievable. And he's got two receivers he's leading.
You know, both Tate and Jeremiah Smith are leading the
nation in plays over forty yards, So he's got weapons
with him. Yes, but here's what I think this game
comes down to. You've got saying, who's a freshman, okay,
and you've got Mendoza, who's.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
A five year senior.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Okay, he's been around. So you've got a little bit
more experience, obviously, a lot more experience with Indiana. And
Indiana has been battle tested by that. I mean they
have been. It's final drive against Iowa, it's an end
of the game against Penn State, it's Oregon at the
end of the game. I mean, and they have found
ways when they look up at that scoreboard and there's
(31:12):
six seven minutes left or less against a talented team,
they have found ways to win the game. Ohio State
hasn't yet, you know, So I don't know. I'm not
selling Indiana short by any means. I think you know,
think about this, you said, Ohio State's offensive line, they
look the part. They've given up the fourth top ten
(31:35):
in the least amount of tackles for losses. Guess who's
number two in the nation, Indiana. As far as making
tackles for there's battle. It's going to be a battle
up front here. And then if it comes down to
a close game at the end, what quarterback can make
a play? I mean this and saying this could be
the first game that he's going to have to win
(31:55):
the game. Yep for Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I've already seen Mendoza do it at Penn State. Yeah,
that was one for the ages. Finally, you know the
Miami Hurricanes, Well, they beat Notre Dame head to head.
They had four common opponents, they were better against them.
Miami's got the better defense, Miami's got the better passing game.
And again once the records are the same head to head,
we know this in the NFL, that's the first thing
(32:19):
they use.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I have Mario Christabaul on last hour. I and I'm
a Notre Dame. I love Notre Dame, and I think
they'd be favored if they played. But that's not what
this is about. I think Miami's getting host here, don't you?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Oh? One hundred percent? One hundred percent? I mean I yeah,
if you look at both teams, everybody keeps saying, well,
Notre Dame would be favored. I would say, why, Well
they were favored the first time? Yeah? Why why? I mean,
you know, what defense would you like Miami? Thank you?
What quarterback would you like? Miami? Probably now Miami? No, absolutely,
(32:53):
did you see in the pick game. I guess Marl
Milwater the last game in the season. Those receivers made
some catches, you know, NFL catches for Miami.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
No, Miami's. Miami looks the part. We by the way,
they have the best edge rusher in the sport right now,
Vain that kid could be on the second third pick.
So Miami's got the great edge rusher, Miami's got great receivers.
What Notre Dame has is a terrific coach, so does Miami.
And I love the running back. He is a great player.
But again, I this can't be about the spread and
(33:24):
it can't be about what I think four common opponents
head to head matchup now and people have said, well,
I mean it was the first and I said this,
I said, you got to contextualize that first game. Well,
when I watched the pit game, it did make me
think differently, and it made me get a microscope out
and go look at their standings the NCAA, the head
(33:45):
to head I'm sorry, let me ask you this.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What about if Texas didn't go play Ohio State the
first game and lose by Yeah they did. We're talking
about you know what I mean. I mean, if so
I don't know. You shouldn't get penalized. Miami shouldn't get
penalized for playing Notre Dame. That's that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Siley, Penn State a little bit of a circus, you
know it well reportedly finalizing a deal for Matt Campbell
according to Yahoo give Yahoo credit. That's a pretty good debt.
Is it not for late in the process?
Speaker 3 (34:16):
It is for what you're working with at Iowa State.
I've been there, I've coached up against him. That's a
tough job, and he has done a very good job.
He's uh uh, you know, he's a smart guy. He's
good to good staff. Yeah, I don't know, you know
where it fits, but recruiting and stuff. He's kind of
a good recruiter East Coast guy, so he'll tie in there.
(34:39):
I think it's a good hire for him, I really do.
I know everybody's up in arms and stuff, but uh, yeah,
he's a good higher for him. And how do you know,
Calin You know, everybody wants to hire the name guy
that wasn't gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Brian Kelly didn't work at LSU No.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
So I mean, you know, hire the guy that that
you feel good about that you can communicate with and
I think that's what they've done.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, Dave wandstat last time the Bears won a road
playoff game. Wow, those are hard.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
And hoo did you beat We beat Minnesota in Minnesota? Yeah,
that was hard.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Was a quarterback for them?
Speaker 3 (35:14):
For them? It was Warren Moon home, I believe. Yeah,
Warren Moon, Chris Carter, Robert Smith. That was a good
offense coach. Remember the game? Do I remember the game third? Yeah?
I remember the game. We blocked the punt. We blocked
the punt. We had Steve Walsh was our quarterback, and
we were you know, we Warren Moon coach. We ran
the ball as you can imagine, and we had the
(35:34):
little boots and waggles, the movement passes that Chicago uses
and and uh. And then we forced them to kick
field goals rather than touchdowns in the red zone. That
was the difference in the game. That's field goals. Yeah,
nobody wants to kick those anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Go Ford up, go for it?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah? Did Detroit go for it last night?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Did Detroit scale back a little bit? And the go
for it stuff?
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Thank god?
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thank god?
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Damn cam oh for seven that would make you think
twice about it right in the colors. Thanks,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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