December 24, 2025 • 42 mins
Colin Cowherd shares the 2025 Pro Bowl rosters, specifically the top QBs from this year’s selections and what makes each of them elite.Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to tell Colin how Bears QB Caleb Williams is performing in Ben Johnson’s offense as they improve to 11-4 after a win over the Packers.Plus, Santa Cowherd hands out Christmas gifts to various stars in the NFL.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh what a Wednesday show. We have Christmas around the corner.
What an exciting time. NFL games tomorrow one hour from now.
We're bringing Greg co Sell in top of next hour
on a Wednesday to preview a very large and important
(00:47):
slate of NFL games. So good to be here. So
they name the Pro Bowl teams yesterday, and I want
to start with that. Once or twice a year, maybe
two or three times. I'll speak to a high school
or I'll speak to a college. And kids always ask
(01:08):
for advice in broadcasting, and my advice is, don't get
your head down. There's no one way to succeed. I mean,
Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates dropped out of college. Is that
great advice for young Texters? I don't know it was
for them. There is no one way to succeed. Just
(01:29):
be relentless and don't get discouraged. And I look at
the six Pro Bowl quarterbacks and I feel just the
same way would have been easy for Matt Stafford to
get discouraged. Let's look at all six. Start with the NFC.
Matt Stafford, beat up for years in Detroit, couldn't win
a playoff game, absolutely elite arm talent, and finally meets
(01:53):
his match, perfect match, Sean McVay. Then there's Dak Prescott,
not an elite arm talent, not even the great athlete,
medaling owner, but highly productive. Maybe has never had a
great coach. Stafford got one. I'm not sure DA's ever
had a great coach. He's had good coaches, but Dak's EQ,
(02:14):
Dak Prescott's IQ, overcoming injuries and the meddling owner, pro bowler.
Then there's Sam Darnold, Reclamation Project, second Pro Bowl, second
team in two years, Wildly athletic, big strong man, is
he aggressive? He throws some ugly picks? All three different stories.
(02:35):
AFC Josh Allen out of Wyoming, couldn't get a scholarship
dad sending tapes out. Goes to the Bills, a sad
franchise who needed a megastar, and he leans into all
his power. Then there's Justin Herbert. Did he make the
Pro Bowl because of his production?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
No?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
He made it. What he's overcoming worst offensive line according
to PFF. His leading rusher has three touchdowns. It's what
he's overcome, his toughness, been hit more than any quarterback
in the league. And then Drake May. Is he one
of the sixth best quarterbacks? Is Drake May one of
the six best quarterbacks? Well for his age twenty three,
(03:15):
he's way better than he should be, and he keeps
winning games, and he like leads the league in completion percentage.
Six different quarterbacks, all of them different skills. I mean,
Drake May and Justin Herbert are kind of similar, different conferences,
but they're all different guys, different environments, different avenues. Herbert's
(03:39):
had to overcome an atrocious O line, several bad coaches
before Jim Harbaugh, Josh Allen's got a defensive coach, Matt
Stafford's got a brilliant offensive coach. It's like, whenever I
look at the list like Forbes magazine, I'll have richest
people in the world. Elon Musk made it narrow Space,
Bernard or No made it in lux brands and Warren
(04:02):
Buffett made a stock market. There's no one path. But
what does matter is not getting discouraged. I mean, Justin
Herbert has been hit over one hundred and twenty times.
Very easy to say, I don't feel great. I'm going
to take this Sunday off. Matt Stafford no playoff wins
in Detroit, kept his head down. So when I look
(04:25):
at all these quarterbacks, just a huge component of success
for all these guys, here's the one thing they have
in common. Leadership and toughness. All of them have that.
Some have defensive coaches and I have offensive coaches. One guy,
Darnold's on his fifth team, Matt Stafford is almost forty,
and Drake May's twenty three. They're all over the map.
(04:49):
So here's my advice. Keep plugging away, don't get discouraged.
Relentless focused people who or good teammates. You'll succeed. Maybe
in your thirties, may have to wait to your forties,
may hit it rich at fifty four, but it'll work.
(05:09):
Here is Matt Hasselback earlier this week talking about two
guys the reclamation project, Darnald and the cagy veteran Stafford.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
That whole division.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Donald Stafford and I would even put the forty nine
ers in that group. That's those three teams right there.
They've gotten great quarterback play all season long and they
could stand up to anybody. And that's why all three
of those teams are still in play for the one
seed in the NFC.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Now there's one quarterback you're not seeing here, and the
headline I read this morning, I like this Bears quarterback
Caleb Williams Among Pro Bowl snubs, no timeout, timeout timeout
snub is pretty strong. Like Pulp Fiction did not win
Best Movie? Was it a snub? Well, there was Forrest
(06:00):
Gump and Shah Shank Redemption as a pretty good year.
We've had bad years. That's a pretty good year. That's
not a snub. He just lost out to other good movies.
All six quarterbacks that made the Pro Bowl have better
stats than Caleb. I mean, Donald's got a one on
one passer rating and Caleb's got an eighty nine. And
that's with a brilliant offensive coach. Donald's got a defensive guy.
(06:22):
Caleb's got a brilliant offensive coach. So if you want
to talk about a snub, and his whole career could
be termed a snub. It's Jared Goff in the same
division as Caleb. Jared Goff's got thirty two touchdowns, five picks,
a one oh nine passer rating. People are like, well,
you know, he doesn't run very well with a quarterback,
(06:44):
so that's a snub. But if you look at Caleb's numbers,
eighty nine passer rating, fifty eight percent completion percentage, twenty
three touchdowns, six picks, his greatest stat to be honest
with you, eleven wins four A lot of that is impressive.
And what's impressive is that at Chicago and they can't
(07:07):
get quarterback right Caleb Season, if you really wanted to
break it down to what it's been a couple of
things is fourth quarter comebacks and amazing individual plays. Wow plays.
So his movie's been okay, but man, there's been some
great scenes in it. So Caleb Season is a little
(07:29):
bit like m Night Shyamalan movies. For a big chunk
of it, you're like, I'm not really sure what's going
on here, and then the last eight minutes you're like, yeah,
I can't believe that ending who that thing was, it
really makes a lot of sense. Now I never doubted it.
What a great movie. You didn't get snubbed. Jared Goff
(07:52):
got snubbed. You could argue, but even Goff, he's not
as good in the pocket, I would argue, as Matt
Stafford and most of those guys pretty well, except Matt Stafford.
But again, Caleb Yester. I think the best part about
Caleb beyond the record, is that when Caleb came into
the league, my takeaway was, I know he's great. I
(08:13):
watched every college snap. Will Chicago screw it up? Green
Bay gets quarterbacks, the Bears get defense. Will the Bear
screw it up? Here's Caleb on the Pro Bowl. Snub
I get drafted here.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You know, told that I'm not a special player, told
that I'm not you know, a good fit here, told
that you know, coach and I won't work. I've told
you know I can't win here, and so you know,
I know that's going to keep going on. But you know,
I do take a little satisfaction and and things like that.
My goal isn't to just get to the playoffs. My
(08:51):
goal is to win and win and win big.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
You can hear you can hear it. He got a
little jet fuel, he got a little little chip on
the shoulder, which I like. In fairness to the media,
now some media may have said this. My take has
always been what Ben Johnson wants and what Caleb does
is not necessarily a perfect fit. Now I would say
(09:15):
McVeigh and Stafford isn't even a perfect fit because McVeigh
would love to move the pocket occasionally. It's just Stafford
is so damn good in the pocket they don't have to.
I mean, the Detroit coaches would love Jared Goff to
have some mobility. I don't think Ben and Caleb I'm
trying to think of perfect fit. I mean Andy Reid, Mahomes,
I guess. But the truth is Ben Johnson and Caleb
(09:39):
are both smart. They're both incredibly determined, and they're making
it work. And so I don't see it as a stump.
I see it as his story. His movie this year
has been about great finishes and great scenes first fifteen
(09:59):
minu It's has no always been Oscar worthy. So j
Mac I do love, though most of the young quarterbacks have.
I will say this, sports fans, over the course of
my life have gotten smarter because there's just more information.
So if you read at an average level, you know,
there's just more stuff out there. Sports betting is harder,
I think because the markets smarter. These young quarterbacks Hurts
(10:23):
and Dak and Caleb and Drake May, they are so
good at the podium. They are they know you know,
I mean, Caleb's kind of giving you that sly smile, going, well,
you know, I was told it wasn't gonna work here.
He didn't blast anybody, He just kind of put it
out there. I get a little satisfaction none of that.
These guys are not only schooled in football, they're schooled
(10:45):
at the podium, at the Cowherd school of podium. Put
the hat on forward and don't start forest fires here,
like like, bring the cooler, bring the temperature down. But
I thought Caleb, he did a little smile saying, yeah,
I was told it wasn't gonna work. What ever it
takes for you to be great on Saturday or Sunday.
I'm four.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
Yeah, easy to smile when you're ridding high and recovering
on sidekicks and getting lucky as heck to be nice.
I had the Bears last week. But you gotta be real,
it's easy when you're eleven and four. Let's see what
some when some adversity hits.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
How that there was a little adversity early in the season.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
But when they get lost to Detroit by thirty maybe yeah, yeah,
I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I mean there were some operational things they had to
clean up. I mean it wasn't pretty in the first
year one with Ben Johnson's try Yeah that's nice. Yeah,
that's good stuff, all right, Greg Cosell fifty minutes from now.
Can't wait for that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Pauli Foods gohead with Tony Foodsco.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning
Paully and Tony Foodsco Show.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (11:56):
But instead of us telling you how great we are,
here's how Dan Patrick described us when he came on
our show.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
What are you doing our promo? Yeah, he wasn't talking
about you. You took those clips totally of context.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Oh yeah, well, after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Let me put this into context.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Shut up.
Speaker 7 (12:19):
Yeah, anyway, just listening to the Paul and Tony Fusco
Show on iHeartRadio. Apple podcasts.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Ohereva you get your podcasts?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yee, Greg Cosel forty six years NFL films. Okay, let's
talk about somebody that's not hyper athletic. Philip Rivers, and
I think I think all of us who are I'm
over forty four, we can stop there. All of us
who are a little older watched Philip Rivers and it's
(12:45):
hard not to root for him.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Kyle Shanahan said, here's all I know. When we played him,
he always throws to the right guy. That's a little underrated.
Sometimes what do you see with on film?
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Just before we start, I just want you to know
call him that I can still shoot the three.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Just want to let you know that.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
And I'm older than fifty, so okay, But anyway, Philip River,
it just blows me away.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
The guy hasn't played in five years. He looks exactly
the same, you.
Speaker 8 (13:13):
Know, if you want to reduce quarterback into its simplest terms,
and obviously much goes in to being able to do
this correctly, but he throws it to the right receiver
at the right time, with the right kind of throw,
and he just sees the field and sometimes, and I
know you've talked about this, I'm sure many times in
all sports. He's just one of those guys that innately
(13:33):
sees the field the right way. And you know, it's
funny that last interception that he made, you know, the
one that was returned for a touchdown that put the
game away. It was one of those things where he
actually was too quick with his.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Reading of the coverage.
Speaker 8 (13:48):
He knew exactly what the coverage was, but he threw
it too quickly. So Winters, who was actually the flat
defender and cover three, he threw it so quickly that
he didn't give Winters a chance to get to his
flat responsibility, but he threw He is just it's remarkable
to me. I watch him and I'm totally in awe
(14:08):
of just how he sees it, how he gets rid
of the football. I mean, doesn't he look exactly the
same as he did, you know when he was playing
with the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
He was unathletic in his prime. So yes, I mean,
I mean I knew his GM Tooms Telesco, and Tom's
like his last year with the Chargers, He's like, yeah,
he's probably the least athletic quarterback in the league. He goes,
We've never really worried a lot about that, Like, that's
just not that's not what we lean into. Jared Goff's
not running around either, and he's thirty two t TD's
(14:37):
five picks.
Speaker 8 (14:38):
Like, I mean, it's you know what, you know what
it's like. It's like if you if you're impairing it
to another sport. It's kind of like, you know, the
joker in Denver. I mean, that guy. I've had people
tell me he may be the most unathletic player in
the NBA, and all.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
He does is is win MVPs every year.
Speaker 8 (14:53):
I mean it just some guys just see it, feel it,
know how to play, and it's very innate.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
It's in their DNA.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
All right, I want to talk Bears Niners play. I
was sort of taken back by the fact that Christian
McCaffrey had twenty seven touches. The Niners this year are
zero to four the week after he has at least
twenty seven touches. He had eight touches in the he
had eight touches in the fourth quarter. I look at
(15:21):
him and I'm like Okay, they are way too dependent
on him. But when you watch film, does that come across.
Speaker 8 (15:29):
Well, what comes across is how physical and hard a
runner he is. And it's an interesting point you made,
because he's just one of those guys. He's just Look,
he hasn't broken a lot of long runs this year,
and because of that, some people think he's lost his step.
But he runs so hard, and they use him in
the past game. I mean, obviously in the past game
(15:49):
they use him really well. He's a matchup nightmare. They
are very much a personnel and formation based offense, so
he lines up in multiple spots. Look you see him
here beating guys, beating linebackers. That first touchdown he call
when he beat Pratt, I mean, I think that's the
one where we just saw. You know, they use him
in multiple ways, and they are so good with the
(16:11):
use of motion. I'm sure when you watch them, you
see this motion and I wish I knew what they
called it, where Yuschek kind of lines up as a
tilted wing and then motions into the backfield and they
do about ten different things off of that.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I mean, they are very.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
Much a choreographed offense, you know, I was watching that
game and I got to tell you, and it was
almost a master class in two different ways of playing quarterback.
You had Rivers who's a pre snap master of the position.
He controls the game before the ball is snap. Then
you have Purdy who is a post snap operator. He
(16:47):
doesn't have anything to do with setting protections, changing protections.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
He's a post snap operator.
Speaker 8 (16:53):
So it's two different styles of quarterbacking and they both
play at a very high level.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Okay, Caleb Williams did it again?
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I mean I feel like I've asked you this question
a lot, but you know you can give me the
same result, but you can incrementally improve. Do you kind
of feel like the last eight weeks he's the same
guy or are these still these little tiny metric jumps,
little micro jumps, or do you feel to it it's
been established what he is.
Speaker 8 (17:21):
Well, you can always improve the mental part of the game.
And we're not in the building as they're coaching him
and they're working on that part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So that's hard to know.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
How Ben Johnson, who's obviously very good at designing a
pass offense with his use of formations, motions, shifts, route concepts,
so you can always improve and build upon that. That's
the mental part. But when you just.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Talk about the physical part of the.
Speaker 8 (17:48):
Game, I mean you're dealing with a guy that has
really high level physical traits.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I mean his ball, he just spins it.
Speaker 8 (17:54):
It's different than most guys will get to Justin Herbert
he's another guy like that, but Williams is like that.
He just spins it a little bit differently. He can
make unbelievable throws on the move. The ball comes out great.
I mean that winning touchdown throw was just ridiculous. I mean,
and we're looking at it now. I mean, you couldn't
have handed it to him any better. And that ball
(18:15):
was I don't know what's sixty yards in the air
and obviously bad weather. So you know, yeah, there's always
improvements to make, but he's clearly getting better. It's incremental
each week. When you see a great throw or a
great play, I don't think you're surprised because he's got
the physical traits to do it. And I'm sure if
Ben Jhonson was listening to our conversation, he could reel
(18:36):
off five things right away in which he needs to improve.
But that's typical he's only a second year player and
a first year player in the system. But it's obvious
what the physical traits are now.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
By the way, you were defending him early when he
was struggling a bit, you kept saying, and I don't
hear you say this much. You're like, all I know
is what I see, and what I see is like crazy, Yeah,
it's not so Yeah, I mean stuff I haven't seen before.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
Yeah, And there's no question we get caught up a
lot in when you see a guy make a play
that is a special play physically. I mean we saw
cam Warden make one of those plays this week, running
to his left and throwing the ball forty yards on
a line at the sideline.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
You know.
Speaker 8 (19:16):
I mean, there are quarterbacks that are capable of doing that.
Then there are quarterbacks as you mentioned, like a Rivers
or a Gop. They're not going to make those plays,
but they do other things at a really high level.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay, So Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence, you and I I loved him.
I got all because I love college football, so I got.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
All looked up on him.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And You're like, and I remember this very early, You're said,
you said, Josh Allen's way better. It's not close. And
I was like, okay, okay, okay, sure whatever. Well it's
obviously but it's obviously been established. But I will say
that some quarterbacks find the right mentor earlier.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Sure, And it.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Does feel like Liam Cohen has unlocked something. What does
the film say he is on locked with Trevor Lawrence?
Speaker 8 (20:02):
By the way, I'm used to yeah whatever. I got
a wife and two daughters. I get a lot of
yeah whatever. But the point is, the point is is
that I think what you see, number one, you're seeing
Lawrence play really decisively.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
So how does that come about?
Speaker 8 (20:16):
How does a quarterback go from sort of being stuck
too often in the pocket and not seeing it clearly
and not being decisive to being decisive? And You've talked
about this a lot. I talk about it all the
time because I'm such a big believer in coaching. So
how does that happen? What does it mean when we
say a guy is a good offensive coach? So it
starts with how he's taught. Then it gets down to
(20:37):
what you see when you watch tape. It comes down
to personnel formations, motions, shift, receiver splits, how you set
up routes so that the quarterback can be decisive.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Just being decisive.
Speaker 8 (20:49):
Doesn't come about because you say, hey, just drop back
and throw it. You have to feel good throwing the ball.
You have to feel like, hey, I know exactly where
I'm going to throw it based on this play call verse,
whatever the anticipated coverage would be, or if it's pure
progression when my reads take me through and all of
a sudden, Trevor Lawrence looks really decisive throwing the football.
(21:11):
So it's a combination of he's got obviously pretty good
trades and the fact that Liam Cohen really does a
good job because don't forget, he came from the Rams.
So it's a lot of the Sean McVay stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So a lot of teams in the NFL, there's a
part of the team, like the Texans defense that jumps
off the film. Seattle has a lot of speed everywhere.
Is it the Seahawks offense or the Seahawks defense. When
you watch the film that you are going, Wow, that
feels that's better than what I see on most pieces
(21:47):
of film.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Well, you know, it's funny you say that, because in
the summer I said to people that I thought the
Seahawks would have a really good defense, so I'm not surprised.
Now Again, I didn't know how nick A min Wari
would fit into this, and right now he's sort of
the poster child for the concept of big nickel, which
a lot of teams play, where they play three safeties
instead of a third linebacker, and that becomes essentially both
(22:10):
their base and their nickel defense. And m and Wari
has been such a critical piece of what they do.
But their defense has played exceptionally well. They're not a
high percentage blitz defense, but when they do, the principles
and the concepts are really good. They've got a lot
of players. You know, one thing I always notice. You
notice this with quarterbacks in particular, but I notice it
(22:31):
with other positions.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
When you see a backup go in the game.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
Colin have to play meaningful snaps over let's say four
or five six game period, and there appears to be
no drop off at all in the play of that
position and the play of the entire defense. That tells
me anyway that the coaching staff does a great job.
And we saw that in Seattle when Julian Love got
hurt and they had to play Tayo Katta number thirty nine,
(22:55):
and he played really good football. So that tells me
that it's being coached really, really well. And that's what
you see when you watch this defense. And of course
they do have really good players. Byron Murphy's come on
in his second year. Lennard Williams is a multi positional
d lineman, Ernest Jones is a really good linebacker, So
you know they are really good. I would say that
(23:16):
their defense stands out to me more than their offense.
I'm not surprised by their passing game. I think they
want their run game to be more than it is.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
All Right, Eagles Bills is a headline game. I want
to really concentrate on the Eagles over the last two games.
Sakuon Barkley. Last week it looked like last year. Have
they tweaked anything or is it bad competition?
Speaker 8 (23:39):
Well, I think last week, in particular, their old line
played very well.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
It was the first game where I thought.
Speaker 8 (23:44):
Their old line really moved people the way they did
a year ago. And because of that, I thought Barkley
was the most decisive that he's been all season consistently.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
You know, not just with one run here and there,
but consistently.
Speaker 8 (23:57):
I thought he felt far more comfortable with what he'sad saw.
I thought his patience, his vision, and then the short
area burst was there. I mean, people may be surprised
that over the last three games Barkley has the most
carries in the NFL and the most ten plus yard runs.
That would probably surprise a lot of people. And I
think what they're doing on offense, and I think they'll
(24:19):
continue doing this, and I think it makes sense against
Buffalo for sure, is a lot more no huddle and
a lot more empty.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Sets, which really clears up the picture.
Speaker 8 (24:28):
And the reason I think it's a good thing to
do against Buffalo is because Sean McDermott is one of
the best in the league in terms of late coverage rotation,
changing the picture pre snap to post snap, and when
you go no huddle and empty it's harder to do that.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Defensively.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, anything you see with Buffalo in this matchup with Philadelphia,
anything their offense is doing that's different.
Speaker 8 (24:51):
I mean, they're going to run the ball obviously. They
look we don't have to guess this, Colin. They told
you by the fact that they had Keon Coleman and
Gabe Davis as healthy scratches last week.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
We don't have to guess this.
Speaker 8 (25:05):
They're telling you they're really not comfortable with their wide
receiver position. They're clearly a tight end based passing game.
I think if they can avoid as good as Josh
Allen is, and we know he's great, that's not my
point at all, but as great as he is, I
think they feel that the best way for them to
play on offense is to be able to run the
ball with sustainability and consistency. That they just don't have
(25:29):
enough on the perimeter to really have him drop back
forty times a game and unlus the game demands it,
which of course we've seen games that demand it, and
he's been great because he's Josh Allen. But I don't
think that's the way they want to play by choice.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So Texans Chargers. I'm an understood USC homer, but I
remember talking to people in the league and saying, I'm
telling you Woody Marks is special, and when he doesn't play,
the Texans offense dries up really fast. I want to
talk about their defense. Yeah, against they play the Chargers
(26:04):
this week, and the Chargers all line, Yeah, I look
at that and I think Okay, we got to get
a cape for Herbert because there's a bad matchup. Let's
talk a little bit about what you see with the
Texans in the face the Chargers the matchup.
Speaker 8 (26:18):
Look, and you and I both know that Jim Harbaugh
and Greg Rowman and that staff know that that's a mismatch.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
They know that.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
Now, that doesn't mean that every play they can control it,
because there are some plays where you know, what, Will
Anderson's going to beat somebody, or Daniel Hunter is going
to beat somebody, or even inside where they have very
good d tackles. But the Chargers staff knows that they're overmatched.
So I'm very curious to see how they go about
dealing with that because it's obvious everybody knows they're overmatched.
(26:46):
But Herbert has been playing at a really high level.
I mean, they've got four really good receivers. Okay, I
mean Trey Harris, the rookie from Ole Miss has really
come on. He plays meaningful snaps. They will play big people, they.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Will get physical go you know.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
So they're a team that can can attack you in
multiple ways on offense. Now, whether their old line is
an issue in the game and prevents them from running
what they want to run.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
That remains to be seen.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
But they are a pretty diverse offense with a lot
of good players other than their O line, and you know,
so it's hard to know, quite frankly, how that's going
to play out in this game.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
It does justin Herbert have a weakness.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I don't really think he does.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
I mean, look, I think if you talk to people
in the league, they would tell you that he's one
of those guys you know, I mean the guys I've
been around him. You've probably seen him in person too.
I mean, he's a legit six five sixty six. He's
a legit two thirty five, two forty. I mean the
play we're going to show by the way, you know,
you hear all the time people say, well, your few
quarterbacks can make that throw. Normally, when people say that,
(27:51):
it's a bunch of garbage. But you know, there are
certain throws that are just wow throws. And he made
one last week and we should just go to it
because it's this is a throw.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I mean when I saw watching the tape, because I probably.
Speaker 8 (28:03):
Saw it live too, But you know, when you're watching
it on Sunday, you're watching one hundred plays and they
just kind of roll over you. But when I'm watching
the tape and I saw this, I was like, WHOA.
So this was, you know, obviously last week and it
was a fifty yard completion. So you're going to see
Herbert's in the gun here and it's going to be
trips to the wide side of the field. And the
two receivers that we want to take note of are
(28:24):
Johnston on the outside and mconkie in the slot. Now,
the safety in the linebacker on the defensive side of
the ball are important here because what's going to happen here,
and we're seeing this more and more in the league,
is what we call late coverage rotation, changing the picture.
The safety will drop deep as a half field player,
and the linebacker will drop as a middle hole defender.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
They're going to play Cover two.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
So now what you're going to see that corner because
it's Cover two. He's not going to drop to that
second box. He doesn't drop deep because he's a flat
defender in Cover two.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So now let's go to the route concept.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
It's going to be two verticals by Johnston and McConkie,
which is a very good concept against Cover two. Now
they may not have known they were going to get
cover two, but this is a good concept. So let's
watch it map out as we play it out. So
what's going to happen is the safety kind of becomes
the conflict player here because you're getting two verticals and
he's a deep half player. And remember the corner on
(29:20):
the outside is not going to drop deep because it's
cover two. He's an underneath player, so he's not going
to carry Johnston. So now what you're going to get
is they actually do a great job on defense, the
safety and the linebacker passing off McConkie, and the safety
does a good job at Herbert is going to climb
the pocket here, So now he's going to make this
(29:41):
whole shot throw late. This is a ridiculous throw. The
safety can't get there. It's such a good throw, and
when you see it from another angle, you're just going
to see. Like I said, you know, I'm not going
to sit here and say, gee, no one else can
make this throw. But the key thing here to me
is he sees this as a viable thing.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I talk about this all the time.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
One of the things that there's no metric for, or
there's no stat for is throws that should be made
that aren made, and throws that are that quarterbacks see
as viable throws because not every quarterback would see that
as a viable throw because they know they're not comfortable
making it. Obviously, Herbert can make any throw.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah, he is special. Texans, Chargers, Eagles, Bills, Niners, Bears.
There are some great matchups. Greg is a really happy Holidays.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Thanks con same to you. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter n a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Monday night on FS one, it's a college hoops triple header,
starting with number nine Michigan State hosting Cornell. Then it's
Big Ten Women's hoops as six Fran Michigan take John
Oregon Oregon. Then out West it's you, It's all versus Washington.
It all tips off at seven pm Eastern only on
FS one.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well, it is the giving season, and it's always better
to be a giver, not a taker, and so I
thought I'd hand out a foo a few I don't know,
Gridirn gifts some NFL stocking stuffers. Jamack are you ready,
you give me ready, my friend worn ready? All right?
Go ahead, all right, Colin, First up?
Speaker 6 (31:27):
What's your gift for Bills quarterback Josh Allen?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Well, he has scored thirty seven of the fifty two touchdowns.
How about a thra gun pro massage gun to sue
those sore muscles that have helped carry your franchise to
each and every win seventy one percent of offensive touchdowns
Buffalo has scored seventy one percent by Josh Allen? All right?
Speaker 6 (31:53):
What's your gift for Patriots quarterback.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Drake May Eleven games with one hundred plus passer rating
tie for the most in the league. How about a
lousy T shirt? Drake can't go home and MP handed
this year, so I got him. Ay, I played an
MVP worthy season, but all I got was this lousy
T shirt. Second best odds after Stafford at twenty three
(32:15):
years old to win an MVP.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
All right?
Speaker 6 (32:20):
What's your gift for Jets coach Aaron Glenn.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Inn Osha bulldozer certification? J Mack to your beloved Jets.
This franchise is as stable as a Jenga tower. Time
to tear it down and rebuild already?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Oh, What the heck is that? All right?
Speaker 6 (32:41):
What's your gift for Philip Rivers and the Colts?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
How about his own NFL franchise? I mean Rivers and
his ten kids. That's a starting eleven. I've already got
him eighth in my herd hierarchy. The best family in
the NFL, the Philip Rivers family deserve their own franchise.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Okay, what do you give it? Travis Kelcey of the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
You know, I thought a lot about this, so you did.
I'm gonna give Travis Kelcey a joint custody agreement for
the future, mister Taylor Swift, And the reason being is
that way mahomes can still have you on weekends.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
Oh wow, I like that.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
What's your gift for Jackson Dart? I'm going to give
Jackson Dart, who I like, a Fisher Price playground. I
know he's twenty two, but you're not too old for this.
Spend some time learning how to slide. Learn how to slide? Listen,
five trips to the medical tent. Learn how to slide?
Speaker 6 (33:39):
Bro I like the hat backwards in that as well.
What's your gift for Caleb Williams?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
This is easy? Las Vegas residency. I mean, he may
be the new King of Chicago, but he puts on
a Bruno Mars level show every week. Caleb Williams, Baby,
he is getting his own resident see in Vegas.
Speaker 6 (34:01):
Well, all right, what are you giving your man crush
Jared Goff?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
How about a digital photo album so he can relive
all the great memories he had with Ben Johnson. It's
been a rough season. Wow, that's ours.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
And finally, be careful here, what are you giving my
guy Brock Purdie.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Well, I thought about this, Jaymac, and you have been
one of his most ardent supporters. I'm giving him a
gift certificate to two to mastros So Jmack and Brock
pretty get table, white tablecloths talk endlessly about their favorite
person me two for dinner, taken Champagne, our stocking stuffers.
(34:54):
So the story of the day which emerged it emerged
today about halfway through the first hour is according to
Mike Preston, who's a very good, very serious, very respected
reporter for the Baltimore Ravens. Now, remember this is something
(35:14):
you know, and I know stuff gets out when somebody
wants it out. Why did this story suddenly get out.
Lamar Jackson had a pretty disappointing last five or six weeks.
Right this year not been good. Banged up comes back
(35:38):
that he has fallen asleep in meetings playing video games
at night. They moved their practices to mid afternoon because
Lamar doesn't like early morning practice. That when they do
criticize him, he shrinks, he would draws. He doesn't like criticism.
And jamac brought this up, and I think both of
(35:59):
us have always thought he's reading. I've always thought he's
better in the pocket that he was given credit for
is a rookie year. He is more runner than thrower.
But he's gotten pretty good at that is. His cap
hit next year is massive, twenty four percent. That is ungodly.
His cap hit next year is twenty four percent of
the Ravens cap bo Nick's Denver one point seven percent,
(36:21):
Caleb Williams three point six percent. That is unbelievable. Your
hands are tight as a GM, your hands are tight
as a coach. If you have injuries, you're down to
third stringers. So there are some quotes here in the
article that will put up I am a fan of
Lamar Jackson. One of the quotes a major problem. A
(36:42):
lot of it on the Ravens is that there are
team rules and then there are rules for Jackson. Well,
I'll defend him a little there. Once the Ravens become
critical of him, he becomes more withdrawn. It's clear the
coach Harbaugh has become tired of Jackson. Nick Wright, for
the record, has been on this for a lot of
the year, and Mike Preston is a very respected guy,
(37:04):
so you know the injuries are piling up next. He's
always been hyper athletic. Now Mahomes and Josh Allen are
athletic too, but they're also unbelievable all time guys in
the pocket. Lamar is good in the pocket. But he
really his secret sauce has always been he's the most
elusive quarterback, the fastest quarterback I've ever seen. It's hard
(37:25):
to even put two or three guys in the history
of football in his class. And that's his secret sauce.
And it's not that big of a secret. He's just
hard to prepare for. Always dominated the NFC teams which
don't see him very often. If you see him for
a first time, it's just hard to comprehend how elusive
he is. So but now the injuries are piling up.
He's a massive cap hit. He's withdrawing when there's criticism
(37:46):
his window. And you know the NFL, you know in
basketball and baseball and mostly in hockey, you're not being tackled.
So you know, for offensive players, a lot of these
offensive skill players, your windows are quick. Cam Newton's last
great year twenty nine, Cam was a better athlete than
he was a sit in the pocket, pre snap audible guy.
(38:06):
He was just an absolutely mammoth great athlete. He aged
very fast. Big Ben to me aged fast. Aaron Rodgers
forty two, still slick because Aaron's great in the pocket.
Stafford Brady Breeze.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
So he is.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I do think he has now become the kind of
quarterback that is still Pro Bowl level in his best years.
But is he somebody that the Ravens would take a
call on. Now, let me throw another quarterback out. Joe Burrow. Okay,
I would never take a call on Joe Burrow, but
after his third injury, I'd take a call. I would
(38:47):
not take a call on Drake may Justin, Herbert, Patrick Mahomes,
Josh Allen. I wouldn't take a call on Boonix and
Caleb right now, because they're such small percentages of the
cap and they're very good young quarterbacks. I'm not taking
a call, but there's always about six or seven guys.
Lamar was one of them. You just don't even pick
up the phone. I think he's moved it into the
group of the next six or seven.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
So Colin, I was just digging into, like we've talked
about this all week, the cap situation. Right, so once
you pay Lamar, you have to get ready and say, hey,
we got to move off these guys. With the Chiefs
and Mahomes, they lose their offensive line. You see the
result this year. I was just looking so Baltimore essentially
coming into the season bet on a twenty twenty two
to fourth rounder and a twenty twenty three seventh rounder
(39:28):
on their offensive line because they could not afford Morgan
Moses John Simsimms's right, good call. Those young guys in
the draft did not pan out, right, You only get
a couple.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Swings in the draft.
Speaker 6 (39:40):
So when the offensive line doesn't work and Lamar is injured,
all of a sudden, you've got like nothing, and that
we saw it with the Chiefs. I'm just really curious
what's gonna happen with that offensive line on the Bengals.
It already isn't great. Borrow got hurt again.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I mean, if you're the Miami Dolphins of the Raiders,
do you not make a call? Oh?
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Of course you do.
Speaker 6 (39:59):
I would not be surprised if already calls were not made. Now,
we don't know what about the Dolphins with their GM situation.
They ran him off. But if i'm McDaniel, I'm like, guys,
Lamar jack you could be Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
You got to keep me.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
I think that helps McDaniel's cause.
Speaker 6 (40:14):
Raiders are interesting because if you get the chance to
coach Lamar. I mean, I don't think they keep Pete Carroll. Sorry,
I know you guys are friendly. I don't see that happening,
But yeah, I would. I would probably trade that number
one or number two pick of Mendoza and en roll
with Lamar if I was the Raiders. They need to
sell tickets.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
They want to be on television. You know they're not
getting any prime time games.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
No.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
And here's the thing, folks, I've never understood this criticism
of people. New information equals new opinion. Period, we didn't
know this we didn't know what was going on. Teams
trying to hide this stuff. So why does it get out?
Because the Ravens want it out. That's why stuff get top.
(40:59):
We've all had secrets in a life that don't get out.
You know, Companies don't want them out right, when stuff leaks,
it's because they want it out. And I mean, we
find out a lot of stuff during the Belichick Brady
era that didn't get out until there was a divorce
between Brady and Belichick. And then Seth Wickersham writes a book,
you know, Connor writes a book, Jeff Benedict, and then
(41:21):
all the books come out, you know, as the relationship
gets worn down in the last couple of years together,
and then eventually, you know, Brady goes to Tampa. So
I think when when stuff gets out, there's there's people that,
you know, because some of this is Harbaugh's getting ripped,
Harpball's getting criticized, the front office is getting criticized, and
they're like front office in Baltimore, it's not us. It's
(41:44):
not all us, guys, time out, it is not all us.
So Mike Preston's a very good reporter and during the
breaks We've been kind of going back and forth on
this story, and I think, yeah, I think you get
new information and you're literally rigid, stubborn and dumb if
you're getting information and not using it. It's like George
(42:06):
Pickens in week seven, Oh my god, this is amazing.
George Pickens in week thirteen, always pouting new information, adjust
to it. So this is a massive story from one
of the top three or four or five quarterbacks in
this league the last several years. Hour three on a Wednesday,
coming up
Thanks for listening to 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 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh what a Wednesday show. We have Christmas around the corner.
What an exciting time. NFL games tomorrow one hour from now.
We're bringing Greg co Sell in top of next hour
on a Wednesday to preview a very large and important
(00:47):
slate of NFL games. So good to be here. So
they name the Pro Bowl teams yesterday, and I want
to start with that. Once or twice a year, maybe
two or three times. I'll speak to a high school
or I'll speak to a college. And kids always ask
(01:08):
for advice in broadcasting, and my advice is, don't get
your head down. There's no one way to succeed. I mean,
Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates dropped out of college. Is that
great advice for young Texters? I don't know it was
for them. There is no one way to succeed. Just
(01:29):
be relentless and don't get discouraged. And I look at
the six Pro Bowl quarterbacks and I feel just the
same way would have been easy for Matt Stafford to
get discouraged. Let's look at all six. Start with the NFC.
Matt Stafford, beat up for years in Detroit, couldn't win
a playoff game, absolutely elite arm talent, and finally meets
(01:53):
his match, perfect match, Sean McVay. Then there's Dak Prescott,
not an elite arm talent, not even the great athlete,
medaling owner, but highly productive. Maybe has never had a
great coach. Stafford got one. I'm not sure DA's ever
had a great coach. He's had good coaches, but Dak's EQ,
(02:14):
Dak Prescott's IQ, overcoming injuries and the meddling owner, pro bowler.
Then there's Sam Darnold, Reclamation Project, second Pro Bowl, second
team in two years, Wildly athletic, big strong man, is
he aggressive? He throws some ugly picks? All three different stories.
(02:35):
AFC Josh Allen out of Wyoming, couldn't get a scholarship
dad sending tapes out. Goes to the Bills, a sad
franchise who needed a megastar, and he leans into all
his power. Then there's Justin Herbert. Did he make the
Pro Bowl because of his production?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
No?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
He made it. What he's overcoming worst offensive line according
to PFF. His leading rusher has three touchdowns. It's what
he's overcome, his toughness, been hit more than any quarterback
in the league. And then Drake May. Is he one
of the sixth best quarterbacks? Is Drake May one of
the six best quarterbacks? Well for his age twenty three,
(03:15):
he's way better than he should be, and he keeps
winning games, and he like leads the league in completion percentage.
Six different quarterbacks, all of them different skills. I mean,
Drake May and Justin Herbert are kind of similar, different conferences,
but they're all different guys, different environments, different avenues. Herbert's
(03:39):
had to overcome an atrocious O line, several bad coaches
before Jim Harbaugh, Josh Allen's got a defensive coach, Matt
Stafford's got a brilliant offensive coach. It's like, whenever I
look at the list like Forbes magazine, I'll have richest
people in the world. Elon Musk made it narrow Space,
Bernard or No made it in lux brands and Warren
(04:02):
Buffett made a stock market. There's no one path. But
what does matter is not getting discouraged. I mean, Justin
Herbert has been hit over one hundred and twenty times.
Very easy to say, I don't feel great. I'm going
to take this Sunday off. Matt Stafford no playoff wins
in Detroit, kept his head down. So when I look
(04:25):
at all these quarterbacks, just a huge component of success
for all these guys, here's the one thing they have
in common. Leadership and toughness. All of them have that.
Some have defensive coaches and I have offensive coaches. One guy,
Darnold's on his fifth team, Matt Stafford is almost forty,
and Drake May's twenty three. They're all over the map.
(04:49):
So here's my advice. Keep plugging away, don't get discouraged.
Relentless focused people who or good teammates. You'll succeed. Maybe
in your thirties, may have to wait to your forties,
may hit it rich at fifty four, but it'll work.
(05:09):
Here is Matt Hasselback earlier this week talking about two
guys the reclamation project, Darnald and the cagy veteran Stafford.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
That whole division.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Donald Stafford and I would even put the forty nine
ers in that group. That's those three teams right there.
They've gotten great quarterback play all season long and they
could stand up to anybody. And that's why all three
of those teams are still in play for the one
seed in the NFC.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Now there's one quarterback you're not seeing here, and the
headline I read this morning, I like this Bears quarterback
Caleb Williams Among Pro Bowl snubs, no timeout, timeout timeout
snub is pretty strong. Like Pulp Fiction did not win
Best Movie? Was it a snub? Well, there was Forrest
(06:00):
Gump and Shah Shank Redemption as a pretty good year.
We've had bad years. That's a pretty good year. That's
not a snub. He just lost out to other good movies.
All six quarterbacks that made the Pro Bowl have better
stats than Caleb. I mean, Donald's got a one on
one passer rating and Caleb's got an eighty nine. And
that's with a brilliant offensive coach. Donald's got a defensive guy.
(06:22):
Caleb's got a brilliant offensive coach. So if you want
to talk about a snub, and his whole career could
be termed a snub. It's Jared Goff in the same
division as Caleb. Jared Goff's got thirty two touchdowns, five picks,
a one oh nine passer rating. People are like, well,
you know, he doesn't run very well with a quarterback,
(06:44):
so that's a snub. But if you look at Caleb's numbers,
eighty nine passer rating, fifty eight percent completion percentage, twenty
three touchdowns, six picks, his greatest stat to be honest
with you, eleven wins four A lot of that is impressive.
And what's impressive is that at Chicago and they can't
(07:07):
get quarterback right Caleb Season, if you really wanted to
break it down to what it's been a couple of
things is fourth quarter comebacks and amazing individual plays. Wow plays.
So his movie's been okay, but man, there's been some
great scenes in it. So Caleb Season is a little
(07:29):
bit like m Night Shyamalan movies. For a big chunk
of it, you're like, I'm not really sure what's going
on here, and then the last eight minutes you're like, yeah,
I can't believe that ending who that thing was, it
really makes a lot of sense. Now I never doubted it.
What a great movie. You didn't get snubbed. Jared Goff
(07:52):
got snubbed. You could argue, but even Goff, he's not
as good in the pocket, I would argue, as Matt
Stafford and most of those guys pretty well, except Matt Stafford.
But again, Caleb Yester. I think the best part about
Caleb beyond the record, is that when Caleb came into
the league, my takeaway was, I know he's great. I
(08:13):
watched every college snap. Will Chicago screw it up? Green
Bay gets quarterbacks, the Bears get defense. Will the Bear
screw it up? Here's Caleb on the Pro Bowl. Snub
I get drafted here.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You know, told that I'm not a special player, told
that I'm not you know, a good fit here, told
that you know, coach and I won't work. I've told
you know I can't win here, and so you know,
I know that's going to keep going on. But you know,
I do take a little satisfaction and and things like that.
My goal isn't to just get to the playoffs. My
(08:51):
goal is to win and win and win big.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
You can hear you can hear it. He got a
little jet fuel, he got a little little chip on
the shoulder, which I like. In fairness to the media,
now some media may have said this. My take has
always been what Ben Johnson wants and what Caleb does
is not necessarily a perfect fit. Now I would say
(09:15):
McVeigh and Stafford isn't even a perfect fit because McVeigh
would love to move the pocket occasionally. It's just Stafford
is so damn good in the pocket they don't have to.
I mean, the Detroit coaches would love Jared Goff to
have some mobility. I don't think Ben and Caleb I'm
trying to think of perfect fit. I mean Andy Reid, Mahomes,
I guess. But the truth is Ben Johnson and Caleb
(09:39):
are both smart. They're both incredibly determined, and they're making
it work. And so I don't see it as a stump.
I see it as his story. His movie this year
has been about great finishes and great scenes first fifteen
(09:59):
minu It's has no always been Oscar worthy. So j
Mac I do love, though most of the young quarterbacks have.
I will say this, sports fans, over the course of
my life have gotten smarter because there's just more information.
So if you read at an average level, you know,
there's just more stuff out there. Sports betting is harder,
I think because the markets smarter. These young quarterbacks Hurts
(10:23):
and Dak and Caleb and Drake May, they are so
good at the podium. They are they know you know,
I mean, Caleb's kind of giving you that sly smile, going, well,
you know, I was told it wasn't gonna work here.
He didn't blast anybody, He just kind of put it
out there. I get a little satisfaction none of that.
These guys are not only schooled in football, they're schooled
(10:45):
at the podium, at the Cowherd school of podium. Put
the hat on forward and don't start forest fires here,
like like, bring the cooler, bring the temperature down. But
I thought Caleb, he did a little smile saying, yeah,
I was told it wasn't gonna work. What ever it
takes for you to be great on Saturday or Sunday.
I'm four.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
Yeah, easy to smile when you're ridding high and recovering
on sidekicks and getting lucky as heck to be nice.
I had the Bears last week. But you gotta be real,
it's easy when you're eleven and four. Let's see what
some when some adversity hits.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
How that there was a little adversity early in the season.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
But when they get lost to Detroit by thirty maybe yeah, yeah,
I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I mean there were some operational things they had to
clean up. I mean it wasn't pretty in the first
year one with Ben Johnson's try Yeah that's nice. Yeah,
that's good stuff, all right, Greg Cosell fifty minutes from now.
Can't wait for that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Pauli Foods gohead with Tony Foodsco.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning
Paully and Tony Foodsco Show.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (11:56):
But instead of us telling you how great we are,
here's how Dan Patrick described us when he came on
our show.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
What are you doing our promo? Yeah, he wasn't talking
about you. You took those clips totally of context.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Oh yeah, well, after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Let me put this into context.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Shut up.
Speaker 7 (12:19):
Yeah, anyway, just listening to the Paul and Tony Fusco
Show on iHeartRadio. Apple podcasts.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Ohereva you get your podcasts?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yee, Greg Cosel forty six years NFL films. Okay, let's
talk about somebody that's not hyper athletic. Philip Rivers, and
I think I think all of us who are I'm
over forty four, we can stop there. All of us
who are a little older watched Philip Rivers and it's
(12:45):
hard not to root for him.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Kyle Shanahan said, here's all I know. When we played him,
he always throws to the right guy. That's a little underrated.
Sometimes what do you see with on film?
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Just before we start, I just want you to know
call him that I can still shoot the three.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Just want to let you know that.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
And I'm older than fifty, so okay, But anyway, Philip River,
it just blows me away.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
The guy hasn't played in five years. He looks exactly
the same, you.
Speaker 8 (13:13):
Know, if you want to reduce quarterback into its simplest terms,
and obviously much goes in to being able to do
this correctly, but he throws it to the right receiver
at the right time, with the right kind of throw,
and he just sees the field and sometimes, and I
know you've talked about this, I'm sure many times in
all sports. He's just one of those guys that innately
(13:33):
sees the field the right way. And you know, it's
funny that last interception that he made, you know, the
one that was returned for a touchdown that put the
game away. It was one of those things where he
actually was too quick with his.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Reading of the coverage.
Speaker 8 (13:48):
He knew exactly what the coverage was, but he threw
it too quickly. So Winters, who was actually the flat
defender and cover three, he threw it so quickly that
he didn't give Winters a chance to get to his
flat responsibility, but he threw He is just it's remarkable
to me. I watch him and I'm totally in awe
(14:08):
of just how he sees it, how he gets rid
of the football. I mean, doesn't he look exactly the
same as he did, you know when he was playing
with the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
He was unathletic in his prime. So yes, I mean,
I mean I knew his GM Tooms Telesco, and Tom's
like his last year with the Chargers, He's like, yeah,
he's probably the least athletic quarterback in the league. He goes,
We've never really worried a lot about that, Like, that's
just not that's not what we lean into. Jared Goff's
not running around either, and he's thirty two t TD's
(14:37):
five picks.
Speaker 8 (14:38):
Like, I mean, it's you know what, you know what
it's like. It's like if you if you're impairing it
to another sport. It's kind of like, you know, the
joker in Denver. I mean, that guy. I've had people
tell me he may be the most unathletic player in
the NBA, and all.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
He does is is win MVPs every year.
Speaker 8 (14:53):
I mean it just some guys just see it, feel it,
know how to play, and it's very innate.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
It's in their DNA.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
All right, I want to talk Bears Niners play. I
was sort of taken back by the fact that Christian
McCaffrey had twenty seven touches. The Niners this year are
zero to four the week after he has at least
twenty seven touches. He had eight touches in the he
had eight touches in the fourth quarter. I look at
(15:21):
him and I'm like Okay, they are way too dependent
on him. But when you watch film, does that come across.
Speaker 8 (15:29):
Well, what comes across is how physical and hard a
runner he is. And it's an interesting point you made,
because he's just one of those guys. He's just Look,
he hasn't broken a lot of long runs this year,
and because of that, some people think he's lost his step.
But he runs so hard, and they use him in
the past game. I mean, obviously in the past game
(15:49):
they use him really well. He's a matchup nightmare. They
are very much a personnel and formation based offense, so
he lines up in multiple spots. Look you see him
here beating guys, beating linebackers. That first touchdown he call
when he beat Pratt, I mean, I think that's the
one where we just saw. You know, they use him
in multiple ways, and they are so good with the
(16:11):
use of motion. I'm sure when you watch them, you
see this motion and I wish I knew what they
called it, where Yuschek kind of lines up as a
tilted wing and then motions into the backfield and they
do about ten different things off of that.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I mean, they are very.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
Much a choreographed offense, you know, I was watching that
game and I got to tell you, and it was
almost a master class in two different ways of playing quarterback.
You had Rivers who's a pre snap master of the position.
He controls the game before the ball is snap. Then
you have Purdy who is a post snap operator. He
(16:47):
doesn't have anything to do with setting protections, changing protections.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
He's a post snap operator.
Speaker 8 (16:53):
So it's two different styles of quarterbacking and they both
play at a very high level.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Okay, Caleb Williams did it again?
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I mean I feel like I've asked you this question
a lot, but you know you can give me the
same result, but you can incrementally improve. Do you kind
of feel like the last eight weeks he's the same
guy or are these still these little tiny metric jumps,
little micro jumps, or do you feel to it it's
been established what he is.
Speaker 8 (17:21):
Well, you can always improve the mental part of the game.
And we're not in the building as they're coaching him
and they're working on that part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So that's hard to know.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
How Ben Johnson, who's obviously very good at designing a
pass offense with his use of formations, motions, shifts, route concepts,
so you can always improve and build upon that. That's
the mental part. But when you just.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Talk about the physical part of the.
Speaker 8 (17:48):
Game, I mean you're dealing with a guy that has
really high level physical traits.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I mean his ball, he just spins it.
Speaker 8 (17:54):
It's different than most guys will get to Justin Herbert
he's another guy like that, but Williams is like that.
He just spins it a little bit differently. He can
make unbelievable throws on the move. The ball comes out great.
I mean that winning touchdown throw was just ridiculous. I mean,
and we're looking at it now. I mean, you couldn't
have handed it to him any better. And that ball
(18:15):
was I don't know what's sixty yards in the air
and obviously bad weather. So you know, yeah, there's always
improvements to make, but he's clearly getting better. It's incremental
each week. When you see a great throw or a
great play, I don't think you're surprised because he's got
the physical traits to do it. And I'm sure if
Ben Jhonson was listening to our conversation, he could reel
(18:36):
off five things right away in which he needs to improve.
But that's typical he's only a second year player and
a first year player in the system. But it's obvious
what the physical traits are now.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
By the way, you were defending him early when he
was struggling a bit, you kept saying, and I don't
hear you say this much. You're like, all I know
is what I see, and what I see is like crazy, Yeah,
it's not so Yeah, I mean stuff I haven't seen before.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
Yeah, And there's no question we get caught up a
lot in when you see a guy make a play
that is a special play physically. I mean we saw
cam Warden make one of those plays this week, running
to his left and throwing the ball forty yards on
a line at the sideline.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
You know.
Speaker 8 (19:16):
I mean, there are quarterbacks that are capable of doing that.
Then there are quarterbacks as you mentioned, like a Rivers
or a Gop. They're not going to make those plays,
but they do other things at a really high level.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay, So Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence, you and I I loved him.
I got all because I love college football, so I got.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
All looked up on him.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And You're like, and I remember this very early, You're said,
you said, Josh Allen's way better. It's not close. And
I was like, okay, okay, okay, sure whatever. Well it's
obviously but it's obviously been established. But I will say
that some quarterbacks find the right mentor earlier.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Sure, And it.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Does feel like Liam Cohen has unlocked something. What does
the film say he is on locked with Trevor Lawrence?
Speaker 8 (20:02):
By the way, I'm used to yeah whatever. I got
a wife and two daughters. I get a lot of
yeah whatever. But the point is, the point is is
that I think what you see, number one, you're seeing
Lawrence play really decisively.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
So how does that come about?
Speaker 8 (20:16):
How does a quarterback go from sort of being stuck
too often in the pocket and not seeing it clearly
and not being decisive to being decisive? And You've talked
about this a lot. I talk about it all the
time because I'm such a big believer in coaching. So
how does that happen? What does it mean when we
say a guy is a good offensive coach? So it
starts with how he's taught. Then it gets down to
(20:37):
what you see when you watch tape. It comes down
to personnel formations, motions, shift, receiver splits, how you set
up routes so that the quarterback can be decisive.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Just being decisive.
Speaker 8 (20:49):
Doesn't come about because you say, hey, just drop back
and throw it. You have to feel good throwing the ball.
You have to feel like, hey, I know exactly where
I'm going to throw it based on this play call verse,
whatever the anticipated coverage would be, or if it's pure
progression when my reads take me through and all of
a sudden, Trevor Lawrence looks really decisive throwing the football.
(21:11):
So it's a combination of he's got obviously pretty good
trades and the fact that Liam Cohen really does a
good job because don't forget, he came from the Rams.
So it's a lot of the Sean McVay stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So a lot of teams in the NFL, there's a
part of the team, like the Texans defense that jumps
off the film. Seattle has a lot of speed everywhere.
Is it the Seahawks offense or the Seahawks defense. When
you watch the film that you are going, Wow, that
feels that's better than what I see on most pieces
(21:47):
of film.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Well, you know, it's funny you say that, because in
the summer I said to people that I thought the
Seahawks would have a really good defense, so I'm not surprised.
Now Again, I didn't know how nick A min Wari
would fit into this, and right now he's sort of
the poster child for the concept of big nickel, which
a lot of teams play, where they play three safeties
instead of a third linebacker, and that becomes essentially both
(22:10):
their base and their nickel defense. And m and Wari
has been such a critical piece of what they do.
But their defense has played exceptionally well. They're not a
high percentage blitz defense, but when they do, the principles
and the concepts are really good. They've got a lot
of players. You know, one thing I always notice. You
notice this with quarterbacks in particular, but I notice it
(22:31):
with other positions.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
When you see a backup go in the game.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
Colin have to play meaningful snaps over let's say four
or five six game period, and there appears to be
no drop off at all in the play of that
position and the play of the entire defense. That tells
me anyway that the coaching staff does a great job.
And we saw that in Seattle when Julian Love got
hurt and they had to play Tayo Katta number thirty nine,
(22:55):
and he played really good football. So that tells me
that it's being coached really, really well. And that's what
you see when you watch this defense. And of course
they do have really good players. Byron Murphy's come on
in his second year. Lennard Williams is a multi positional
d lineman, Ernest Jones is a really good linebacker, So
you know they are really good. I would say that
(23:16):
their defense stands out to me more than their offense.
I'm not surprised by their passing game. I think they
want their run game to be more than it is.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
All Right, Eagles Bills is a headline game. I want
to really concentrate on the Eagles over the last two games.
Sakuon Barkley. Last week it looked like last year. Have
they tweaked anything or is it bad competition?
Speaker 8 (23:39):
Well, I think last week, in particular, their old line
played very well.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
It was the first game where I thought.
Speaker 8 (23:44):
Their old line really moved people the way they did
a year ago. And because of that, I thought Barkley
was the most decisive that he's been all season consistently.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
You know, not just with one run here and there,
but consistently.
Speaker 8 (23:57):
I thought he felt far more comfortable with what he'sad saw.
I thought his patience, his vision, and then the short
area burst was there. I mean, people may be surprised
that over the last three games Barkley has the most
carries in the NFL and the most ten plus yard runs.
That would probably surprise a lot of people. And I
think what they're doing on offense, and I think they'll
(24:19):
continue doing this, and I think it makes sense against
Buffalo for sure, is a lot more no huddle and
a lot more empty.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Sets, which really clears up the picture.
Speaker 8 (24:28):
And the reason I think it's a good thing to
do against Buffalo is because Sean McDermott is one of
the best in the league in terms of late coverage rotation,
changing the picture pre snap to post snap, and when
you go no huddle and empty it's harder to do that.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Defensively.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, anything you see with Buffalo in this matchup with Philadelphia,
anything their offense is doing that's different.
Speaker 8 (24:51):
I mean, they're going to run the ball obviously. They
look we don't have to guess this, Colin. They told
you by the fact that they had Keon Coleman and
Gabe Davis as healthy scratches last week.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
We don't have to guess this.
Speaker 8 (25:05):
They're telling you they're really not comfortable with their wide
receiver position. They're clearly a tight end based passing game.
I think if they can avoid as good as Josh
Allen is, and we know he's great, that's not my
point at all, but as great as he is, I
think they feel that the best way for them to
play on offense is to be able to run the
ball with sustainability and consistency. That they just don't have
(25:29):
enough on the perimeter to really have him drop back
forty times a game and unlus the game demands it,
which of course we've seen games that demand it, and
he's been great because he's Josh Allen. But I don't
think that's the way they want to play by choice.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So Texans Chargers. I'm an understood USC homer, but I
remember talking to people in the league and saying, I'm
telling you Woody Marks is special, and when he doesn't play,
the Texans offense dries up really fast. I want to
talk about their defense. Yeah, against they play the Chargers
(26:04):
this week, and the Chargers all line, Yeah, I look
at that and I think Okay, we got to get
a cape for Herbert because there's a bad matchup. Let's
talk a little bit about what you see with the
Texans in the face the Chargers the matchup.
Speaker 8 (26:18):
Look, and you and I both know that Jim Harbaugh
and Greg Rowman and that staff know that that's a mismatch.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
They know that.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
Now, that doesn't mean that every play they can control it,
because there are some plays where you know, what, Will
Anderson's going to beat somebody, or Daniel Hunter is going
to beat somebody, or even inside where they have very
good d tackles. But the Chargers staff knows that they're overmatched.
So I'm very curious to see how they go about
dealing with that because it's obvious everybody knows they're overmatched.
(26:46):
But Herbert has been playing at a really high level.
I mean, they've got four really good receivers. Okay, I
mean Trey Harris, the rookie from Ole Miss has really
come on. He plays meaningful snaps. They will play big people, they.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Will get physical go you know.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
So they're a team that can can attack you in
multiple ways on offense. Now, whether their old line is
an issue in the game and prevents them from running
what they want to run.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
That remains to be seen.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
But they are a pretty diverse offense with a lot
of good players other than their O line, and you know,
so it's hard to know, quite frankly, how that's going
to play out in this game.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
It does justin Herbert have a weakness.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I don't really think he does.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
I mean, look, I think if you talk to people
in the league, they would tell you that he's one
of those guys you know, I mean the guys I've
been around him. You've probably seen him in person too.
I mean, he's a legit six five sixty six. He's
a legit two thirty five, two forty. I mean the
play we're going to show by the way, you know,
you hear all the time people say, well, your few
quarterbacks can make that throw. Normally, when people say that,
(27:51):
it's a bunch of garbage. But you know, there are
certain throws that are just wow throws. And he made
one last week and we should just go to it
because it's this is a throw.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I mean when I saw watching the tape, because I probably.
Speaker 8 (28:03):
Saw it live too, But you know, when you're watching
it on Sunday, you're watching one hundred plays and they
just kind of roll over you. But when I'm watching
the tape and I saw this, I was like, WHOA.
So this was, you know, obviously last week and it
was a fifty yard completion. So you're going to see
Herbert's in the gun here and it's going to be
trips to the wide side of the field. And the
two receivers that we want to take note of are
(28:24):
Johnston on the outside and mconkie in the slot. Now,
the safety in the linebacker on the defensive side of
the ball are important here because what's going to happen here,
and we're seeing this more and more in the league,
is what we call late coverage rotation, changing the picture.
The safety will drop deep as a half field player,
and the linebacker will drop as a middle hole defender.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
They're going to play Cover two.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
So now what you're going to see that corner because
it's Cover two. He's not going to drop to that
second box. He doesn't drop deep because he's a flat
defender in Cover two.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So now let's go to the route concept.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
It's going to be two verticals by Johnston and McConkie,
which is a very good concept against Cover two. Now
they may not have known they were going to get
cover two, but this is a good concept. So let's
watch it map out as we play it out. So
what's going to happen is the safety kind of becomes
the conflict player here because you're getting two verticals and
he's a deep half player. And remember the corner on
(29:20):
the outside is not going to drop deep because it's
cover two. He's an underneath player, so he's not going
to carry Johnston. So now what you're going to get
is they actually do a great job on defense, the
safety and the linebacker passing off McConkie, and the safety
does a good job at Herbert is going to climb
the pocket here, So now he's going to make this
(29:41):
whole shot throw late. This is a ridiculous throw. The
safety can't get there. It's such a good throw, and
when you see it from another angle, you're just going
to see. Like I said, you know, I'm not going
to sit here and say, gee, no one else can
make this throw. But the key thing here to me
is he sees this as a viable thing.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I talk about this all the time.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
One of the things that there's no metric for, or
there's no stat for is throws that should be made
that aren made, and throws that are that quarterbacks see
as viable throws because not every quarterback would see that
as a viable throw because they know they're not comfortable
making it. Obviously, Herbert can make any throw.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah, he is special. Texans, Chargers, Eagles, Bills, Niners, Bears.
There are some great matchups. Greg is a really happy Holidays.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Thanks con same to you. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter n a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Monday night on FS one, it's a college hoops triple header,
starting with number nine Michigan State hosting Cornell. Then it's
Big Ten Women's hoops as six Fran Michigan take John
Oregon Oregon. Then out West it's you, It's all versus Washington.
It all tips off at seven pm Eastern only on
FS one.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well, it is the giving season, and it's always better
to be a giver, not a taker, and so I
thought I'd hand out a foo a few I don't know,
Gridirn gifts some NFL stocking stuffers. Jamack are you ready,
you give me ready, my friend worn ready? All right?
Go ahead, all right, Colin, First up?
Speaker 6 (31:27):
What's your gift for Bills quarterback Josh Allen?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Well, he has scored thirty seven of the fifty two touchdowns.
How about a thra gun pro massage gun to sue
those sore muscles that have helped carry your franchise to
each and every win seventy one percent of offensive touchdowns
Buffalo has scored seventy one percent by Josh Allen? All right?
Speaker 6 (31:53):
What's your gift for Patriots quarterback.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Drake May Eleven games with one hundred plus passer rating
tie for the most in the league. How about a
lousy T shirt? Drake can't go home and MP handed
this year, so I got him. Ay, I played an
MVP worthy season, but all I got was this lousy
T shirt. Second best odds after Stafford at twenty three
(32:15):
years old to win an MVP.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
All right?
Speaker 6 (32:20):
What's your gift for Jets coach Aaron Glenn.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Inn Osha bulldozer certification? J Mack to your beloved Jets.
This franchise is as stable as a Jenga tower. Time
to tear it down and rebuild already?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Oh, What the heck is that? All right?
Speaker 6 (32:41):
What's your gift for Philip Rivers and the Colts?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
How about his own NFL franchise? I mean Rivers and
his ten kids. That's a starting eleven. I've already got
him eighth in my herd hierarchy. The best family in
the NFL, the Philip Rivers family deserve their own franchise.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Okay, what do you give it? Travis Kelcey of the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
You know, I thought a lot about this, so you did.
I'm gonna give Travis Kelcey a joint custody agreement for
the future, mister Taylor Swift, And the reason being is
that way mahomes can still have you on weekends.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
Oh wow, I like that.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
What's your gift for Jackson Dart? I'm going to give
Jackson Dart, who I like, a Fisher Price playground. I
know he's twenty two, but you're not too old for this.
Spend some time learning how to slide. Learn how to slide? Listen,
five trips to the medical tent. Learn how to slide?
Speaker 6 (33:39):
Bro I like the hat backwards in that as well.
What's your gift for Caleb Williams?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
This is easy? Las Vegas residency. I mean, he may
be the new King of Chicago, but he puts on
a Bruno Mars level show every week. Caleb Williams, Baby,
he is getting his own resident see in Vegas.
Speaker 6 (34:01):
Well, all right, what are you giving your man crush
Jared Goff?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
How about a digital photo album so he can relive
all the great memories he had with Ben Johnson. It's
been a rough season. Wow, that's ours.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
And finally, be careful here, what are you giving my
guy Brock Purdie.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Well, I thought about this, Jaymac, and you have been
one of his most ardent supporters. I'm giving him a
gift certificate to two to mastros So Jmack and Brock
pretty get table, white tablecloths talk endlessly about their favorite
person me two for dinner, taken Champagne, our stocking stuffers.
(34:54):
So the story of the day which emerged it emerged
today about halfway through the first hour is according to
Mike Preston, who's a very good, very serious, very respected
reporter for the Baltimore Ravens. Now, remember this is something
(35:14):
you know, and I know stuff gets out when somebody
wants it out. Why did this story suddenly get out.
Lamar Jackson had a pretty disappointing last five or six weeks.
Right this year not been good. Banged up comes back
(35:38):
that he has fallen asleep in meetings playing video games
at night. They moved their practices to mid afternoon because
Lamar doesn't like early morning practice. That when they do
criticize him, he shrinks, he would draws. He doesn't like criticism.
And jamac brought this up, and I think both of
(35:59):
us have always thought he's reading. I've always thought he's
better in the pocket that he was given credit for
is a rookie year. He is more runner than thrower.
But he's gotten pretty good at that is. His cap
hit next year is massive, twenty four percent. That is ungodly.
His cap hit next year is twenty four percent of
the Ravens cap bo Nick's Denver one point seven percent,
(36:21):
Caleb Williams three point six percent. That is unbelievable. Your
hands are tight as a GM, your hands are tight
as a coach. If you have injuries, you're down to
third stringers. So there are some quotes here in the
article that will put up I am a fan of
Lamar Jackson. One of the quotes a major problem. A
(36:42):
lot of it on the Ravens is that there are
team rules and then there are rules for Jackson. Well,
I'll defend him a little there. Once the Ravens become
critical of him, he becomes more withdrawn. It's clear the
coach Harbaugh has become tired of Jackson. Nick Wright, for
the record, has been on this for a lot of
the year, and Mike Preston is a very respected guy,
(37:04):
so you know the injuries are piling up next. He's
always been hyper athletic. Now Mahomes and Josh Allen are
athletic too, but they're also unbelievable all time guys in
the pocket. Lamar is good in the pocket. But he
really his secret sauce has always been he's the most
elusive quarterback, the fastest quarterback I've ever seen. It's hard
(37:25):
to even put two or three guys in the history
of football in his class. And that's his secret sauce.
And it's not that big of a secret. He's just
hard to prepare for. Always dominated the NFC teams which
don't see him very often. If you see him for
a first time, it's just hard to comprehend how elusive
he is. So but now the injuries are piling up.
He's a massive cap hit. He's withdrawing when there's criticism
(37:46):
his window. And you know the NFL, you know in
basketball and baseball and mostly in hockey, you're not being tackled.
So you know, for offensive players, a lot of these
offensive skill players, your windows are quick. Cam Newton's last
great year twenty nine, Cam was a better athlete than
he was a sit in the pocket, pre snap audible guy.
(38:06):
He was just an absolutely mammoth great athlete. He aged
very fast. Big Ben to me aged fast. Aaron Rodgers
forty two, still slick because Aaron's great in the pocket.
Stafford Brady Breeze.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
So he is.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I do think he has now become the kind of
quarterback that is still Pro Bowl level in his best years.
But is he somebody that the Ravens would take a
call on. Now, let me throw another quarterback out. Joe Burrow. Okay,
I would never take a call on Joe Burrow, but
after his third injury, I'd take a call. I would
(38:47):
not take a call on Drake may Justin, Herbert, Patrick Mahomes,
Josh Allen. I wouldn't take a call on Boonix and
Caleb right now, because they're such small percentages of the
cap and they're very good young quarterbacks. I'm not taking
a call, but there's always about six or seven guys.
Lamar was one of them. You just don't even pick
up the phone. I think he's moved it into the
group of the next six or seven.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
So Colin, I was just digging into, like we've talked
about this all week, the cap situation. Right, so once
you pay Lamar, you have to get ready and say, hey,
we got to move off these guys. With the Chiefs
and Mahomes, they lose their offensive line. You see the
result this year. I was just looking so Baltimore essentially
coming into the season bet on a twenty twenty two
to fourth rounder and a twenty twenty three seventh rounder
(39:28):
on their offensive line because they could not afford Morgan
Moses John Simsimms's right, good call. Those young guys in
the draft did not pan out, right, You only get
a couple.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Swings in the draft.
Speaker 6 (39:40):
So when the offensive line doesn't work and Lamar is injured,
all of a sudden, you've got like nothing, and that
we saw it with the Chiefs. I'm just really curious
what's gonna happen with that offensive line on the Bengals.
It already isn't great. Borrow got hurt again.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I mean, if you're the Miami Dolphins of the Raiders,
do you not make a call? Oh?
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Of course you do.
Speaker 6 (39:59):
I would not be surprised if already calls were not made. Now,
we don't know what about the Dolphins with their GM situation.
They ran him off. But if i'm McDaniel, I'm like, guys,
Lamar jack you could be Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
You got to keep me.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
I think that helps McDaniel's cause.
Speaker 6 (40:14):
Raiders are interesting because if you get the chance to
coach Lamar. I mean, I don't think they keep Pete Carroll. Sorry,
I know you guys are friendly. I don't see that happening,
But yeah, I would. I would probably trade that number
one or number two pick of Mendoza and en roll
with Lamar if I was the Raiders. They need to
sell tickets.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
They want to be on television. You know they're not
getting any prime time games.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
No.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
And here's the thing, folks, I've never understood this criticism
of people. New information equals new opinion. Period, we didn't
know this we didn't know what was going on. Teams
trying to hide this stuff. So why does it get out?
Because the Ravens want it out. That's why stuff get top.
(40:59):
We've all had secrets in a life that don't get out.
You know, Companies don't want them out right, when stuff leaks,
it's because they want it out. And I mean, we
find out a lot of stuff during the Belichick Brady
era that didn't get out until there was a divorce
between Brady and Belichick. And then Seth Wickersham writes a book,
you know, Connor writes a book, Jeff Benedict, and then
(41:21):
all the books come out, you know, as the relationship
gets worn down in the last couple of years together,
and then eventually, you know, Brady goes to Tampa. So
I think when when stuff gets out, there's there's people that,
you know, because some of this is Harbaugh's getting ripped,
Harpball's getting criticized, the front office is getting criticized, and
they're like front office in Baltimore, it's not us. It's
(41:44):
not all us, guys, time out, it is not all us.
So Mike Preston's a very good reporter and during the
breaks We've been kind of going back and forth on
this story, and I think, yeah, I think you get
new information and you're literally rigid, stubborn and dumb if
you're getting information and not using it. It's like George
(42:06):
Pickens in week seven, Oh my god, this is amazing.
George Pickens in week thirteen, always pouting new information, adjust
to it. So this is a massive story from one
of the top three or four or five quarterbacks in
this league the last several years. Hour three on a Wednesday,
coming up
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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