December 11, 2025 • 43 mins
Colin Cowherd breaks down the stunning fallout from Michigan football firing head coach Sherrone Moore after reports of an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Colin explains what this means for the Wolverines future, recruiting, and who they should target as a replacement.
Plus, the Lakers loss to the Spurs raised major red flags. Colin reveals why Los Angeles was exposed and whether the Lakers championship hopes are slipping away
And 7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady joins the show to preview Lions vs. Rams, evaluate Caleb Williams’ development in Year 2, and discuss whether the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty is nearing its end
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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 (00:26):
Oh do we have a great Thursday show for you.
We are live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd wherever
you may be and however you may be watching or listening,
whatever platform device it is. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Two hours from now, Tom Brady shows
up live. An hour from now, Greg Cosel in the house.
(00:51):
Bruce Feldman's gonna check in with us as well. A
very active, very troubling, dark day Michigan looking for a
new football coach, and let's start there. Sharon Moore has
been fired. So there's two or three elements to this.
Number One is there are certain jobs and maybe it's
(01:11):
maybe it's thirty or forty percent of jobs in America.
Maybe it's more it's not every job, but certain jobs
in America. You need an elevated sense of character both
personally and professionally. You know, school president, you hope, the church, college,
campus jobs. There are certain jobs where you have to
(01:32):
have a seriousness about you, in a maturity about you,
so you can meet the job. You can meet the program,
you can meet the standard. Michigan football is not only
a college football job, It's one of America's great public institutions.
When I was a kid growing up, to me, Michigan football,
this is way pre Brady. I thought it was the
best program in America. Like the fight song, the crowd,
(01:55):
the games, and Michigan football to me as a kid,
even through college, like that was the job, a great university,
wonderful fans, and Charon More to me, I'll be honest
with you, he always felt like an interim coach. I
just didn't think he was that good of a coach,
right Like, even at his opening presser he kind of
(02:18):
used a hardball quote.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
He didn't have his own identity.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Again, I didn't think he was that great of a coach,
but he was close to Jim Harbaugh. And my rule
has never changed in thirty years in this business. I
have a rule in sports and in any business, the
greater the employee you're asked to replace Jim Harball, the
(02:42):
wider the search has to be. You can't just hand
it to a staffer if you're trying to replace Jim Harball.
Remember when Bill Belichick left, who they handed to Belichick's
favorite assistant, girod Mayo. Disaster. Then they went and this
is what Michigan should. Then they went and got Mike Vrabel.
And Michigan needs to go after like a Kaitlin de
(03:04):
boor don't know if he leave, but that's kind of
guy I would go after. So listen, most vice presidents.
Vice presidents have ceilings, and that's vice president Searan Moore
could be a really, really good coordinator, maybe a head
coach at Michigan. Yeah, that's a big job. That is
a top five job in America. It's like basketball coach
(03:26):
at Carolina or Duke, and there's just a certain standard
and he didn't meet it. Secondly, there are reports that
Michigan knew about this for some time, but you know,
they didn't want to get in the way of signing
day well time out. When you're talking about like internal affairs,
you can't go on hearsay or rumor. You have to
(03:49):
have admission and proof. Okay, that's why we have HR departments.
You can't go on, hey this guy in the internet
nailed it. You can get sued really quick if you
make an assertion or an accusation and you don't have
an admission or absolute inarguable proof.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Third is.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's December eleventh, the Bulls haven't started college football playoffs
a week away. Michigan's got all sorts of time. The
transfer portal now the portal doesn't even open till January.
It used to be December. So Michigan's going to get
a great coach. They paid ten million for their quarterback.
They're going to get a really, really good coach. But
(04:31):
to me, this is a cautionary tale of a man
who probably wasn't the best candidate available. In fact, he
wasn't getting an incredibly esteem job, and sadly, his personal life,
maybe due to the pressure, completely unravels. I wish him
the best. Michigan will get a great coach. The portal
(04:55):
opens up in January. The university will be fine, you hope,
the people will be involved. We'll have Bruce Felman on
in forty minutes. So earlier this week, Jay MC and
I went back and forth, and I said Rich Paul
was right, even if he said something that was uncomfortable,
which is, you know, the Lakers are not built to
(05:16):
win a championship. They're just not good enough, especially on defense.
So last night the Lakers hosted a really good team,
probably capable of winning the championship, San Antonio, and they
hosted him in LA. And let's just say we should
have a new segment on the show where Rich Paul
was right. The Spurs didn't even have seven foot four
Wemby and they did whatever they wanted offensively, fifty percent
(05:38):
field goals, forty five percent threes, fifty total rebounds, almost
fifty points in the paint. That's without seven four Wemby.
So this is shaking out, as Rich Paul predicted and
I have been saying since the start of the season,
even when Lebron comes back, the Lakers are bad defensively
since Lebron returned, they're twenty six defense. They don't do
(06:00):
anything right. Defend the rim, defend the perimeter, defend the point.
So this is a team and roster with holes. And
what happened last night? What did the Spurs attack, Oh,
gritty Austin Reeves. Spurs players who were guarded by Austin
Reeves shot an outrageous sixty three and a half percent.
(06:24):
Oh wait, that's what the Timberwolves did in the playoffs,
attacked Austin Reeves, a really good player, offensively works his
butt off. Cool story, gritty kid, but forty year old
Lebron gritty Austin Reeves, a marginally interested defender in Luca
is not a Western Conference finals team in the West.
(06:47):
They're a fun team. I love watching them. I mean,
the crowds go to a Laker game, it's a cool crowd.
It's fun. There's a lot of points. Unfortunately, good teams
will score more and hopefully this is why it's so
encouraging if you're a Laker fan. The owners of the
Lakers who have moved off Cody Bellinger, Trey Turner, Manny Machado,
(07:12):
Corey Seeger great players, but they go after Mookie and
Freddie Freeman and Otani. The standard for the Dodgers isn't
keeping a very very excellent player like Corey Seger. It's
getting shoe Hey Otani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts everybody
loves gritty. Austin Reeves and forty year old Lebron the
(07:37):
future of this organization. Two guys, Luca number one, JJ
Reddick number two. Everybody else is available to move. The
Spurs did last night what the t Wolves did last year.
Go after Austin Reeves. That's exactly what they did without Wemby.
(07:58):
They got every look they want on it too. Go ahead,
be a fanboy, be an influencer. Take cool picks. The
difference between the bus family and the current owners is
a standard. Corey Seeger is replaceable, Otani isn't right, Trey
(08:20):
Turns a good player. Freddie Freeman's a Hall of Famer.
Austin Reeves is a good player. I'd move in five
minutes if I could sniff Yannis. Okay, it's not even
it's not a discussion. You wear your team jerseys, you
take your pictures. JJ Reddick knows when they play the
(08:40):
top teams and the great athletes in the West. Here's
JJ Reddick with some truth.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Serum, the things that help you win on the margins.
We're just not very good at right now. And you know,
we got to ask a little bit more of everybody. Know,
we don't crash. You know, we can't. We can't force
(09:06):
a lot of turnovers. And if a team shoots well
where we're going to be really in trouble.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
He's telling you what Rich Paul's telling you, what Uncle
Colin's telling you. They can't defend. It's not what they are.
They have three players that duplicate each other. Luca Lebron
and Austin Reeves are really really good. I mean, Lebron's
forty one, he's dunking at the rack. Austin Reeves is
going to get his points. Luca's better than both easily,
(09:33):
but there's too much duplication. They've got to get bigger
to protect the rim. They've got to get stronger on
the perimeter defensively. I mean, JJ Reddick's telling you, you know,
teams hit shots. There's nothing we can do because teams
are going to get shots on the Lakers. JJ Reddick
is telling you the truth, whether you want to believe
(09:54):
it or not. All right, So Bruce Feldman is going
to be joining us in thirty minutes now on the
Michigan situation. Again, it's early, the playoffs haven't started.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
The Bulls.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
This is where the nil is very valuable and the portal.
They've pushed it back to January, meaning if recruits leave
at Michigan, you can replace them. Remember, Michigan and Notre
Dame have two of the top ten endowments in the country.
These are very wealthy schools. This is why the Big Ten,
(10:27):
in my opinion, now that Indiana's a powerhouse. While the
Big Ten has closed the gap on the sec richer endowments,
richer schools, richer graduates, bigger schools flushing out graduates across
the country to great jobs, they come back, write checks.
Michigan's going to be fine. I'll root for the person
(10:48):
sharonn More, But the Wolverine since I was a kid,
have always figured it out eventually.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Tom Brady joining us, Greg Cosel today as well. Man,
We got a lot of stuff today talk about.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
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(11:21):
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Speaker 3 (11:36):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So I've heard this all week. You know, Kansas City,
they're not rebuilding, they're just retooling, because you know, if you've.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Got Read and Mahomes, you're okay.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I've been asking every guest this week, rebuild my belief
or retool? And the answer I get from people I
love at the company, well, it's just a read tool.
We got Mahomes, we got Read. Brady left Belichick. You
know why, talent regression the roster. Yeah, he didn't like
(12:11):
Bill anymore, but he didn't really like Bill ten years earlier.
People get tackled in football. They age very very quickly.
Kansas City has gone from we don't really need wide receivers.
Kelsey and Mahomes will figure it out.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Two.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
We may finish sub five hundred. Andy Reid is sixty seven.
Travis Kelsey's going to retire. Chris Jones won't. He'll be expensive,
but he's not the player he used to be. George
Carloftis is a really good pass rusher, but he's probably
a little overpaid. His cap hit much bigger next year.
Rashi Rice not dependable, immature, gets banged up. Josh Simmons
(12:52):
the left tackle of injury issues, some personal issues ongoing.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
In life.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And in football. You get a dose of reality sometimes.
And Kansas City for seven years, got every green light
driving to work. They were just winning close, come from behind,
they got a green light the entire drive to work
for seven years. Now they're stuck in traffic and this
(13:23):
roster and they've taken some risks. Josh Simmons was not
on every board, Rashi Rice not on every board. There's
pro scouts, No, they know about issues before they surface professionally.
And I'll say this again, I think I'm not saying
(13:44):
it's a demo. You don't have to tear the house down,
but the kitchen needs work, so does the roof, and
a couple of bathrooms. It's not just a tile job
or fix and clean up the garage. So here's Patrick
Mahomes on potentially missing the postseason.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
We were in unprecedented territory, so place that we haven't
been since I've been here, and so I think you
lean on the guys that have kind of battled through
adversity and came out better on the other side. And
so when I look at it now, it's like, I mean,
I don't know what the percentages are of, but I
know they're not high. And I think it'd be special
if we get into the playoffs and we can make
a run. So why not give ourselves a chance to
(14:24):
do that? And we got to start about winning football games.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
For the record, twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two, before
the big Mahomes deal felt like it kicked in, this
team averaged thirty points a game. The last three years,
they're averaging a touchdown less a game. Name the Chiefs
top ten players right now. And I'm not talking on
resume or legacy. I'm not talking about Travis Kelce just
(14:50):
because he has a great legacy. I'm saying, name their
top ten players. Chris Jones is not a top ten
lyman right now, and he's one of them, and he's
near the top. Name their top ten player. Now, go
name the Rams, the Lions, the Eagles top ten players.
Hell go name the Houston Texans top ten players. Name
(15:14):
Seattle's top ten players. Name the Chiefs. Mahomes is one,
it's a lot of Trent McDuffie's two. You get to
about five and you're like, well, he's overpaid. Well he's old,
he's going to retire. I'm telling you this idea that, well,
(15:35):
I've got Reid and Mahomes. Gms matter a lot. They
have got an ace this draft. They have got a
hit on four or five player. Brett Vieach is great,
he can do it. But this idea, well, we're just
going to fix the guest room. Put some tile in
the kitchen. Now, kitchen, need to redo roof's leacoln master
(15:59):
baths to don't time to fix it.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
One more.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Heard The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven
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listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Tom Brady seven times Super Bowl Champ, Fox Sports twenty
three NFL season. All right, boy, you got a good
one this week, Lions or Rams. So it's interesting when
I watched the and I asked this all the time.
The other night, I had a dinner with a jam
in the NFL, and I love this question. I said,
you know, is it scheme or is it players? When
(16:32):
you watch the Rams, do you see brilliant schemes? Do
you is it talent? Because man, when they need eleven
yards they get it. What are you seeing when you
watch the film?
Speaker 7 (16:45):
Yeah, first of all, it's good to be on the show.
Why have you not invited me at all this season?
I thought we were in a good rhythm last year.
We go to the super Bowl and all of a sudden,
I'm like xed out from the show. But I'm glad
we could at least come on here before the end
of the regular season. Yeah, it's it's pretty It's been
pretty awesome. I've covered him a few times this year.
(17:05):
I think with Stafford and McVeigh have going between the
two of them, they're just totally in sync.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
And you throw in these receivers.
Speaker 7 (17:13):
They've got, you know, obviously Puka and Davonte, the mix
of tight ends, they've had four pretty good tight ends.
I know Higbe's on IR right now, but they're really
using a lot of different personnel groupings. And then Quorum
last week was ridiculous against the Cardinals over one hundred
and I think as a team.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Over two hundred fifty yards Russian.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
So you got Kiren, you got Blake Korum, you got
these tight ends. And one of the most underrated aspects
of this team is offensive line. These guys are playing
ridiculous up front. There's not allowing penetration in the run
game allow I think the least amount of negative plays
then a team in the league.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
So it's just it's pretty awesome to watch. I'm fired
up because.
Speaker 7 (17:53):
It's Lions, one of my favorite offenses to watch with
Jared Goff and the Rams with Stafford two kind of
classic pocket. They play the game from their from their
neck up, and they obviously have great ability to pass
the football and they're throwing it to guys that are
extremely talented at receiver. They got great run games, great coaches,
aggressive coaches. So this is a perfect game for America's
(18:15):
Game of the Week on Fox on Sunday at four
twenty five Eastern.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So you were an outlier in terms of playing and
being an incredible shape late Stafford, you know he didn't.
You had some really Dante s Gonecia, You had good
protection most of your career.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
You know, he got the great protection kick.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, he got the you know what kicked out of
him for years in Detroit until he inherited uh, you know,
Whitworth and McVeigh.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
And the schemes.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
But when you did get older, let's let's let's take
thirty nine for you, maybe forty three for Stafford. Thirty
seven were their things you had to do as an
older quarterback that you didn't at twenty seven.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Oh, man, I think you're The processes just get better
as you get older, because because you understand really what's
important for you over the course of the season. So
you don't waste any time being inefficient in the offseason
with your training or in training camp. You don't waste throws,
you don't waste workouts. Everything is like with the real
intention to it. So I was very fortunate twenty three seasons.
(19:18):
I mean, I still think I could play now, But
it's just the thought of doing it in the commitment
that it takes from someone like Matt or Aaron Rodgers,
Like they're committing year round for that, and that's a
big commitment.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
It's like running a marathon.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
Yeah, everyone wants to run the last three miles like Philip.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Rivers is doing.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
But it's hard to run all twenty six and it's
not just the running of the twenty six miles, it's
all the preparation for the running.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
And I think when you get older and you.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Got the life full of responsibilities, it gets just a
little bit more challenging.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
But Matt's making it look awesome.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
He's just had an incredible season, MVP caliber season.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
And again just to cover him again, I.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
Think for me to watch him play and to watch
his style of play and the kind of innovation on
offense with McVeigh and how they each week find different
little weaknesses to exploit on the opposing defense, that's an
awesome thing to watch from the booth.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So obviously you can improve as any athlete. But somebody
once told me this, a real smart GM said, you
can't take a B plus guy and make him an
A plus guy. You can take people up like a
half a grade. You can take a B minors to
a B plus, right, Like, there's this sense that so,
I mean, you were drafted in Major League Baseball, you
had perfect size, you were under represented in terms of
(20:38):
your skill. You didn't go from ded at the greatest
of all time? Like, so you were undervalued in the
skill department, Your size, your arm strengths was always top
of the league, near the top.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
So when I when.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I when I look at Caleb Williams, I've argued, he's
never going to be Drew Brees. I don't need him
to be Drew Brees because I got a horsepower in movement.
Is there a line for you with a Josh Allen
or a Kleb that they can do so many things
with their horsepower, But is there align with him? You're like, okay,
(21:11):
you got to get at least to sixty two or
do you not necessarily care about his accuracy right now?
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Well, I always care about accuracy from a quarterback standpoint,
because when you get to the bigger games and the
playoffs and the defenses are better in the margin of
eras less, you have to be an incredibly accurate passer.
And the passing game is so important when you're behind
in games because you know, if you're playing with a
lead and you're running the ball and play action and pass.
(21:38):
A lot of times with play action pass, you can
get guys open by you know, three four yards of separation.
So therefore, you don't need to be as accurate. When
you are down twenty eight to three, you better be
extremely accurate because the windows are very tight. You're going
to have to throw, you know, thirty forty passes in
the second half and overtime of a game against a
myriad of different coverages, So you're gonna have to unders
(22:00):
stand the strengths and weaknesses of all the coveragees. I
think there's a lot of ways to get the job
done at quarterback. You know, there's a lot of guys
in unified different skill sets. I do believe it's a
passing league. It always has been, it always will be.
You can benefit from a great running game, But when
the rubber meets the road and you're in big time
moments and you're in games where it's very contested, you're
(22:23):
going against a team that's at the similar pedigree, you
better be an elite passer, an elite processor processor.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
You better have great.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
And tangibles and resilience built up in you to be
the leader of that team. And when I watch different
guys play, I see that in them. You know, Patrick
Mahomes has that, Josh Allen has that, Jared Goff has that,
Matthew Stafford has that, Lamar Jackson has that there's a
lot of guys that I love their style of play,
the inaccurate guys, they have to work really hard at
their craft to be better. There were certain things I
(22:53):
was not good at. I was always a pretty good passer.
I was really weak, kind of my physical strength was weak.
I had to build up the durability in the pocket.
I had to continue to learn the offense because I
knew that when the ball was in my hands, nothing
good was going to happen with our offense. So the
faster I could get it out of my hands into
the hands of Edelman or Welker or Moss or Mike
(23:16):
Evans or Godwin or Gronk, well, then our offense was
going to move. So I had to kind of decipher
the coverage pre snap. Go okay, this is the best
place to go with the ball before the ball was snapped.
If I didn't know where the ball was going before
the snap, I didn't snap the ball.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
I would just get us into a better play.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
And that's why guys are wide open and go, oh
my god, well yeah, we.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Got them open.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Because if I was able to develop a tool kit
in a skill set to change plays at the line
of scrimmage, audible, to change protections, to change route combinations.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
I watched Peyton Manning do.
Speaker 7 (23:51):
That for years. We just exploited the weak parts of defense.
And the problem in the NFL today is guys aren't
doing that. Guys aren't being developed through college, and then
when they get to the pro they're so far behind
that the coach feels like, Okay, I need to control
this game from the sideline.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
So what I'm going to do is.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
I'm going to make these all these pass plays progression reads.
We're going to start on the right side of the
field with the first receiver, second receiver, and we're just
going to sweep the board and come across.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
And the problem is you can't.
Speaker 7 (24:18):
You never develop real autonomy at quarterback to get your
team in the best play. You essentially become a robot
for the coach. So the teams that I think have
a great advantage going forward are the ones with the
older quarterbacks who the coaches do give them the autonomy
to say, Okay, whatever you see out there, you can
change the play, you can get us in the right play.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
We trust you.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
And therefore, in big moments, we're going to put the
ball in your hands. And I think that's the best
style of play for sustained success in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So this week, And you know, I was never going
to be two hundred and fifty pounds and ripped. I
have a genetic limitation, and I know that although I
once dump a basketball tall. No video surface, but I
once did.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
But the point is, I'll take your word for it.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Everybody has to. So I put up a screen.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I said, I want everybody to look at these quarterbacks
who are either leading in the MVP race, lead their division,
or their name is Joe Burrow. And here's the graphic
sixty six six six six five six five six four
sixty four sixty three sixty three. I like Jalen Hurts.
I like Tua, but Tom, you can't tell me. I
(25:28):
have stood next to you. I'm tall. I look up
at you. It's six and a half. Tom Brady. I'm
just saying I don't think your hoist on as many trophies.
So when people say what's wrong with Jalen Hurts says, folks,
you can't see as much.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
That's not a criticism, right.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
Yeah, it's a great point, and it's if you just
look at the history of quarterbacks in the NFL, how
many below six foot two and under have had, you know,
sustained successor up there in passing yardage. It's just hard
because you've got to see over at least the center,
who is typically the shortest guy on the field, because
he's standing right in front of you, and he opens
(26:09):
up the entire middle part of the field. So it's
easy if you're not as tall to throw to the
perimeter of the field because there's more vision out there.
You're only probably working through a tackle. But when you're
looking over the middle of the field, let's say between
the hashes, you're looking between the right guard, the center.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
And the left guard.
Speaker 7 (26:25):
You've got to have the height to see over the
top of people, and then the delivery has to be
over the top of the offensive lineman and the defensive linemen.
And those guys are big guys. Those guys aren't five
foot ten, those guys are six foot two, six foot three,
So you've got to have the arm angle to get
the ball over them, and that opens up the middle part.
Speaker 5 (26:43):
Of the field.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
So what I see with a lot of guys who
aren't as tall they throw the ball more to the
perimeter of the field.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
It's harder to throw the ball.
Speaker 7 (26:51):
To the perimeter of the field because the ball has
a longer distance to go and you don't get as
much run after catch if you're running across the field
and a short, shallow route over the middle. If you
catch it, you've got twenty five yards from the point
you catch it in the middle to turn the ball
up the sideline, where you can gain a lot of
yards after catch. So I just I think there's I'm
not saying you can't be successful if you're under six
(27:13):
foot two, it's just the chance of being successful is less.
And yes, there are anomalies. I think Drew Brees is
one of them. Drew Brees played very tall. You standing
up in the pocket a lot of times, he was
up on the balls of his feet. He had a
very high release, the ball came out very quickly, so
he found a way to But he also worked at
it extremely hard for a long time in order to make.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Those improvements as well.
Speaker 7 (27:39):
And I don't think you can discount the fact that
if you want to be successful in the NFL, you
better have the drive and determination every day of your life.
In season and offseason. To try to go out and
be the best in the world. You got to be
brushing your teeth in the morning, thinking about your throwing mechanics,
thinking about the calls your coach is going to make
(27:59):
on third down, and the anticipation you need to throw
in a particular game.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
This has to be your life.
Speaker 7 (28:05):
It has to be so important that you're thinking about
it all day, every day, certainly during the season.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
So I had picked before the season. Sometimes I get lucky.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I said, the team that's going to double their win
total and make the playoffs that you think is bad
as New England. I did not think Drake may would
be this good this early. What was the first thing
you saw with Drake? First thing you saw you played
the position and you went, oh, okay, that's beyond franchise.
That's because I think the NFL historically gives you a
(28:37):
franchise quarterback every year to the draft, but every five
years you.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Get a U. You get them Montana. That's rare.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I mean, I'm just a TV viewer. What did you
see that I couldn't spot early with this ascension?
Speaker 7 (28:54):
Well, some of it is, you know, Josh McDaniel is
still one of my great friends. I mean, I've known
him for twenty five years, and he just talks about
his work ethic, his willingness to get better and improve
week in.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
And week out.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
He's a sponge for information and that's more important to
me than what I see on the film because when
I hear that, I know that he's doing the thing
that takes during the week that are going to show
up consistently on the field. Other people, other coaches with
other teams will say their quarterback, as you know, he's
the first one out.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Of the building.
Speaker 7 (29:22):
You know, he's he's he doesn't study, he does never
opens his iPad. I hear that from time to time
and I go, okay, well I could see why on
the film. Well, that guy's not being successful. So with Drake,
he has the physical ability, he has the size, but
I think in terms of physical skill set, his downfield
passing ability is awesome. So you know, Josh McDaniels has
(29:43):
done incredible job this year for the Patriots. Drake is
running the same system that I was in. I know
how good that system is for quarterbacks. How Josh does
teach these young quarterbacks all the different reasons why he's
doing what he's doing. Why we're trying to beat coverage
or how we're gonna protect to give you the best
chance to be successful. So he's in a great system
(30:06):
to be successful. Rabel is focusing on the defense, as
he should be. Josh, focus on the offense. That offense
just like in the early two thousands. The offense is
carrying the defense, just like in Rabel's defense of the
days when I was a young second year quarterback in
New England.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
That's the way it goes.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
So we've had this argument this week. Everybody is telling me.
They say, well, the Chiefs are just a little retool.
I mean, they've got Maholmes and they've got Andy Reid.
And I said, time out, name their ten best players.
I said, if you name the Seahawks, you get down
to eight and you're like, damn, guys, that guy's the
third best guy in the league of his position. You
(30:45):
do the Rams ten best players, I'm like, man, Jared
versus three, he could be there.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
You get to the Chiefs ten best.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
I'm not talking legacy and resume, and I'm saying I
think it's better than Buffalo's roster that I don't love.
I think it's a little bit more of a rebuild.
You know, once you pay you took pay cuts for
a lot of the stuff, you start paying fifty five
fifty eight for a quarterback. I think it's a bit
more of a rebuild in Kansas City. Am I wrong?
Speaker 7 (31:17):
It'll be interesting to see what happens. You know, we'll
see how the season plays out. But they have Andy Reid,
they have Patrick Mahomes, they have Steve Spagnolo, bred Veitch
Clark Hunt. They got the foundations for success in Kansas City,
so I know it's been not a typical year for them.
I'm never counting them out until they're mathematically eliminated. I
(31:40):
think when you have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and
you're competing against them, you should worry about them.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
They are battle tested.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
They have proven that there' as competitive as anybody in
the league. So there's always chances for every team. They're
going to have to fix things at the end of
every season. Every team's gonna have to fix things at
the end of every season. But when you have those
two pieces in place, Read and Mahomes, I think everything
is a little tinkering. I don't think anything's a true
rebuild when you have those two guys at the top.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Okay, So Philip Rivers is going to play this week,
and he's one of my favorite people that's ever played
in the league. He is so genuine and authentic and funny.
In fact, he was the first quarterback that ever told me,
he goes, I gotta be honest. I like the process
better than the game.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
He goes.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I love the week of practice.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And he was a trash talker, like he's the all
time Southern trash talker. If I I guess his high
school is running the same offense. The idea and by
the way, he moved like a batting cage when he
was playing. So the idea. If I said to you tomorrow,
Ring Ring, Tom, can you play Sunday? If you kind
(32:48):
of knew the offense, could you generate drives?
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Yes? I certainly could.
Speaker 7 (32:56):
But first of all, who retires and then unretires and
then is ultimately a retirement?
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Who does that? Is that?
Speaker 7 (33:01):
Even it's ridiculous, and Philip to do that, it's right.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Good for him.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
I'm happy he's doing it. I think the answer for
me would be yes, I'm not allowed to anymore because
I'm an owner of a minority owner of the Raider.
So I can't retire, but I'm very excited to watch
Philip play because if he's out there, I think it's
just very cool. You know, he's it speaks to you
know how much he loves the game and really what
he's able to do still. And this game is about
(33:28):
for the quarterback from the neck up. And we have
a saying at Michigan the mental is to the physical
as four is to one at the quarterback position, and
that doesn't really go away.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
That's still up there. Do you have the physical ability
to still do it?
Speaker 7 (33:41):
Take the hits, make the throws, the drops, you know,
buy a little time in the pocket. And if Philip
has been practicing those things, then we're all going to
see it on full display in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
So I want to go back to Detroit Rams.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
It's the game you have, and I think it's interesting.
Earlier this year, I thought Green Bay was a little
broken offensively, but Matt lafleuor solved it. And I've said
this for years, Tom I would rather have an offensive
coach than a defensive coach.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
That said, I think.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Demico Ryans Vrabel Mike McDonald are studs. They're great. I
look at Detroit and I kind of I'm not sure
week to week. They're not as good on third down,
They're not as good a fourth down. But I want
to go to a macro picture here, because not every
game for Tom Brady was great. Over the course of
(34:33):
a season, you lose a left guard and then your
slot receiver shows up pregame and can't make cuts. How
did you fix Because the Rams haven't been broken this year,
They've made changes, the Lions have felt there are weeks
they're broken.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
How do you solve that? What is the first thing
you would do?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
If you're like guys, the tape shows were just not right,
There's no rhythm.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
What do you do to solve that?
Speaker 7 (34:59):
So I think that I I think the most important thing,
and we used to term a lot, certainly on broadcasting,
is we'll say complementary football. So when I was, for example,
with the Patriots and those were twenty of the best
years the NFL has ever seen in terms of a
standard of excellence that was put out there on the field,
is we tried to win all three phases of the
(35:20):
game every week. It wasn't just these three parts of
our team offense, defense, Special teams will all operate independently,
and you'd be very surprised that a lot of teams
see them as three individual teams within the same team.
But I knew we were going to win special teams
every week because the emphasis that Bill Belichick put on
(35:42):
special teams, not just from a meeting standpoint, but the
types of players that he brought on the team to
execute our special teams units, like Larry Izzo, like Matt Slater,
like Nate Ebner, like Lonnie Paxton. We kept them as
foundational pieces, so there was a standard of performance from
special teams. So if we won special teams and we
(36:03):
won offense, well, we won two of the three phases
of the game. Not to mention, we usually had one
of the top defenses in the league. So if we
had let's say, the best special teams unit and we
won on defense and offensively we were injured, we would
have to play maybe a little bit less aggressively. We
punt a little bit more, we'd throw the ball a
little less, we'd run the ball a little more. We
(36:24):
would do different things within our offensive scheme to try
to compliment the other pieces. Because alls we were trying
to do was win that week. And I think what
a lot of people miss out on is Okay, you're
down this particular receiver, Well, what do we do well.
We're playing the Colts and they have a tremendous offense.
The first thought on our offense was, let's run the
(36:47):
ball a lot to try to minimize the amount of possessions.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
We'll give the ball to the Colts. Let's run the ball,
Let's control the clock.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
Let's try to win time of possession thirty five minutes
to twenty five minutes, because if they're not on the field,
they're not scoring. That's the best that's the best defense
we can play.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
And every week there was a different formula. The urgency
was there every week.
Speaker 7 (37:08):
By our coaching staff, and that was communicated to our
players about this is how we're going to win this week.
That's the most important thing, not what are we going
to do two weeks from now when other guys are healthier,
other guys are injured. But we don't know the strengths
and weakness of that opponent. But we're going to evaluate
the opponent we're going to play. We're going to see
their strengths we're going to see their weaknesses, we're going
(37:29):
to try to attack their weaknesses, and we're going to
try to mitigate their strengths in all three phases of
the game. That is an urgency that is probably missing,
you know, a lot in the NFL. There's probably three
or four teams that really do that, but most of
them don't do that. And that's why when you get
some injuries to a team, to one of those lesser teams,
(37:49):
well they are screwed because if they're slot receivers down,
or their tight ends down, or their quarterbacks, they're not
going to score points. And if they don't score points,
they're not going to win.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I'll wrap up with this.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Last week was one of the first weeks, maybe the
week before that, I watched football and I thought, good god,
this looks miserable.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
It looks so cold, it's snowing. It's awful.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I have this sinking suspicion that you actually liked cruddy
weather because you viewed it as an advantage because you
were a great lousy weather. Your ball, your hip movement,
you're a great crafty I've told you that Chicago game
in Soldier Field left sideline. I remember watching it thinking
that is a perfect cold weather throw. So when the
(38:30):
game looks miserable, were you sitting there on Wednesday, thinking, Uh,
Peyton's gonna be cold, he plays in the dome, I
can't wait?
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Did you like it?
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Absolutely?
Speaker 7 (38:41):
I looked at the weather more than anybody in the
history of the NFL. My weather app was on overdrive
during the football season, constantly looking at the conditions we
were playing in, the conditions that are other teams that
our conference were playing in. And because we were in
New England and we really never practiced inside, we got
so used to all the la elevents, we got used
to the wind. I had to really work hard to
(39:03):
throw a very tight spiral. I worked on my mechanics
incessantly so that I could drive the ball through the wind.
And the tighter the spiral was, the more it could
penetrate the wind. So I knew I had to throw
a tight spiral. I knew I had to keep my
body warm. And how was I going to keep my
body warm? How many layers was I going to wear?
You know, how many did I wear? The scuba suit?
If it was below twenty degrees? When did I put
(39:23):
it on? You just get so good because you practice
in it all year round. In the springtime, we'd go
back in April, we'd have forty five degree days in
the rain, we'd be outside working out. So you just
get accustomed to that environment. And now this time of
year in the NFL, in the Northeast and the Midwest,
you know, these outdoor games, they come down to weather
(39:45):
eighty percent of the time. So you better be good
in it and you better embrace it rather than see
it as a big disadvantage. And that's what we did.
We always saw as an advantage. The shittier the weather,
the better we are going to go out.
Speaker 5 (39:57):
There and play.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
By the way, the broadcasting thing, you're having fun. Listen,
I told you that. I said this off the air
to you. You asked me before your first game. It
said something like, listen, you're gonna be nervous. I should
have really said something nice. I was like, Tommy, you're
gonna be nervous for the first five minutes. And you're like, oh, thanks.
Really that really helped a lot.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Calling.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
But like it's I think broadcasting similar to football.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
It's just reps. It's like work reps.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
And I will just say this, are you enjoying it
as much as it appears you're enjoying it.
Speaker 7 (40:30):
Yeah, I could not have imagined it the transition being
any more fun and enjoyable than it's been. I have
the greatest team in the world, the greatest partner in
Kevin Burkhart, Aaron and Tom Dean Blandino up there with
me in the booth, the people that work with us,
our whole crew, our director, rich and Richie, our producer,
(40:52):
our whole crew, our graphics team, everybody in the truck,
our cameramen. We have so much fun. It is such
a team environment, and we give each other shit all day.
We laugh all day, you know, and we get to
cover football. And the only thing you want as a
broadcaster is a good game. I'm rooting for good game,
for good football. I want to see guys perform very well.
(41:14):
I want to see quarterbacks play well. I want to
see him read the defense. I want to see good blocks.
I want to see hard hits. I want the viewer
to really understand why this game is so fun to watch,
and then teach him a little bit along the way
about you know, different things that may come up, but
it's such an entertaining it's such an entertaining medium, and
I think I've really enjoyed it, and it's gone on.
(41:35):
You know, you continue to gain more confidence about what
your role is, and I just know our best is
yet to come.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Good seeing your always welcome, You know, I don't, they
asked me. I always tell management, I say, don't bother him.
He's busy, he's always welcome. But you know, you're always welcome.
So we just love having you on and I appreciate that.
Thanks Colin. Yeah, you do such a great job.
Speaker 7 (41:59):
You keep up the great on top of everything, and
it's it's amazing what you do every day.
Speaker 5 (42:04):
So keep up the great work yourself.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
All right, Thanks Tom, Yeah, it's thanks.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
You got broadcasting's fun. It is got a good cruise
here and.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I'll watched the Cold Well. I always said there was
always a piece of video.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
It was live. I was watching. It was on another
network and it was I lived on the other coast
and I was watching. It was New England.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
It was Brady against Peyton Manning and it was like
AFC Championship or something, and it was snowing in Foxboro. Therefore,
you know, it was an hour and a half away.
It was snowing at my house and it was just
one of those things. It was a big sandwich game,
big sandwich. I'm sitting watching TV for four hours and
Jim Nantz is getting ready, you know, he's, oh, well,
I got the kick Coffs coming up next. And they
(42:52):
show a picture of Peyton Manning snowing and he looks
so cold, and I'm sitting with a friend and I'm like,
game's over. New England's winning the game. I said, look
at Manning and it just looked like he was you know,
he's playing the Dome and it was cold. It was
Foxborough cold, and I'm like, that's bad body language, like
(43:13):
he's cold and now.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
And the Patriots did win that game, by the way,
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 (00:26):
Oh do we have a great Thursday show for you.
We are live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd wherever
you may be and however you may be watching or listening,
whatever platform device it is. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Two hours from now, Tom Brady shows
up live. An hour from now, Greg Cosel in the house.
(00:51):
Bruce Feldman's gonna check in with us as well. A
very active, very troubling, dark day Michigan looking for a
new football coach, and let's start there. Sharon Moore has
been fired. So there's two or three elements to this.
Number One is there are certain jobs and maybe it's
(01:11):
maybe it's thirty or forty percent of jobs in America.
Maybe it's more it's not every job, but certain jobs
in America. You need an elevated sense of character both
personally and professionally. You know, school president, you hope, the church, college,
campus jobs. There are certain jobs where you have to
(01:32):
have a seriousness about you, in a maturity about you,
so you can meet the job. You can meet the program,
you can meet the standard. Michigan football is not only
a college football job, It's one of America's great public institutions.
When I was a kid growing up, to me, Michigan football,
this is way pre Brady. I thought it was the
best program in America. Like the fight song, the crowd,
(01:55):
the games, and Michigan football to me as a kid,
even through college, like that was the job, a great university,
wonderful fans, and Charon More to me, I'll be honest
with you, he always felt like an interim coach. I
just didn't think he was that good of a coach,
right Like, even at his opening presser he kind of
(02:18):
used a hardball quote.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
He didn't have his own identity.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Again, I didn't think he was that great of a coach,
but he was close to Jim Harbaugh. And my rule
has never changed in thirty years in this business. I
have a rule in sports and in any business, the
greater the employee you're asked to replace Jim Harball, the
(02:42):
wider the search has to be. You can't just hand
it to a staffer if you're trying to replace Jim Harball.
Remember when Bill Belichick left, who they handed to Belichick's
favorite assistant, girod Mayo. Disaster. Then they went and this
is what Michigan should. Then they went and got Mike Vrabel.
And Michigan needs to go after like a Kaitlin de
(03:04):
boor don't know if he leave, but that's kind of
guy I would go after. So listen, most vice presidents.
Vice presidents have ceilings, and that's vice president Searan Moore
could be a really, really good coordinator, maybe a head
coach at Michigan. Yeah, that's a big job. That is
a top five job in America. It's like basketball coach
(03:26):
at Carolina or Duke, and there's just a certain standard
and he didn't meet it. Secondly, there are reports that
Michigan knew about this for some time, but you know,
they didn't want to get in the way of signing
day well time out. When you're talking about like internal affairs,
you can't go on hearsay or rumor. You have to
(03:49):
have admission and proof. Okay, that's why we have HR departments.
You can't go on, hey this guy in the internet
nailed it. You can get sued really quick if you
make an assertion or an accusation and you don't have
an admission or absolute inarguable proof.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Third is.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's December eleventh, the Bulls haven't started college football playoffs
a week away. Michigan's got all sorts of time. The
transfer portal now the portal doesn't even open till January.
It used to be December. So Michigan's going to get
a great coach. They paid ten million for their quarterback.
They're going to get a really, really good coach. But
(04:31):
to me, this is a cautionary tale of a man
who probably wasn't the best candidate available. In fact, he
wasn't getting an incredibly esteem job, and sadly, his personal life,
maybe due to the pressure, completely unravels. I wish him
the best. Michigan will get a great coach. The portal
(04:55):
opens up in January. The university will be fine, you hope,
the people will be involved. We'll have Bruce Felman on
in forty minutes. So earlier this week, Jay MC and
I went back and forth, and I said Rich Paul
was right, even if he said something that was uncomfortable,
which is, you know, the Lakers are not built to
(05:16):
win a championship. They're just not good enough, especially on defense.
So last night the Lakers hosted a really good team,
probably capable of winning the championship, San Antonio, and they
hosted him in LA. And let's just say we should
have a new segment on the show where Rich Paul
was right. The Spurs didn't even have seven foot four
Wemby and they did whatever they wanted offensively, fifty percent
(05:38):
field goals, forty five percent threes, fifty total rebounds, almost
fifty points in the paint. That's without seven four Wemby.
So this is shaking out, as Rich Paul predicted and
I have been saying since the start of the season,
even when Lebron comes back, the Lakers are bad defensively
since Lebron returned, they're twenty six defense. They don't do
(06:00):
anything right. Defend the rim, defend the perimeter, defend the point.
So this is a team and roster with holes. And
what happened last night? What did the Spurs attack, Oh,
gritty Austin Reeves. Spurs players who were guarded by Austin
Reeves shot an outrageous sixty three and a half percent.
(06:24):
Oh wait, that's what the Timberwolves did in the playoffs,
attacked Austin Reeves, a really good player, offensively works his
butt off. Cool story, gritty kid, but forty year old
Lebron gritty Austin Reeves, a marginally interested defender in Luca
is not a Western Conference finals team in the West.
(06:47):
They're a fun team. I love watching them. I mean,
the crowds go to a Laker game, it's a cool crowd.
It's fun. There's a lot of points. Unfortunately, good teams
will score more and hopefully this is why it's so
encouraging if you're a Laker fan. The owners of the
Lakers who have moved off Cody Bellinger, Trey Turner, Manny Machado,
(07:12):
Corey Seeger great players, but they go after Mookie and
Freddie Freeman and Otani. The standard for the Dodgers isn't
keeping a very very excellent player like Corey Seger. It's
getting shoe Hey Otani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts everybody
loves gritty. Austin Reeves and forty year old Lebron the
(07:37):
future of this organization. Two guys, Luca number one, JJ
Reddick number two. Everybody else is available to move. The
Spurs did last night what the t Wolves did last year.
Go after Austin Reeves. That's exactly what they did without Wemby.
(07:58):
They got every look they want on it too. Go ahead,
be a fanboy, be an influencer. Take cool picks. The
difference between the bus family and the current owners is
a standard. Corey Seeger is replaceable, Otani isn't right, Trey
(08:20):
Turns a good player. Freddie Freeman's a Hall of Famer.
Austin Reeves is a good player. I'd move in five
minutes if I could sniff Yannis. Okay, it's not even
it's not a discussion. You wear your team jerseys, you
take your pictures. JJ Reddick knows when they play the
(08:40):
top teams and the great athletes in the West. Here's
JJ Reddick with some truth.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Serum, the things that help you win on the margins.
We're just not very good at right now. And you know,
we got to ask a little bit more of everybody. Know,
we don't crash. You know, we can't. We can't force
(09:06):
a lot of turnovers. And if a team shoots well
where we're going to be really in trouble.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
He's telling you what Rich Paul's telling you, what Uncle
Colin's telling you. They can't defend. It's not what they are.
They have three players that duplicate each other. Luca Lebron
and Austin Reeves are really really good. I mean, Lebron's
forty one, he's dunking at the rack. Austin Reeves is
going to get his points. Luca's better than both easily,
(09:33):
but there's too much duplication. They've got to get bigger
to protect the rim. They've got to get stronger on
the perimeter defensively. I mean, JJ Reddick's telling you, you know,
teams hit shots. There's nothing we can do because teams
are going to get shots on the Lakers. JJ Reddick
is telling you the truth, whether you want to believe
(09:54):
it or not. All right, So Bruce Feldman is going
to be joining us in thirty minutes now on the
Michigan situation. Again, it's early, the playoffs haven't started.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
The Bulls.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
This is where the nil is very valuable and the portal.
They've pushed it back to January, meaning if recruits leave
at Michigan, you can replace them. Remember, Michigan and Notre
Dame have two of the top ten endowments in the country.
These are very wealthy schools. This is why the Big Ten,
(10:27):
in my opinion, now that Indiana's a powerhouse. While the
Big Ten has closed the gap on the sec richer endowments,
richer schools, richer graduates, bigger schools flushing out graduates across
the country to great jobs, they come back, write checks.
Michigan's going to be fine. I'll root for the person
(10:48):
sharonn More, But the Wolverine since I was a kid,
have always figured it out eventually.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Tom Brady joining us, Greg Cosel today as well. Man,
We got a lot of stuff today talk about.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
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Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio, hit
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(11:21):
all the videos from your favorite shows, Tube Pros and
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Speaker 3 (11:36):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So I've heard this all week. You know, Kansas City,
they're not rebuilding, they're just retooling, because you know, if you've.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Got Read and Mahomes, you're okay.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I've been asking every guest this week, rebuild my belief
or retool? And the answer I get from people I
love at the company, well, it's just a read tool.
We got Mahomes, we got Read. Brady left Belichick. You
know why, talent regression the roster. Yeah, he didn't like
(12:11):
Bill anymore, but he didn't really like Bill ten years earlier.
People get tackled in football. They age very very quickly.
Kansas City has gone from we don't really need wide receivers.
Kelsey and Mahomes will figure it out.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Two.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
We may finish sub five hundred. Andy Reid is sixty seven.
Travis Kelsey's going to retire. Chris Jones won't. He'll be expensive,
but he's not the player he used to be. George
Carloftis is a really good pass rusher, but he's probably
a little overpaid. His cap hit much bigger next year.
Rashi Rice not dependable, immature, gets banged up. Josh Simmons
(12:52):
the left tackle of injury issues, some personal issues ongoing.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
In life.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And in football. You get a dose of reality sometimes.
And Kansas City for seven years, got every green light
driving to work. They were just winning close, come from behind,
they got a green light the entire drive to work
for seven years. Now they're stuck in traffic and this
(13:23):
roster and they've taken some risks. Josh Simmons was not
on every board, Rashi Rice not on every board. There's
pro scouts, No, they know about issues before they surface professionally.
And I'll say this again, I think I'm not saying
(13:44):
it's a demo. You don't have to tear the house down,
but the kitchen needs work, so does the roof, and
a couple of bathrooms. It's not just a tile job
or fix and clean up the garage. So here's Patrick
Mahomes on potentially missing the postseason.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
We were in unprecedented territory, so place that we haven't
been since I've been here, and so I think you
lean on the guys that have kind of battled through
adversity and came out better on the other side. And
so when I look at it now, it's like, I mean,
I don't know what the percentages are of, but I
know they're not high. And I think it'd be special
if we get into the playoffs and we can make
a run. So why not give ourselves a chance to
(14:24):
do that? And we got to start about winning football games.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
For the record, twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two, before
the big Mahomes deal felt like it kicked in, this
team averaged thirty points a game. The last three years,
they're averaging a touchdown less a game. Name the Chiefs
top ten players right now. And I'm not talking on
resume or legacy. I'm not talking about Travis Kelce just
(14:50):
because he has a great legacy. I'm saying, name their
top ten players. Chris Jones is not a top ten
lyman right now, and he's one of them, and he's
near the top. Name their top ten player. Now, go
name the Rams, the Lions, the Eagles top ten players.
Hell go name the Houston Texans top ten players. Name
(15:14):
Seattle's top ten players. Name the Chiefs. Mahomes is one,
it's a lot of Trent McDuffie's two. You get to
about five and you're like, well, he's overpaid. Well he's old,
he's going to retire. I'm telling you this idea that, well,
(15:35):
I've got Reid and Mahomes. Gms matter a lot. They
have got an ace this draft. They have got a
hit on four or five player. Brett Vieach is great,
he can do it. But this idea, well, we're just
going to fix the guest room. Put some tile in
the kitchen. Now, kitchen, need to redo roof's leacoln master
(15:59):
baths to don't time to fix it.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
One more.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
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 (16:12):
Tom Brady seven times Super Bowl Champ, Fox Sports twenty
three NFL season. All right, boy, you got a good
one this week, Lions or Rams. So it's interesting when
I watched the and I asked this all the time.
The other night, I had a dinner with a jam
in the NFL, and I love this question. I said,
you know, is it scheme or is it players? When
(16:32):
you watch the Rams, do you see brilliant schemes? Do
you is it talent? Because man, when they need eleven
yards they get it. What are you seeing when you
watch the film?
Speaker 7 (16:45):
Yeah, first of all, it's good to be on the show.
Why have you not invited me at all this season?
I thought we were in a good rhythm last year.
We go to the super Bowl and all of a sudden,
I'm like xed out from the show. But I'm glad
we could at least come on here before the end
of the regular season. Yeah, it's it's pretty It's been
pretty awesome. I've covered him a few times this year.
(17:05):
I think with Stafford and McVeigh have going between the
two of them, they're just totally in sync.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
And you throw in these receivers.
Speaker 7 (17:13):
They've got, you know, obviously Puka and Davonte, the mix
of tight ends, they've had four pretty good tight ends.
I know Higbe's on IR right now, but they're really
using a lot of different personnel groupings. And then Quorum
last week was ridiculous against the Cardinals over one hundred
and I think as a team.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Over two hundred fifty yards Russian.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
So you got Kiren, you got Blake Korum, you got
these tight ends. And one of the most underrated aspects
of this team is offensive line. These guys are playing
ridiculous up front. There's not allowing penetration in the run
game allow I think the least amount of negative plays
then a team in the league.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
So it's just it's pretty awesome to watch. I'm fired
up because.
Speaker 7 (17:53):
It's Lions, one of my favorite offenses to watch with
Jared Goff and the Rams with Stafford two kind of
classic pocket. They play the game from their from their
neck up, and they obviously have great ability to pass
the football and they're throwing it to guys that are
extremely talented at receiver. They got great run games, great coaches,
aggressive coaches. So this is a perfect game for America's
(18:15):
Game of the Week on Fox on Sunday at four
twenty five Eastern.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So you were an outlier in terms of playing and
being an incredible shape late Stafford, you know he didn't.
You had some really Dante s Gonecia, You had good
protection most of your career.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
You know, he got the great protection kick.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, he got the you know what kicked out of
him for years in Detroit until he inherited uh, you know,
Whitworth and McVeigh.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
And the schemes.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
But when you did get older, let's let's let's take
thirty nine for you, maybe forty three for Stafford. Thirty
seven were their things you had to do as an
older quarterback that you didn't at twenty seven.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Oh, man, I think you're The processes just get better
as you get older, because because you understand really what's
important for you over the course of the season. So
you don't waste any time being inefficient in the offseason
with your training or in training camp. You don't waste throws,
you don't waste workouts. Everything is like with the real
intention to it. So I was very fortunate twenty three seasons.
(19:18):
I mean, I still think I could play now, But
it's just the thought of doing it in the commitment
that it takes from someone like Matt or Aaron Rodgers,
Like they're committing year round for that, and that's a
big commitment.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
It's like running a marathon.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
Yeah, everyone wants to run the last three miles like Philip.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Rivers is doing.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
But it's hard to run all twenty six and it's
not just the running of the twenty six miles, it's
all the preparation for the running.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
And I think when you get older and you.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Got the life full of responsibilities, it gets just a
little bit more challenging.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
But Matt's making it look awesome.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
He's just had an incredible season, MVP caliber season.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
And again just to cover him again, I.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
Think for me to watch him play and to watch
his style of play and the kind of innovation on
offense with McVeigh and how they each week find different
little weaknesses to exploit on the opposing defense, that's an
awesome thing to watch from the booth.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So obviously you can improve as any athlete. But somebody
once told me this, a real smart GM said, you
can't take a B plus guy and make him an
A plus guy. You can take people up like a
half a grade. You can take a B minors to
a B plus, right, Like, there's this sense that so,
I mean, you were drafted in Major League Baseball, you
had perfect size, you were under represented in terms of
(20:38):
your skill. You didn't go from ded at the greatest
of all time? Like, so you were undervalued in the
skill department, Your size, your arm strengths was always top
of the league, near the top.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
So when I when.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I when I look at Caleb Williams, I've argued, he's
never going to be Drew Brees. I don't need him
to be Drew Brees because I got a horsepower in movement.
Is there a line for you with a Josh Allen
or a Kleb that they can do so many things
with their horsepower, But is there align with him? You're like, okay,
(21:11):
you got to get at least to sixty two or
do you not necessarily care about his accuracy right now?
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Well, I always care about accuracy from a quarterback standpoint,
because when you get to the bigger games and the
playoffs and the defenses are better in the margin of
eras less, you have to be an incredibly accurate passer.
And the passing game is so important when you're behind
in games because you know, if you're playing with a
lead and you're running the ball and play action and pass.
(21:38):
A lot of times with play action pass, you can
get guys open by you know, three four yards of separation.
So therefore, you don't need to be as accurate. When
you are down twenty eight to three, you better be
extremely accurate because the windows are very tight. You're going
to have to throw, you know, thirty forty passes in
the second half and overtime of a game against a
myriad of different coverages, So you're gonna have to unders
(22:00):
stand the strengths and weaknesses of all the coveragees. I
think there's a lot of ways to get the job
done at quarterback. You know, there's a lot of guys
in unified different skill sets. I do believe it's a
passing league. It always has been, it always will be.
You can benefit from a great running game, But when
the rubber meets the road and you're in big time
moments and you're in games where it's very contested, you're
(22:23):
going against a team that's at the similar pedigree, you
better be an elite passer, an elite processor processor.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
You better have great.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
And tangibles and resilience built up in you to be
the leader of that team. And when I watch different
guys play, I see that in them. You know, Patrick
Mahomes has that, Josh Allen has that, Jared Goff has that,
Matthew Stafford has that, Lamar Jackson has that there's a
lot of guys that I love their style of play,
the inaccurate guys, they have to work really hard at
their craft to be better. There were certain things I
(22:53):
was not good at. I was always a pretty good passer.
I was really weak, kind of my physical strength was weak.
I had to build up the durability in the pocket.
I had to continue to learn the offense because I
knew that when the ball was in my hands, nothing
good was going to happen with our offense. So the
faster I could get it out of my hands into
the hands of Edelman or Welker or Moss or Mike
(23:16):
Evans or Godwin or Gronk, well, then our offense was
going to move. So I had to kind of decipher
the coverage pre snap. Go okay, this is the best
place to go with the ball before the ball was snapped.
If I didn't know where the ball was going before
the snap, I didn't snap the ball.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
I would just get us into a better play.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
And that's why guys are wide open and go, oh
my god, well yeah, we.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Got them open.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Because if I was able to develop a tool kit
in a skill set to change plays at the line
of scrimmage, audible, to change protections, to change route combinations.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
I watched Peyton Manning do.
Speaker 7 (23:51):
That for years. We just exploited the weak parts of defense.
And the problem in the NFL today is guys aren't
doing that. Guys aren't being developed through college, and then
when they get to the pro they're so far behind
that the coach feels like, Okay, I need to control
this game from the sideline.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
So what I'm going to do is.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
I'm going to make these all these pass plays progression reads.
We're going to start on the right side of the
field with the first receiver, second receiver, and we're just
going to sweep the board and come across.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
And the problem is you can't.
Speaker 7 (24:18):
You never develop real autonomy at quarterback to get your
team in the best play. You essentially become a robot
for the coach. So the teams that I think have
a great advantage going forward are the ones with the
older quarterbacks who the coaches do give them the autonomy
to say, Okay, whatever you see out there, you can
change the play, you can get us in the right play.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
We trust you.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
And therefore, in big moments, we're going to put the
ball in your hands. And I think that's the best
style of play for sustained success in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So this week, And you know, I was never going
to be two hundred and fifty pounds and ripped. I
have a genetic limitation, and I know that although I
once dump a basketball tall. No video surface, but I
once did.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
But the point is, I'll take your word for it.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Everybody has to. So I put up a screen.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I said, I want everybody to look at these quarterbacks
who are either leading in the MVP race, lead their division,
or their name is Joe Burrow. And here's the graphic
sixty six six six six five six five six four
sixty four sixty three sixty three. I like Jalen Hurts.
I like Tua, but Tom, you can't tell me. I
(25:28):
have stood next to you. I'm tall. I look up
at you. It's six and a half. Tom Brady. I'm
just saying I don't think your hoist on as many trophies.
So when people say what's wrong with Jalen Hurts says, folks,
you can't see as much.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
That's not a criticism, right.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
Yeah, it's a great point, and it's if you just
look at the history of quarterbacks in the NFL, how
many below six foot two and under have had, you know,
sustained successor up there in passing yardage. It's just hard
because you've got to see over at least the center,
who is typically the shortest guy on the field, because
he's standing right in front of you, and he opens
(26:09):
up the entire middle part of the field. So it's
easy if you're not as tall to throw to the
perimeter of the field because there's more vision out there.
You're only probably working through a tackle. But when you're
looking over the middle of the field, let's say between
the hashes, you're looking between the right guard, the center.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
And the left guard.
Speaker 7 (26:25):
You've got to have the height to see over the
top of people, and then the delivery has to be
over the top of the offensive lineman and the defensive linemen.
And those guys are big guys. Those guys aren't five
foot ten, those guys are six foot two, six foot three,
So you've got to have the arm angle to get
the ball over them, and that opens up the middle part.
Speaker 5 (26:43):
Of the field.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
So what I see with a lot of guys who
aren't as tall they throw the ball more to the
perimeter of the field.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
It's harder to throw the ball.
Speaker 7 (26:51):
To the perimeter of the field because the ball has
a longer distance to go and you don't get as
much run after catch if you're running across the field
and a short, shallow route over the middle. If you
catch it, you've got twenty five yards from the point
you catch it in the middle to turn the ball
up the sideline, where you can gain a lot of
yards after catch. So I just I think there's I'm
not saying you can't be successful if you're under six
(27:13):
foot two, it's just the chance of being successful is less.
And yes, there are anomalies. I think Drew Brees is
one of them. Drew Brees played very tall. You standing
up in the pocket a lot of times, he was
up on the balls of his feet. He had a
very high release, the ball came out very quickly, so
he found a way to But he also worked at
it extremely hard for a long time in order to make.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Those improvements as well.
Speaker 7 (27:39):
And I don't think you can discount the fact that
if you want to be successful in the NFL, you
better have the drive and determination every day of your life.
In season and offseason. To try to go out and
be the best in the world. You got to be
brushing your teeth in the morning, thinking about your throwing mechanics,
thinking about the calls your coach is going to make
(27:59):
on third down, and the anticipation you need to throw
in a particular game.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
This has to be your life.
Speaker 7 (28:05):
It has to be so important that you're thinking about
it all day, every day, certainly during the season.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
So I had picked before the season. Sometimes I get lucky.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I said, the team that's going to double their win
total and make the playoffs that you think is bad
as New England. I did not think Drake may would
be this good this early. What was the first thing
you saw with Drake? First thing you saw you played
the position and you went, oh, okay, that's beyond franchise.
That's because I think the NFL historically gives you a
(28:37):
franchise quarterback every year to the draft, but every five
years you.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Get a U. You get them Montana. That's rare.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I mean, I'm just a TV viewer. What did you
see that I couldn't spot early with this ascension?
Speaker 7 (28:54):
Well, some of it is, you know, Josh McDaniel is
still one of my great friends. I mean, I've known
him for twenty five years, and he just talks about
his work ethic, his willingness to get better and improve
week in.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
And week out.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
He's a sponge for information and that's more important to
me than what I see on the film because when
I hear that, I know that he's doing the thing
that takes during the week that are going to show
up consistently on the field. Other people, other coaches with
other teams will say their quarterback, as you know, he's
the first one out.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Of the building.
Speaker 7 (29:22):
You know, he's he's he doesn't study, he does never
opens his iPad. I hear that from time to time
and I go, okay, well I could see why on
the film. Well, that guy's not being successful. So with Drake,
he has the physical ability, he has the size, but
I think in terms of physical skill set, his downfield
passing ability is awesome. So you know, Josh McDaniels has
(29:43):
done incredible job this year for the Patriots. Drake is
running the same system that I was in. I know
how good that system is for quarterbacks. How Josh does
teach these young quarterbacks all the different reasons why he's
doing what he's doing. Why we're trying to beat coverage
or how we're gonna protect to give you the best
chance to be successful. So he's in a great system
(30:06):
to be successful. Rabel is focusing on the defense, as
he should be. Josh, focus on the offense. That offense
just like in the early two thousands. The offense is
carrying the defense, just like in Rabel's defense of the
days when I was a young second year quarterback in
New England.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
That's the way it goes.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
So we've had this argument this week. Everybody is telling me.
They say, well, the Chiefs are just a little retool.
I mean, they've got Maholmes and they've got Andy Reid.
And I said, time out, name their ten best players.
I said, if you name the Seahawks, you get down
to eight and you're like, damn, guys, that guy's the
third best guy in the league of his position. You
(30:45):
do the Rams ten best players, I'm like, man, Jared
versus three, he could be there.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
You get to the Chiefs ten best.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
I'm not talking legacy and resume, and I'm saying I
think it's better than Buffalo's roster that I don't love.
I think it's a little bit more of a rebuild.
You know, once you pay you took pay cuts for
a lot of the stuff, you start paying fifty five
fifty eight for a quarterback. I think it's a bit
more of a rebuild in Kansas City. Am I wrong?
Speaker 7 (31:17):
It'll be interesting to see what happens. You know, we'll
see how the season plays out. But they have Andy Reid,
they have Patrick Mahomes, they have Steve Spagnolo, bred Veitch
Clark Hunt. They got the foundations for success in Kansas City,
so I know it's been not a typical year for them.
I'm never counting them out until they're mathematically eliminated. I
(31:40):
think when you have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and
you're competing against them, you should worry about them.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
They are battle tested.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
They have proven that there' as competitive as anybody in
the league. So there's always chances for every team. They're
going to have to fix things at the end of
every season. Every team's gonna have to fix things at
the end of every season. But when you have those
two pieces in place, Read and Mahomes, I think everything
is a little tinkering. I don't think anything's a true
rebuild when you have those two guys at the top.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Okay, So Philip Rivers is going to play this week,
and he's one of my favorite people that's ever played
in the league. He is so genuine and authentic and funny.
In fact, he was the first quarterback that ever told me,
he goes, I gotta be honest. I like the process
better than the game.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
He goes.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I love the week of practice.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And he was a trash talker, like he's the all
time Southern trash talker. If I I guess his high
school is running the same offense. The idea and by
the way, he moved like a batting cage when he
was playing. So the idea. If I said to you tomorrow,
Ring Ring, Tom, can you play Sunday? If you kind
(32:48):
of knew the offense, could you generate drives?
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Yes? I certainly could.
Speaker 7 (32:56):
But first of all, who retires and then unretires and
then is ultimately a retirement?
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Who does that? Is that?
Speaker 7 (33:01):
Even it's ridiculous, and Philip to do that, it's right.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Good for him.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
I'm happy he's doing it. I think the answer for
me would be yes, I'm not allowed to anymore because
I'm an owner of a minority owner of the Raider.
So I can't retire, but I'm very excited to watch
Philip play because if he's out there, I think it's
just very cool. You know, he's it speaks to you
know how much he loves the game and really what
he's able to do still. And this game is about
(33:28):
for the quarterback from the neck up. And we have
a saying at Michigan the mental is to the physical
as four is to one at the quarterback position, and
that doesn't really go away.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
That's still up there. Do you have the physical ability
to still do it?
Speaker 7 (33:41):
Take the hits, make the throws, the drops, you know,
buy a little time in the pocket. And if Philip
has been practicing those things, then we're all going to
see it on full display in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
So I want to go back to Detroit Rams.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
It's the game you have, and I think it's interesting.
Earlier this year, I thought Green Bay was a little
broken offensively, but Matt lafleuor solved it. And I've said
this for years, Tom I would rather have an offensive
coach than a defensive coach.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
That said, I think.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Demico Ryans Vrabel Mike McDonald are studs. They're great. I
look at Detroit and I kind of I'm not sure
week to week. They're not as good on third down,
They're not as good a fourth down. But I want
to go to a macro picture here, because not every
game for Tom Brady was great. Over the course of
(34:33):
a season, you lose a left guard and then your
slot receiver shows up pregame and can't make cuts. How
did you fix Because the Rams haven't been broken this year,
They've made changes, the Lions have felt there are weeks
they're broken.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
How do you solve that? What is the first thing
you would do?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
If you're like guys, the tape shows were just not right,
There's no rhythm.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
What do you do to solve that?
Speaker 7 (34:59):
So I think that I I think the most important thing,
and we used to term a lot, certainly on broadcasting,
is we'll say complementary football. So when I was, for example,
with the Patriots and those were twenty of the best
years the NFL has ever seen in terms of a
standard of excellence that was put out there on the field,
is we tried to win all three phases of the
(35:20):
game every week. It wasn't just these three parts of
our team offense, defense, Special teams will all operate independently,
and you'd be very surprised that a lot of teams
see them as three individual teams within the same team.
But I knew we were going to win special teams
every week because the emphasis that Bill Belichick put on
(35:42):
special teams, not just from a meeting standpoint, but the
types of players that he brought on the team to
execute our special teams units, like Larry Izzo, like Matt Slater,
like Nate Ebner, like Lonnie Paxton. We kept them as
foundational pieces, so there was a standard of performance from
special teams. So if we won special teams and we
(36:03):
won offense, well, we won two of the three phases
of the game. Not to mention, we usually had one
of the top defenses in the league. So if we
had let's say, the best special teams unit and we
won on defense and offensively we were injured, we would
have to play maybe a little bit less aggressively. We
punt a little bit more, we'd throw the ball a
little less, we'd run the ball a little more. We
(36:24):
would do different things within our offensive scheme to try
to compliment the other pieces. Because alls we were trying
to do was win that week. And I think what
a lot of people miss out on is Okay, you're
down this particular receiver, Well, what do we do well.
We're playing the Colts and they have a tremendous offense.
The first thought on our offense was, let's run the
(36:47):
ball a lot to try to minimize the amount of possessions.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
We'll give the ball to the Colts. Let's run the ball,
Let's control the clock.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
Let's try to win time of possession thirty five minutes
to twenty five minutes, because if they're not on the field,
they're not scoring. That's the best that's the best defense
we can play.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
And every week there was a different formula. The urgency
was there every week.
Speaker 7 (37:08):
By our coaching staff, and that was communicated to our
players about this is how we're going to win this week.
That's the most important thing, not what are we going
to do two weeks from now when other guys are healthier,
other guys are injured. But we don't know the strengths
and weakness of that opponent. But we're going to evaluate
the opponent we're going to play. We're going to see
their strengths we're going to see their weaknesses, we're going
(37:29):
to try to attack their weaknesses, and we're going to
try to mitigate their strengths in all three phases of
the game. That is an urgency that is probably missing,
you know, a lot in the NFL. There's probably three
or four teams that really do that, but most of
them don't do that. And that's why when you get
some injuries to a team, to one of those lesser teams,
(37:49):
well they are screwed because if they're slot receivers down,
or their tight ends down, or their quarterbacks, they're not
going to score points. And if they don't score points,
they're not going to win.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I'll wrap up with this.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Last week was one of the first weeks, maybe the
week before that, I watched football and I thought, good god,
this looks miserable.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
It looks so cold, it's snowing. It's awful.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I have this sinking suspicion that you actually liked cruddy
weather because you viewed it as an advantage because you
were a great lousy weather. Your ball, your hip movement,
you're a great crafty I've told you that Chicago game
in Soldier Field left sideline. I remember watching it thinking
that is a perfect cold weather throw. So when the
(38:30):
game looks miserable, were you sitting there on Wednesday, thinking, Uh,
Peyton's gonna be cold, he plays in the dome, I
can't wait?
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Did you like it?
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Absolutely?
Speaker 7 (38:41):
I looked at the weather more than anybody in the
history of the NFL. My weather app was on overdrive
during the football season, constantly looking at the conditions we
were playing in, the conditions that are other teams that
our conference were playing in. And because we were in
New England and we really never practiced inside, we got
so used to all the la elevents, we got used
to the wind. I had to really work hard to
(39:03):
throw a very tight spiral. I worked on my mechanics
incessantly so that I could drive the ball through the wind.
And the tighter the spiral was, the more it could
penetrate the wind. So I knew I had to throw
a tight spiral. I knew I had to keep my
body warm. And how was I going to keep my
body warm? How many layers was I going to wear?
You know, how many did I wear? The scuba suit?
If it was below twenty degrees? When did I put
(39:23):
it on? You just get so good because you practice
in it all year round. In the springtime, we'd go
back in April, we'd have forty five degree days in
the rain, we'd be outside working out. So you just
get accustomed to that environment. And now this time of
year in the NFL, in the Northeast and the Midwest,
you know, these outdoor games, they come down to weather
(39:45):
eighty percent of the time. So you better be good
in it and you better embrace it rather than see
it as a big disadvantage. And that's what we did.
We always saw as an advantage. The shittier the weather,
the better we are going to go out.
Speaker 5 (39:57):
There and play.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
By the way, the broadcasting thing, you're having fun. Listen,
I told you that. I said this off the air
to you. You asked me before your first game. It
said something like, listen, you're gonna be nervous. I should
have really said something nice. I was like, Tommy, you're
gonna be nervous for the first five minutes. And you're like, oh, thanks.
Really that really helped a lot.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Calling.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
But like it's I think broadcasting similar to football.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
It's just reps. It's like work reps.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
And I will just say this, are you enjoying it
as much as it appears you're enjoying it.
Speaker 7 (40:30):
Yeah, I could not have imagined it the transition being
any more fun and enjoyable than it's been. I have
the greatest team in the world, the greatest partner in
Kevin Burkhart, Aaron and Tom Dean Blandino up there with
me in the booth, the people that work with us,
our whole crew, our director, rich and Richie, our producer,
(40:52):
our whole crew, our graphics team, everybody in the truck,
our cameramen. We have so much fun. It is such
a team environment, and we give each other shit all day.
We laugh all day, you know, and we get to
cover football. And the only thing you want as a
broadcaster is a good game. I'm rooting for good game,
for good football. I want to see guys perform very well.
(41:14):
I want to see quarterbacks play well. I want to
see him read the defense. I want to see good blocks.
I want to see hard hits. I want the viewer
to really understand why this game is so fun to watch,
and then teach him a little bit along the way
about you know, different things that may come up, but
it's such an entertaining it's such an entertaining medium, and
I think I've really enjoyed it, and it's gone on.
(41:35):
You know, you continue to gain more confidence about what
your role is, and I just know our best is
yet to come.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Good seeing your always welcome, You know, I don't, they
asked me. I always tell management, I say, don't bother him.
He's busy, he's always welcome. But you know, you're always welcome.
So we just love having you on and I appreciate that.
Thanks Colin. Yeah, you do such a great job.
Speaker 7 (41:59):
You keep up the great on top of everything, and
it's it's amazing what you do every day.
Speaker 5 (42:04):
So keep up the great work yourself.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
All right, Thanks Tom, Yeah, it's thanks.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
You got broadcasting's fun. It is got a good cruise
here and.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I'll watched the Cold Well. I always said there was
always a piece of video.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
It was live. I was watching. It was on another
network and it was I lived on the other coast
and I was watching. It was New England.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
It was Brady against Peyton Manning and it was like
AFC Championship or something, and it was snowing in Foxboro. Therefore,
you know, it was an hour and a half away.
It was snowing at my house and it was just
one of those things. It was a big sandwich game,
big sandwich. I'm sitting watching TV for four hours and
Jim Nantz is getting ready, you know, he's, oh, well,
I got the kick Coffs coming up next. And they
(42:52):
show a picture of Peyton Manning snowing and he looks
so cold, and I'm sitting with a friend and I'm like,
game's over. New England's winning the game. I said, look
at Manning and it just looked like he was you know,
he's playing the Dome and it was cold. It was
Foxborough cold, and I'm like, that's bad body language, like
(43:13):
he's cold and now.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
And the Patriots did win that game, by the way,
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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