December 29, 2025 • 33 mins
Colin Cowherd reacts to a wild shootout between the Bears and the 49ers in week 17 and explains why this is the most impressed he has been with San Francisco QB Brock Purdy. He also argues Chicago should feel great despite the loss based on what we saw from Caleb Williams and the Bears offense.He shares this week’s Where Colin Was Right, Where Colin Was Wrong – What he nailed about the Patriots and why he missed on the Colts.Plus, 3-time Pro Bowl QB Matt Hasselbeck joins the show to defend the Bills and QB Josh Allen going for 2 in their narrow loss to the Eagles.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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
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or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
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to The Herd podcast. Big Monday, Big, Big Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're live. It's Chicago, It's the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening,
Thanks for making us part of your day. J Macbears Niners,
best NFL game of the year, A plus plus plus.
That was as good as professional football gets this late
in the season. You're missing some starters if you're San Francisco,
(00:53):
and well let's just start with that. That's as good
as total football gets. And the other thing is this
is why you hire offensive coaches. Between Ben Jonson and
Kyle Shanahan, nine hundred yards of offense, both were great
on third down, great in the red zone, efficient, smart
play calling, young quarterbacks being the beneficiary. Brought in Caleb
(01:17):
of really bright guys. Now, yes, I always thought brought
pretty ad talent, but I thought he was very dependent
on Shanahan and Christian McCaffrey. But he didn't have Kiddle
last night. He didn't have left tackle Trent Williams. He
hadn't have Brandon. I you call year and last night
he was attack, attack, attack, with mobility, with accuracy.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
He threw a pick six.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I've told you for years Brady threw pick sixes and
super Bowls he's won. Yes, he threw another interception and
got a bit of an officiating break in the end zone.
I liked this party, attack, aggressive. I thought the last
three weeks as well as he's ever played. You can
win a Super Bowl with this quarterback play. Yeah, you're
(02:03):
gonna have a pick six. I defend Darnold. I defended
Andrew Luck, Peyton, Manny and Elway two picks. This one
I like now now did mac Jones and Garoppolo also
look great with Shanahan. Yeah, Matt Ryan won an MVP
with Shanahan. But everybody's got help. Mahomes has Andy Reid,
Elway had Shanahan, Sula had Marino had Shula, Brady had
(02:27):
gronk Adelman Belichick's defense. So San Francisco has been very
reliant regardless of the quarterback in the last five six
years with George Kittle.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
He wasn't around last night.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Trent Williams also incredibly important, great left tackle still at
this age, great left tackle. He wasn't around last night.
So you don't really have your deep threat in Brandon Nayuk.
So instead of just being a really talented passenger, which
has always been my take on Perty.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He's talented. You mean, you can watch him play two quarters.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Healed, but he's mostly been a driver, you know, passenger.
Last night he was the driver of the offense. I
thought he was fantastic. Now could he stay healthy he
gets dinged up, you know, now he's got to play
seattles defense. He's not going to have all night to
throw like you saw last night. I mean, Dennis Allen,
I'm not sure what that defensive game plan was. But
(03:20):
if he got opened last night, Jennings, Kyle Hugheschek, you know,
the backup tight end, it just didn't matter if you
got open. Brock Purty found you. And this year, this
year party banged up. Some of it is seven to
one with a one oh four passer rating, and in
the last month, once the toe got healthy, there's no
(03:42):
disputing it the last six weeks. This is the healthiest
best Brock party we've ever seen. He's not just stabilizing,
he's elevating. He's pulling the offense, which is missing a
Hall of Fame left tackle, which last night's missing a
first bound Hall of Fame tight end.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It's always been my question.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I mean, mac Jones came in this year as a backup,
looked spectacular. Garoppo was thirty eight and seventeen. He left, Shanahan,
he disappeared. Matt shab made a Pro Bowl. Every quarterback
looks good. They didn't look this good. This is the
best quarterback play maybe outside of the Matt Ryan MVP season,
but you didn't get much mobility there. This is the
(04:23):
best quarterback play in the last month that Kyle Shanahan's
ever received. So, I mean, you don't have Kittle, you
don't have Trent Williams. You're dropping forty two points. That's
pretty impressive. And here's Shanahan after.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I thought brough out a hell of a game again.
I'm Broxton playing his ass off. Made some huge plays
in this game, kept some drives alive with his legs,
made some off scheduled plays and was an assassin.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Out there throughout.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Told I'm not the best historian. I feel like he's
had some good stretches. I mean, especially going back in
twenty three and twenty two. But I mean he's he's
playing goods.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
He gets right now.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, brock perty trust your eyes, moving attack, going for it,
missing missing great players. Well, he's got McCaffrey again, Brady
ed Gronk, you know, Mahomes, go to all the great ones.
Akman had, Michael Irvan, Damitt Smith. They've all got some help.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
If you're a Chicago Bear fan, I can live with
that loss. Thirty five thirty five, fifty eighth total first
downs in the game. It was a track meet. Somebody
had to lose. I can live with that. Caleb was excellent.
The play calling was excellent. Third down, fourth down was excellent.
(05:44):
My only issue with the Bears is San Francisco's defense
isn't good. They have an excuse lost Fred Warner and Bosa.
They don't have a lot of great players. Chicago's got
some high end defensive players. What were they doing? Robert
Solo is mixing up Bitz says he was attacking, he
was being aggressive, he was creating occasionally some pressure on
(06:07):
Caleb Williams behind Chicago's excellent line.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Now, Caleb didn't get.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Sacked, but he got flushed out of the pocket more
than a few times. Chicago's defense felt very passive to me.
In fact, if you look at the numbers, and we
did this morning, brog Perty had the second most time
to throw in his career last night and the most
(06:32):
time to throw all season. So I think you can
look at year one with Ben Johnson. You're contending going
into that game for the number one seed.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
You're on the road in.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
The second half, and your second half possessions are touchdown, touchdown,
field goal, and you're at the two yard line. Ben Johnson,
tip of the cap. Caleb Williams has gotten better every week.
Second week in a row. Caleb Williams no sacks. That
was the big concern into the season. You gotta get
out of the negative plays. Back to back games no sacks,
(07:02):
and again Sala was being hyper aggressive. Dennis Allen I thought, again,
at least we now know what the Bears are gonna
do during the draft. You know they need linebackers, they
need an edge rusher.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
We know what Chicago's going to do in.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The draft, but Sala was dialing up all sorts of pressure.
It didn't sack Caleb, but at least he was occasionally uncomfortable.
Like the final play here, I felt like brock Purty
just sat, took his time, did what he wanted. It
felt passive to me. In Chicago's five losses, they are
surrendering thirty five points a game. That's worse than Cincinnati,
(07:37):
and they've got better defensive talent than Cincinnati. So I
didn't love kind of a passive defensive game plan. I
didn't love that, But all in all, if you're a
Bear fan, somebody had to lose that track me. I
thought Caleb was great, no sacks, no picks. Ben Johnson's
play calling outstanding. What's new? You gotta You're not gonna
(08:00):
win all these close games? And San Francisco's offense this
year when brock Perty's upright, has been unbelievable. We have
been saying on this show, Bill J. McK and I
have been saying this for almost three months, absolutely two months.
If you gave out in the NFL an Award for
(08:21):
the best coaching staff, I would give it to the Niners.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I would give it to the Niners.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
What Sala's doing with this defense, creating some pressure against
the great old line, and no Fred Warner, no Bosa
banged up, moved off to Funga, the great safety in
Greenlaw in the offseason. So the Niners are on a
heater tip of the cap to that organization and Brock Purty.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And here was Caleb on a tough road loss.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
We've proven who we are, will fight, and you know,
I think we're a team to be wrecking with. And
so I'm I'm excited for, you know, this next game.
I'm excited to go back and watch this film and
figure out how we can better, how we can put
up more points, how we can be more efficient, maybe
on offense for for moments like this, because we may
see this team again.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I'll tell you one of the things that's great about Caleb.
I've compared him a little to Josh Allen, a shorter
Josh Allen, where he's not going to be perfect. I
don't worry too much about the fifty nine percent accuracy thing.
Last night, I thought he threw a he threw really
good footballs. I mean I thought hit on a deep
throw to Burden, hit on a couple of key sideline throws.
(09:35):
I think I think Caleb's fine. In fact, he's how
about the free play touchdown to Loveland, Who's just a
horse man? That guy is a handful. I think Caleb's
clearly coachable. I think he loves his coach, and I
think Ben Johnson. They didn't play great offense early. They
had a couple of series. I did not love the
Bears defense got that pick six early, But overall, I
(09:58):
think if you're a Chicago Bear, if I'd have told
you you were gonna lose last night but it was
gonna be a wild shootout and you would have the
ball at the two yard line, you would take that
loss over any loss this year. That offense for the
Bears is stacked. It is going to be a handful
against every team they play. I'm not sure anybody right
(10:21):
now is beating the Niners in the Bay. This offense
just is crazy good. NFL's best game probably right there.
J Mack, I don't mind losing the bet when it's
that kind of way.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I mean, that was, yeah, we were head to head
on that Colin. By the way, do you want to
guess the line? Seahawks travel to San fran on Saturday night,
so short week again for the Niners.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Okay, they are at home.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Seattle was just in Carolina, so they had a cross country.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
They would guess Niners minus one.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Wrong.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Seattle is favored in San Francisco by one. Now I
know it's just one and it's not huge. I was
surprised by it. I don't know what they're seeing. Maybe
the Trent Williams injury means he's not gonna play it well.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
To know, I think you would admit this, and you
love Purty. When Brock is comfortable, forget it. He is
he is, and last night he is moving around. That's
why I thought Dennis Allen should have been much more aggressive.
Comfortable Brock perty's a handful when you speed the game up.
And this was the knock on Brock. It's been a
knocking his career, in the knock in college. He can
get a little reckless if you speed him up. Because
(11:27):
he you watched last night, he is not afraid to
throw the ball down the field. Garoppolo with Kyle kind
of kept it safe, didn't throw it the sideline. Brock's aggressive.
Maybe not Sam Darnold aggressive, but Brock is aggressive. So
now Seattle is going to speed up everything for the
Niners because it's a much better pass rush those you know.
And also Christian McCaffrey had another huge touch night.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Now.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Interestingly, though, Colin regarding Seattle, they played in the season opener.
Remember that game, Darnold had to turn over around it
in the red zone, maybe the ten yard line at
the end of the game. Perdy did struggle at times,
but the Niners defense is much worse than it was
in Week one.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Okay, So look at what the wise guys have done.
The Seattle San Francisco line has flipped three points in
the last couple hours. It started where I thought it
should be San Francisco minus one and a half. The
wise guys, the Sharps pounded Seattle. Seattle now is favored
by one and a half. So the sharp money, Sharper square,
(12:27):
the sharp money all on Seattle.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Ye, So would you back Sam Darnold in that spot?
Huge late season game, by the way, Donald was it
was pretty atrocious against Carolina. Hey, no excuses, buddy, come
on listen Saturday night. That's the main event this weekend.
I don't care about Steelers Ravens. That's a good game.
This Game is Everything Seattle on Sanfra.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Last night was fun. That was great.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
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Speaker 5 (13:00):
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Speaker 2 (13:20):
And all the best guests.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
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Speaker 1 (13:32):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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to The Herd podcast. Here we go, Hour two and
(13:56):
the Monday Man hasselback five minutes away.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
We're live.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It's the Herd last night as good as the NFL gets,
Niners edge pass, the Chicago Bears drama in Pittsburgh. Who's
left offensively to help? Aaron Rodgers, San Francisco and Seattle?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
How good is that? It is great to have you
in a Monday.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Let's not waste any time where Colin was right, where
Colin was wrong on a Monday, where Colin was right,
well well, well slinging Sammy Darnald. You know quarterbacks with
consecutive thirteen win seasons in NFL history, It's Brady Manning, Rogers,
Farv and Sam Darnald.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, he's in pretty good company.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Just goes to show your first job isn't always your best.
Sam Darnald never worries about the occasional mistake, always looking forward.
He and JSN, by the way, that has got to
be a top five combo going forward was wrong, probably
been a little tough on brock pretty or maybe he's
(15:04):
just getting better because the last month brock Purty's aggressiveness
efficiency movement has been stuff for the Ages and let yeah,
I know, Garoppolo was good in San Francisco. It wasn't
this good. He wasn't this aggressive. I thought yesterday was
as good as he's played. I mean, just making ad libbing,
playing with instructure, and I like the fact that he
(15:27):
throws a pick six and it doesn't get him down,
It doesn't change his mood or body language. Number two
red zone offense. I know Kyle Shanahan's great, but this
is the best quarterback play he's had since Matt Ryan.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Won the MVP. Where Colin was right, Mike vrabel I.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Had predicted New England will be a playoff team. They're
going to be the double your win total team. They
tripled it and they fixed everything in one season. Remember
when we didn't like their wide receiver room. Well, their
top five offense, top five defense, and they've immediately surpassed
Sean McDermott year one. That's not the way it should
(16:07):
be now. Now, Drake May's good.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Is he this good?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I don't know, But this was to me the easiest
offseason call. With all that free agent money, Josh McDaniels,
Mike Brabel and an improving Drake May, this team's going
to get good fast, and they did. Where Colin was
wronged the Colts have lost six straight. Maybe they shouldn't
give up two first round picks for a cornerback.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Sauce Gardner.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I have defended the head coach in the GM, but
even the Philip Rivers story he went oh for three
Daniel Jones, the truth is who he is sort of
surfaced eventually. Right now. They're not close to Jacksonville offensively
in their own division, and they're a mile from Houston defensively,
so at best they are the third best team in
(16:54):
a pretty wonky division. I was wrong where Colin was right.
I never bought in to Aaron Glenn. I mean, they've
been blown out four straight games by twenty three or more.
It looks like the players have quit. How can you
be a defensive coach and not have a single interception
all season? That's kind of historically embarrassing. It's okay, Nat Hackett,
(17:16):
you knew early. David Cully, Freddie Kitchens, Jim tom Sula
like some coaches feel like coordinators, not head coaches. But
this has been pretty bad. This has been pretty bad.
Where Colin was wrong, I figured Chip Kelly, Pete Carroll,
Gino Smith would at least be interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I didn't know they'd be awful.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I mean, Gino can throw the ball and Chip Kelly
and Pete Carroll and they got housed yesterday by the
New York Giants. Now, the good news is they have
the number one pick and they're going to draft the
quarterback out of Indiana. But I almost think Max Crosby
is it time to trade Max Crosby? He deserves better
and you can get more draft capital because they feel
like the Raiders feel like they are.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
A mile away where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Excellent NFL reporter Ian Rapaport Saturday reported, yes, the Giants,
if they had the number one pick, would consider moving
Jackson Dart and drafting Fernando Mendoza. Why wouldn't you. Jackson
Dart's three and eight, not eight and three. Jackson Dart's fine,
But if your scouting department says Mendoza has a much
higher ceiling, then you go listen to your scouting department.
(18:25):
The Giants offense has been mostly dismal for a decade.
Everything has to be on the table when you're the Jets,
when you're the Giants, you know, everything has to be
on the table. You can't say, well, we've got our
we got our franchise quarterback.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
As I've said, I like Jackson Dart.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
He spends more time in the blue tent than an
RII manager.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Not good enough where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Finally, JJ Reddick, this was my concern when the Lakers
were red hot without Lebron James. Jj Reddick admitted, since
Lebron returned, we have been organized offensively. There's just too
many possessions that we are wasting.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
This is what I said.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Lebron won't play defense anymore, and all you're doing is
taking the ball out of Austin Reeves or Luca's hand.
And this idea that well, Lebron will make it work. Yeah,
but I mean he's been the best player in the
league for about fifteen year stretch. He's also got pride,
and so this is a disjointed, uneven roster. The pressure
(19:28):
now on Rob Polincott to make some moves or maybe
it's sort of a lost year.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
But JJ Reddick.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Saying the honest part out loud and the uncomfortable part.
Lebron coming back has made things a little difficult too.
Colin Wright Colin wrong.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
On a Monday, We'll be sure to catch live editions
of the Herd weekdays and noone Easter, not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
With that, Matt Hasselbeck, eighteen years in the NFL joins us.
I gotta say, maybe I have Maybe I I have
trait bias where I like my quarterbacks to be big
and strong. Maybe I have draft bias where if you're
the last guy taking in a draft, although Kurt Warner
and Tony Romo were undrafted. But the last three weeks
(20:12):
with Brock Purdy, now that his toes healed, red Zone,
he's aggressive. I mean I watched last night. I'm like, yeah,
you can get to the super Bowl with that. I
guess I just whiffed, right, I mean I was just
wrong on it.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
Yeah, yeah, you're coming around. I mean I like to
see it.
Speaker 8 (20:28):
I mean I think it was a long time you
were complaining about certain things.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
But you're not alone. Listen.
Speaker 8 (20:35):
He doesn't pass the eye test like you see him.
He looks like you might be a college kid or
a high school quarterback. He doesn't WOWU with those tangibles,
but his intangibles.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Are off the charts.
Speaker 8 (20:45):
And when you talk about a guy like Kyle Shanan
or John Lanchard, these guys who understand how to evaluate quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (20:51):
He clearly is their guy.
Speaker 8 (20:52):
And you talk, you listen to his teammates talk about him,
whether it's Trent Williams or Kittle or McCaffrey, they're like, no, no,
this is our guy. This dude's a dog. He's a beast.
And I think we saw that the other night. He
plays on rhythm. He plays from the pocket, outside the pocket.
I think Kyle Shanahan does a really nice job with
the shorter quarterbacks getting them outside the pocket just as
(21:12):
much as they're inside the pocket for better vision, you know.
And he's got moxie. He started over forty games at
Iowa State. There's something to playing when you're in college
and not sitting and watching. And you know, I think
he's a little bit more agile than people realize.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
Defenders included.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, No, I'm he is way more athletic than I've
ever given him credit for. He's been dinged up a
little in his career for the first time in a
long time. He's healthy and he is he moves well.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I said, if you're the Bears, my bigger issue is
I don't think I thought they were reactive on defense,
not proactive. Saula's got nothing to work with, and he's blitzing,
he's mixing stuff up, he's trying to make Caleb a
little uncomfortable. He made him just uncomfortable enough on that
final play. But overall, I kind of feel like second
straight game Caleb didn't get sacked, didn't have an interception.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I think you got to.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Feel pretty good if your Chicago you lost a track meet.
You've been winning all these games. If you're gonna lose,
you can lose the hottest offense in the NFL. What
was your take on the Bears?
Speaker 8 (22:11):
Yeah, well, I think three games in a row where
Klebs played really well and really encouraging. This was just
a great offensive matchup. You know, you got Ben Johnson
on one side, Kyle Shanan on the other, really fun
offensive game. If you love defense, you're probably you know,
pulling your hair out just a little bit. But explosive plays,
trick plays, quarterbacks being really elusive, doing it on time,
doing outside. You know, I think there's still opportunities. One
(22:34):
team had to go home the loser, right, and so
when you watch the film the next day, you can
usually point to three to five plays that if we
just make one of those plays, we win the game.
And you heard Chris Collinsworth on the broadcast last night,
you know, allude to it, like, man, if we just
had a ticket, if you could have just found a
way to get the ball to this guy this one time.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
And that happens in every game.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
And I think that's why this game was so fun
to watch, and it's also why I think everyone's excited
if it happens again. But now, it was a good
quarterback battle last night, and I got to give credit
to both guys played really well. Just one guy made
the play at the end and the other guy didn't.
And you know they might meet again and it might
be different the next time.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So much fun, such a fun NFL game. I'm gonna
support the Bills going for it. I thought the Eagles
defense was on the field the entire second half. You
have Josh Allen, you're at home, You're favored. I'm gonna
go with it. I'm gonna I'm not gonna be a
backsheet guy. Were you okay going for two in Buffalo? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (23:34):
I would have been good either way. Like either way,
you could make the argument for not. You know, the
Eagles hadn't done much offensively, But then again, we're at home.
I got Josh Allen as my quarterback. I've got a
two point play. This is what happens when you decide
on your two point play the night before, or maybe
even two days before, in an air conditioning room with
a group of people.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
You right on your big call sheet.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
Okay, if we've got fourth and goal to win the game,
our two point play is what what are we calling?
And you feel really good about it sometimes? And I
bet you they thought really good about this play. The
play worked, and you know, Josh Allen, he's got to
be kicking himself. Ninety nine out of one hundred times
he makes that throw, guarantee it. It was kind of
shocking to see him not making now. He's banged up,
(24:16):
he's got a real bad foot injury. He maybe he
can't push off, feels the pressure, bad weather, all the stuff.
But no, I'm in favor of going for that. I'd
and I'd be in favor of calling the exact same
play again in the exact same situation.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
I'd feel good about the quarterback making the play.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
The Eagles are so weird, I can't even wrap my
brain around A. J.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Brown was feeling it.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
The short passing game was working, and then they just
pulled the plug on the offense. They have four of
the worst offensive halves in the league this year, and
that's counting all the bad offenses. Explain to me what
happens as well as you can with this offense about
every other week.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
Who knows, man, Like, if you got if you're an
eel sa like, this is what I would say about it,
though I'm not. A win is a win, right, and
we're not going to apologize for that and all the stuff, right.
And I've gotten on here before and have said, hey, listen,
it would be better if the offense, instead of turning
the ball over and playing sloppy and stuff like that,
it would be better if you took a knee three
(25:18):
times and let your punter punt. I mean, I remember
doing the Rams Seahawks game earlier this year and the
Rams Darnold had an un characteristic day through four interceptions,
and I said, if the Seahawks just would have taken
a knee three times and let their punter punt, they
would have won. And that's kind of the mindset that
it felt. Philly went with a little bit in terms
of hey, let's play safe let our punter punt, our
(25:40):
defense playing actually really really well. Thirteen to nothing lead
most of the game. It's a scary lead, thirteen points.
No one really loves the thirteen point lead. It's a
weird I don't know, maybe I've been burned too many times.
But then you let your punter punt and then just
you know, don't step on the line when he downs
a perfect punt on the one yard line. You know,
stuff like that. Execute well on special teams to help
your defense play. But no, it's a little it's a
(26:03):
little frustrating when you're used to Philly's offense being good.
But there is a complimentary football aspect to this, where
just don't screw it up when you're up by two scores.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So it's I mean, it's just so Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
So I like healthier Baltimore even if Huntley plays, because
I think he's a pretty capable backup.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
I watched him beat the Bears this year. He's good.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Derrick Henry Zay Flowers, I harball, I this is rough.
Washington broke his arm. DK's not around. I don't even
know who their number one receiver is MBS. They don't
have really a dependable run game and they quit on
it sometimes. Do you I like Baltimore in the final week?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
And where are you with Pittsburgh today?
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Well, I'll start with Baltimore.
Speaker 8 (26:50):
I don't for whatever reason, Lamar Jackson just doesn't look
like Lamar Jackson this year. You know, I don't know
if it's on the field, off the field, it's not
the same Tyler Huntley, you know, for whatever reason, and
he's in the game.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
They lean more on Derrick Henry. They use a Flowers
in the.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
Run game, like they get a little bit more of
what I think about Baltimore Raven football, Like, we're going
to be the hammer, not the nail.
Speaker 7 (27:10):
We're not going to get too cute. Now.
Speaker 8 (27:12):
Now the Steelers on the other side, they're not operating
at full strength. You mentioned DK huge loss, Washington, huge loss.
I would love to see Aaron Rodgers under center more
using his Hall of Fame brain, getting them into the
right play call, using his cadence, taking advantage of free plays.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
It's something the things.
Speaker 8 (27:33):
That he does better than anybody in the world, really,
but this idea of him just dropping back and empty
and throwing to his guys that he feels comfortable with
even if it's not a great matchup, that's not winning.
I just don't think that's their best formula. That's kind
of what he tried to do Aaron Rodgers did last
year with the Jets. That's not the thing to me.
I think where he can be exceptional is when he's
(27:54):
just sort of running the offense, you know, using all
the skills in experience that he's had that he has,
and in helping the players around him, mainly the running backs,
be successful. And again, I think it's like point guard
not shooting forward, and if he can do that, they
can be They can actually do some damage in the playoffs.
(28:15):
But they got to kind of, like, I think, take
a hard look in the mirror and say, Okay, what
do we really do best right now?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So you know, it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I'm watching Green Band Malik Willis and he goes in
Tennessee and Mike Rables and win now mode, and so
they don't pay a lot of attention to Eliku. They're
not going to be there to monitor him and mentor him.
He goes to Green Bay and there's no necessary urgency.
You know, Jordan loves your franchise quarterback. So he gets
a really good coach, Matt Lafleur, he gets a really
(28:47):
good organization, he gets really good players. And then you
watch Malik Willis after a couple of years and you're like, oh,
this kid, kid, this is why he was so well
thought of. He also went to a small school in college, Matt,
so the NFL was a huge jump and that, you know,
that doesn't help. And so I watch him now and
I watch the Packers and I'm like, Jordan loves the
(29:08):
franchise guy if you ran a team in this league,
because there's not going to be many quarterbacks in that
first round?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Do you think Malik Willis?
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I look at that talent and I'm like, is he
a franchise guy or is it just Lafleur the environment?
And he's just a really really talented bridge guy. But
I'm watching Saturday Night and I'm like, man, there's a
lot there, Like I get why he was drafted out
a liberty so high. Would you roll the dice on
Malik Willis? Is it an environment or is that kid
a franchise What do you what do you see?
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Are you saying as your starting quarterback in free agency?
Speaker 7 (29:42):
Is that what you mean?
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Just go for it and sign him to a three
year deal.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
Yeah, it's it's interesting because I remember when he came out,
a lot of people liked him, some people didn't. And
you know, I remember he was the third string quarterback
in Tennessee and he was an afterthought and it was
about well Levice and Mason Rudolph and these guys, and
you know, clearly your environment does matter. Green Bay is
one of those places that even back when I was
the backup there, even before I got there, Brett Favre,
(30:08):
Mark Brunell, Tai Depmer, Steve Bono, like, there's like a
lot of guys there in the room. They over invest
in the quarterback position. And Malik is one of those
guys in a long list that play really really good football.
I think Matt Lafleura does a great job. I think
Kyle Shanahan does a great job. I think Sean McVay
does a great job. There's a lot of these guys
that come from that, Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak,
(30:29):
now Clink Kobiak Tree where we have a system that
we believe in. It's not all on you to go
play playground ball. You just have to trust us, be coachable,
and let the offense work for you. It's sort of
like just add milk and stirr kind of deal. And
some guys are able to make that jump and some
guys aren't. And I think Malik is a great example
(30:50):
of a guy that plays within the system, has great
coaching around him, and clearly is a problem for defenses.
He's kind of overachieved for what is expectation level was
would I make it?
Speaker 7 (31:01):
Would I make a jump on him?
Speaker 8 (31:02):
If you're running that exact same offense, I think you
can do that.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yes, yeah, yeah, it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Okay, So Seattle plays San Francisco. Uh, and it's interesting
just to be instructive. Niners opened as a one and
a half point favorite.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
The Sharps, the wise.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Guys all bet Seattle, And I was telling j Mack
he loves Purty, and I said, Brock's one of those
guys that if you give him time.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
And you don't speed him up.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Sam Donald's a little like this, that that Brock is
highly effective.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
If you speed Brock up.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
If you speed Donald up, then you because these guys
are aggressive, throw the ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
San Francisco is not going to speed Donald up. They
have no pass rush. Seattle can speed Brock up. So
I think Seattle is probably the play here. What do
you envision You know Seattle so well Seattle San Francisco,
you've seen.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Both so many times. What is that going to look like?
Speaker 8 (31:59):
Well, this is a really good Seattle team, and I
know people have been sleeping on them until probably this morning,
you know, on the national scene. This is probably the
best defense they've had in a long long time. This
is the most points they've scored on offense. I think ever,
you know, you go back to Week one though. In
Week one, Seattle played San Fran and they just didn't
look like themselves. And sometimes that can happen when you
(32:22):
play your friends. And Clint Kubiak and Sam Donald, they
came from San Fran, Kyle Shanahan like they know our offense,
and they it was unrecognizable what they decided to be
on offense in that first matchup. They didn't have a
fullback in the game. They were an empty formation so much,
and I think they just got to get back to Hey,
this is our identity and I don't care what you
(32:42):
know about us. We're going to do what we do,
and I think if the Seahawks do that the second
time around, offensively, yes, I agree, Sam Donald will have
time to throw and he'll be comfortable. On the defensive side,
I think Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, DeMarcus Lawrence, those are
underrated guys that can at pressure on Pergy. But again,
he's very, very elusive and just so, if you just
(33:04):
beat your guy in front of you, that doesn't necessarily
mean that you won the down. Kind of got to
play team defense to the whistle. So now I think
the number one seed in play at San.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
Fran I don't.
Speaker 8 (33:15):
I think this is a too close to call a game.
The NFL got it right. Saturday night prime time should
be a great one.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Matt Hasselbeck on a Monday, wild night, last night, wild games.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Great seeing you man, all right, buddy, see it
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 Sportsradio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening
to The Herd podcast. Big Monday, Big, Big Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're live. It's Chicago, It's the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening,
Thanks for making us part of your day. J Macbears Niners,
best NFL game of the year, A plus plus plus.
That was as good as professional football gets this late
in the season. You're missing some starters if you're San Francisco,
(00:53):
and well let's just start with that. That's as good
as total football gets. And the other thing is this
is why you hire offensive coaches. Between Ben Jonson and
Kyle Shanahan, nine hundred yards of offense, both were great
on third down, great in the red zone, efficient, smart
play calling, young quarterbacks being the beneficiary. Brought in Caleb
(01:17):
of really bright guys. Now, yes, I always thought brought
pretty ad talent, but I thought he was very dependent
on Shanahan and Christian McCaffrey. But he didn't have Kiddle
last night. He didn't have left tackle Trent Williams. He
hadn't have Brandon. I you call year and last night
he was attack, attack, attack, with mobility, with accuracy.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
He threw a pick six.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I've told you for years Brady threw pick sixes and
super Bowls he's won. Yes, he threw another interception and
got a bit of an officiating break in the end zone.
I liked this party, attack, aggressive. I thought the last
three weeks as well as he's ever played. You can
win a Super Bowl with this quarterback play. Yeah, you're
(02:03):
gonna have a pick six. I defend Darnold. I defended
Andrew Luck, Peyton, Manny and Elway two picks. This one
I like now now did mac Jones and Garoppolo also
look great with Shanahan. Yeah, Matt Ryan won an MVP
with Shanahan. But everybody's got help. Mahomes has Andy Reid,
Elway had Shanahan, Sula had Marino had Shula, Brady had
(02:27):
gronk Adelman Belichick's defense. So San Francisco has been very
reliant regardless of the quarterback in the last five six
years with George Kittle.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
He wasn't around last night.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Trent Williams also incredibly important, great left tackle still at
this age, great left tackle. He wasn't around last night.
So you don't really have your deep threat in Brandon Nayuk.
So instead of just being a really talented passenger, which
has always been my take on Perty.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He's talented. You mean, you can watch him play two quarters.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Healed, but he's mostly been a driver, you know, passenger.
Last night he was the driver of the offense. I
thought he was fantastic. Now could he stay healthy he
gets dinged up, you know, now he's got to play
seattles defense. He's not going to have all night to
throw like you saw last night. I mean, Dennis Allen,
I'm not sure what that defensive game plan was. But
(03:20):
if he got opened last night, Jennings, Kyle Hugheschek, you know,
the backup tight end, it just didn't matter if you
got open. Brock Purty found you. And this year, this
year party banged up. Some of it is seven to
one with a one oh four passer rating, and in
the last month, once the toe got healthy, there's no
(03:42):
disputing it the last six weeks. This is the healthiest
best Brock party we've ever seen. He's not just stabilizing,
he's elevating. He's pulling the offense, which is missing a
Hall of Fame left tackle, which last night's missing a
first bound Hall of Fame tight end.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It's always been my question.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I mean, mac Jones came in this year as a backup,
looked spectacular. Garoppo was thirty eight and seventeen. He left, Shanahan,
he disappeared. Matt shab made a Pro Bowl. Every quarterback
looks good. They didn't look this good. This is the
best quarterback play maybe outside of the Matt Ryan MVP season,
but you didn't get much mobility there. This is the
(04:23):
best quarterback play in the last month that Kyle Shanahan's
ever received. So, I mean, you don't have Kittle, you
don't have Trent Williams. You're dropping forty two points. That's
pretty impressive. And here's Shanahan after.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I thought brough out a hell of a game again.
I'm Broxton playing his ass off. Made some huge plays
in this game, kept some drives alive with his legs,
made some off scheduled plays and was an assassin.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Out there throughout.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Told I'm not the best historian. I feel like he's
had some good stretches. I mean, especially going back in
twenty three and twenty two. But I mean he's he's
playing goods.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
He gets right now.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, brock perty trust your eyes, moving attack, going for it,
missing missing great players. Well, he's got McCaffrey again, Brady
ed Gronk, you know, Mahomes, go to all the great ones.
Akman had, Michael Irvan, Damitt Smith. They've all got some help.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
If you're a Chicago Bear fan, I can live with
that loss. Thirty five thirty five, fifty eighth total first
downs in the game. It was a track meet. Somebody
had to lose. I can live with that. Caleb was excellent.
The play calling was excellent. Third down, fourth down was excellent.
(05:44):
My only issue with the Bears is San Francisco's defense
isn't good. They have an excuse lost Fred Warner and Bosa.
They don't have a lot of great players. Chicago's got
some high end defensive players. What were they doing? Robert
Solo is mixing up Bitz says he was attacking, he
was being aggressive, he was creating occasionally some pressure on
(06:07):
Caleb Williams behind Chicago's excellent line.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Now, Caleb didn't get.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Sacked, but he got flushed out of the pocket more
than a few times. Chicago's defense felt very passive to me.
In fact, if you look at the numbers, and we
did this morning, brog Perty had the second most time
to throw in his career last night and the most
(06:32):
time to throw all season. So I think you can
look at year one with Ben Johnson. You're contending going
into that game for the number one seed.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
You're on the road in.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
The second half, and your second half possessions are touchdown, touchdown,
field goal, and you're at the two yard line. Ben Johnson,
tip of the cap. Caleb Williams has gotten better every week.
Second week in a row. Caleb Williams no sacks. That
was the big concern into the season. You gotta get
out of the negative plays. Back to back games no sacks,
(07:02):
and again Sala was being hyper aggressive. Dennis Allen I thought, again,
at least we now know what the Bears are gonna
do during the draft. You know they need linebackers, they
need an edge rusher.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
We know what Chicago's going to do in.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The draft, but Sala was dialing up all sorts of pressure.
It didn't sack Caleb, but at least he was occasionally uncomfortable.
Like the final play here, I felt like brock Purty
just sat, took his time, did what he wanted. It
felt passive to me. In Chicago's five losses, they are
surrendering thirty five points a game. That's worse than Cincinnati,
(07:37):
and they've got better defensive talent than Cincinnati. So I
didn't love kind of a passive defensive game plan. I
didn't love that, But all in all, if you're a
Bear fan, somebody had to lose that track me. I
thought Caleb was great, no sacks, no picks. Ben Johnson's
play calling outstanding. What's new? You gotta You're not gonna
(08:00):
win all these close games? And San Francisco's offense this
year when brock Perty's upright, has been unbelievable. We have
been saying on this show, Bill J. McK and I
have been saying this for almost three months, absolutely two months.
If you gave out in the NFL an Award for
(08:21):
the best coaching staff, I would give it to the Niners.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I would give it to the Niners.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
What Sala's doing with this defense, creating some pressure against
the great old line, and no Fred Warner, no Bosa
banged up, moved off to Funga, the great safety in
Greenlaw in the offseason. So the Niners are on a
heater tip of the cap to that organization and Brock Purty.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And here was Caleb on a tough road loss.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
We've proven who we are, will fight, and you know,
I think we're a team to be wrecking with. And
so I'm I'm excited for, you know, this next game.
I'm excited to go back and watch this film and
figure out how we can better, how we can put
up more points, how we can be more efficient, maybe
on offense for for moments like this, because we may
see this team again.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I'll tell you one of the things that's great about Caleb.
I've compared him a little to Josh Allen, a shorter
Josh Allen, where he's not going to be perfect. I
don't worry too much about the fifty nine percent accuracy thing.
Last night, I thought he threw a he threw really
good footballs. I mean I thought hit on a deep
throw to Burden, hit on a couple of key sideline throws.
(09:35):
I think I think Caleb's fine. In fact, he's how
about the free play touchdown to Loveland, Who's just a
horse man? That guy is a handful. I think Caleb's
clearly coachable. I think he loves his coach, and I
think Ben Johnson. They didn't play great offense early. They
had a couple of series. I did not love the
Bears defense got that pick six early, But overall, I
(09:58):
think if you're a Chicago Bear, if I'd have told
you you were gonna lose last night but it was
gonna be a wild shootout and you would have the
ball at the two yard line, you would take that
loss over any loss this year. That offense for the
Bears is stacked. It is going to be a handful
against every team they play. I'm not sure anybody right
(10:21):
now is beating the Niners in the Bay. This offense
just is crazy good. NFL's best game probably right there.
J Mack, I don't mind losing the bet when it's
that kind of way.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I mean, that was, yeah, we were head to head
on that Colin. By the way, do you want to
guess the line? Seahawks travel to San fran on Saturday night,
so short week again for the Niners.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Okay, they are at home.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Seattle was just in Carolina, so they had a cross country.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
They would guess Niners minus one.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Wrong.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Seattle is favored in San Francisco by one. Now I
know it's just one and it's not huge. I was
surprised by it. I don't know what they're seeing. Maybe
the Trent Williams injury means he's not gonna play it well.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
To know, I think you would admit this, and you
love Purty. When Brock is comfortable, forget it. He is
he is, and last night he is moving around. That's
why I thought Dennis Allen should have been much more aggressive.
Comfortable Brock perty's a handful when you speed the game up.
And this was the knock on Brock. It's been a
knocking his career, in the knock in college. He can
get a little reckless if you speed him up. Because
(11:27):
he you watched last night, he is not afraid to
throw the ball down the field. Garoppolo with Kyle kind
of kept it safe, didn't throw it the sideline. Brock's aggressive.
Maybe not Sam Darnold aggressive, but Brock is aggressive. So
now Seattle is going to speed up everything for the
Niners because it's a much better pass rush those you know.
And also Christian McCaffrey had another huge touch night.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Now.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Interestingly, though, Colin regarding Seattle, they played in the season opener.
Remember that game, Darnold had to turn over around it
in the red zone, maybe the ten yard line at
the end of the game. Perdy did struggle at times,
but the Niners defense is much worse than it was
in Week one.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Okay, So look at what the wise guys have done.
The Seattle San Francisco line has flipped three points in
the last couple hours. It started where I thought it
should be San Francisco minus one and a half. The
wise guys, the Sharps pounded Seattle. Seattle now is favored
by one and a half. So the sharp money, Sharper square,
(12:27):
the sharp money all on Seattle.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Ye, So would you back Sam Darnold in that spot?
Huge late season game, by the way, Donald was it
was pretty atrocious against Carolina. Hey, no excuses, buddy, come
on listen Saturday night. That's the main event this weekend.
I don't care about Steelers Ravens. That's a good game.
This Game is Everything Seattle on Sanfra.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Last night was fun. That was great.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in newone eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning
on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't
your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down
your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions
on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help
you win big at the sportsbook.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
And all the best guests.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
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 Foxsportsradio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening
to The Herd podcast. Here we go, Hour two and
(13:56):
the Monday Man hasselback five minutes away.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
We're live.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It's the Herd last night as good as the NFL gets,
Niners edge pass, the Chicago Bears drama in Pittsburgh. Who's
left offensively to help? Aaron Rodgers, San Francisco and Seattle?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
How good is that? It is great to have you
in a Monday.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Let's not waste any time where Colin was right, where
Colin was wrong on a Monday, where Colin was right,
well well, well slinging Sammy Darnald. You know quarterbacks with
consecutive thirteen win seasons in NFL history, It's Brady Manning, Rogers,
Farv and Sam Darnald.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, he's in pretty good company.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Just goes to show your first job isn't always your best.
Sam Darnald never worries about the occasional mistake, always looking forward.
He and JSN, by the way, that has got to
be a top five combo going forward was wrong, probably
been a little tough on brock pretty or maybe he's
(15:04):
just getting better because the last month brock Purty's aggressiveness
efficiency movement has been stuff for the Ages and let yeah,
I know, Garoppolo was good in San Francisco. It wasn't
this good. He wasn't this aggressive. I thought yesterday was
as good as he's played. I mean, just making ad libbing,
playing with instructure, and I like the fact that he
(15:27):
throws a pick six and it doesn't get him down,
It doesn't change his mood or body language. Number two
red zone offense. I know Kyle Shanahan's great, but this
is the best quarterback play he's had since Matt Ryan.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Won the MVP. Where Colin was right, Mike vrabel I.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Had predicted New England will be a playoff team. They're
going to be the double your win total team. They
tripled it and they fixed everything in one season. Remember
when we didn't like their wide receiver room. Well, their
top five offense, top five defense, and they've immediately surpassed
Sean McDermott year one. That's not the way it should
(16:07):
be now. Now, Drake May's good.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Is he this good?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I don't know, But this was to me the easiest
offseason call. With all that free agent money, Josh McDaniels,
Mike Brabel and an improving Drake May, this team's going
to get good fast, and they did. Where Colin was
wronged the Colts have lost six straight. Maybe they shouldn't
give up two first round picks for a cornerback.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Sauce Gardner.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I have defended the head coach in the GM, but
even the Philip Rivers story he went oh for three
Daniel Jones, the truth is who he is sort of
surfaced eventually. Right now. They're not close to Jacksonville offensively
in their own division, and they're a mile from Houston defensively,
so at best they are the third best team in
(16:54):
a pretty wonky division. I was wrong where Colin was right.
I never bought in to Aaron Glenn. I mean, they've
been blown out four straight games by twenty three or more.
It looks like the players have quit. How can you
be a defensive coach and not have a single interception
all season? That's kind of historically embarrassing. It's okay, Nat Hackett,
(17:16):
you knew early. David Cully, Freddie Kitchens, Jim tom Sula
like some coaches feel like coordinators, not head coaches. But
this has been pretty bad. This has been pretty bad.
Where Colin was wrong, I figured Chip Kelly, Pete Carroll,
Gino Smith would at least be interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I didn't know they'd be awful.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I mean, Gino can throw the ball and Chip Kelly
and Pete Carroll and they got housed yesterday by the
New York Giants. Now, the good news is they have
the number one pick and they're going to draft the
quarterback out of Indiana. But I almost think Max Crosby
is it time to trade Max Crosby? He deserves better
and you can get more draft capital because they feel
like the Raiders feel like they are.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
A mile away where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Excellent NFL reporter Ian Rapaport Saturday reported, yes, the Giants,
if they had the number one pick, would consider moving
Jackson Dart and drafting Fernando Mendoza. Why wouldn't you. Jackson
Dart's three and eight, not eight and three. Jackson Dart's fine,
But if your scouting department says Mendoza has a much
higher ceiling, then you go listen to your scouting department.
(18:25):
The Giants offense has been mostly dismal for a decade.
Everything has to be on the table when you're the Jets,
when you're the Giants, you know, everything has to be
on the table. You can't say, well, we've got our
we got our franchise quarterback.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
As I've said, I like Jackson Dart.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
He spends more time in the blue tent than an
RII manager.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Not good enough where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Finally, JJ Reddick, this was my concern when the Lakers
were red hot without Lebron James. Jj Reddick admitted, since
Lebron returned, we have been organized offensively. There's just too
many possessions that we are wasting.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
This is what I said.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Lebron won't play defense anymore, and all you're doing is
taking the ball out of Austin Reeves or Luca's hand.
And this idea that well, Lebron will make it work. Yeah,
but I mean he's been the best player in the
league for about fifteen year stretch. He's also got pride,
and so this is a disjointed, uneven roster. The pressure
(19:28):
now on Rob Polincott to make some moves or maybe
it's sort of a lost year.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
But JJ Reddick.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Saying the honest part out loud and the uncomfortable part.
Lebron coming back has made things a little difficult too.
Colin Wright Colin wrong.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
On a Monday, We'll be sure to catch live editions
of the Herd weekdays and noone Easter, not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
With that, Matt Hasselbeck, eighteen years in the NFL joins us.
I gotta say, maybe I have Maybe I I have
trait bias where I like my quarterbacks to be big
and strong. Maybe I have draft bias where if you're
the last guy taking in a draft, although Kurt Warner
and Tony Romo were undrafted. But the last three weeks
(20:12):
with Brock Purdy, now that his toes healed, red Zone,
he's aggressive. I mean I watched last night. I'm like, yeah,
you can get to the super Bowl with that. I
guess I just whiffed, right, I mean I was just
wrong on it.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
Yeah, yeah, you're coming around. I mean I like to
see it.
Speaker 8 (20:28):
I mean I think it was a long time you
were complaining about certain things.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
But you're not alone. Listen.
Speaker 8 (20:35):
He doesn't pass the eye test like you see him.
He looks like you might be a college kid or
a high school quarterback. He doesn't WOWU with those tangibles,
but his intangibles.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Are off the charts.
Speaker 8 (20:45):
And when you talk about a guy like Kyle Shanan
or John Lanchard, these guys who understand how to evaluate quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (20:51):
He clearly is their guy.
Speaker 8 (20:52):
And you talk, you listen to his teammates talk about him,
whether it's Trent Williams or Kittle or McCaffrey, they're like, no, no,
this is our guy. This dude's a dog. He's a beast.
And I think we saw that the other night. He
plays on rhythm. He plays from the pocket, outside the pocket.
I think Kyle Shanahan does a really nice job with
the shorter quarterbacks getting them outside the pocket just as
(21:12):
much as they're inside the pocket for better vision, you know.
And he's got moxie. He started over forty games at
Iowa State. There's something to playing when you're in college
and not sitting and watching. And you know, I think
he's a little bit more agile than people realize.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
Defenders included.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, No, I'm he is way more athletic than I've
ever given him credit for. He's been dinged up a
little in his career for the first time in a
long time. He's healthy and he is he moves well.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I said, if you're the Bears, my bigger issue is
I don't think I thought they were reactive on defense,
not proactive. Saula's got nothing to work with, and he's blitzing,
he's mixing stuff up, he's trying to make Caleb a
little uncomfortable. He made him just uncomfortable enough on that
final play. But overall, I kind of feel like second
straight game Caleb didn't get sacked, didn't have an interception.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I think you got to.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Feel pretty good if your Chicago you lost a track meet.
You've been winning all these games. If you're gonna lose,
you can lose the hottest offense in the NFL. What
was your take on the Bears?
Speaker 8 (22:11):
Yeah, well, I think three games in a row where
Klebs played really well and really encouraging. This was just
a great offensive matchup. You know, you got Ben Johnson
on one side, Kyle Shanan on the other, really fun
offensive game. If you love defense, you're probably you know,
pulling your hair out just a little bit. But explosive plays,
trick plays, quarterbacks being really elusive, doing it on time,
doing outside. You know, I think there's still opportunities. One
(22:34):
team had to go home the loser, right, and so
when you watch the film the next day, you can
usually point to three to five plays that if we
just make one of those plays, we win the game.
And you heard Chris Collinsworth on the broadcast last night,
you know, allude to it, like, man, if we just
had a ticket, if you could have just found a
way to get the ball to this guy this one time.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
And that happens in every game.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
And I think that's why this game was so fun
to watch, and it's also why I think everyone's excited
if it happens again. But now, it was a good
quarterback battle last night, and I got to give credit
to both guys played really well. Just one guy made
the play at the end and the other guy didn't.
And you know they might meet again and it might
be different the next time.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So much fun, such a fun NFL game. I'm gonna
support the Bills going for it. I thought the Eagles
defense was on the field the entire second half. You
have Josh Allen, you're at home, You're favored. I'm gonna
go with it. I'm gonna I'm not gonna be a
backsheet guy. Were you okay going for two in Buffalo? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (23:34):
I would have been good either way. Like either way,
you could make the argument for not. You know, the
Eagles hadn't done much offensively, But then again, we're at home.
I got Josh Allen as my quarterback. I've got a
two point play. This is what happens when you decide
on your two point play the night before, or maybe
even two days before, in an air conditioning room with
a group of people.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
You right on your big call sheet.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
Okay, if we've got fourth and goal to win the game,
our two point play is what what are we calling?
And you feel really good about it sometimes? And I
bet you they thought really good about this play. The
play worked, and you know, Josh Allen, he's got to
be kicking himself. Ninety nine out of one hundred times
he makes that throw, guarantee it. It was kind of
shocking to see him not making now. He's banged up,
(24:16):
he's got a real bad foot injury. He maybe he
can't push off, feels the pressure, bad weather, all the stuff.
But no, I'm in favor of going for that. I'd
and I'd be in favor of calling the exact same
play again in the exact same situation.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
I'd feel good about the quarterback making the play.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
The Eagles are so weird, I can't even wrap my
brain around A. J.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Brown was feeling it.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
The short passing game was working, and then they just
pulled the plug on the offense. They have four of
the worst offensive halves in the league this year, and
that's counting all the bad offenses. Explain to me what
happens as well as you can with this offense about
every other week.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
Who knows, man, Like, if you got if you're an
eel sa like, this is what I would say about it,
though I'm not. A win is a win, right, and
we're not going to apologize for that and all the stuff, right.
And I've gotten on here before and have said, hey, listen,
it would be better if the offense, instead of turning
the ball over and playing sloppy and stuff like that,
it would be better if you took a knee three
(25:18):
times and let your punter punt. I mean, I remember
doing the Rams Seahawks game earlier this year and the
Rams Darnold had an un characteristic day through four interceptions,
and I said, if the Seahawks just would have taken
a knee three times and let their punter punt, they
would have won. And that's kind of the mindset that
it felt. Philly went with a little bit in terms
of hey, let's play safe let our punter punt, our
(25:40):
defense playing actually really really well. Thirteen to nothing lead
most of the game. It's a scary lead, thirteen points.
No one really loves the thirteen point lead. It's a
weird I don't know, maybe I've been burned too many times.
But then you let your punter punt and then just
you know, don't step on the line when he downs
a perfect punt on the one yard line. You know,
stuff like that. Execute well on special teams to help
your defense play. But no, it's a little it's a
(26:03):
little frustrating when you're used to Philly's offense being good.
But there is a complimentary football aspect to this, where
just don't screw it up when you're up by two scores.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So it's I mean, it's just so Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
So I like healthier Baltimore even if Huntley plays, because
I think he's a pretty capable backup.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
I watched him beat the Bears this year. He's good.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Derrick Henry Zay Flowers, I harball, I this is rough.
Washington broke his arm. DK's not around. I don't even
know who their number one receiver is MBS. They don't
have really a dependable run game and they quit on
it sometimes. Do you I like Baltimore in the final week?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
And where are you with Pittsburgh today?
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Well, I'll start with Baltimore.
Speaker 8 (26:50):
I don't for whatever reason, Lamar Jackson just doesn't look
like Lamar Jackson this year. You know, I don't know
if it's on the field, off the field, it's not
the same Tyler Huntley, you know, for whatever reason, and
he's in the game.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
They lean more on Derrick Henry. They use a Flowers
in the.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
Run game, like they get a little bit more of
what I think about Baltimore Raven football, Like, we're going
to be the hammer, not the nail.
Speaker 7 (27:10):
We're not going to get too cute. Now.
Speaker 8 (27:12):
Now the Steelers on the other side, they're not operating
at full strength. You mentioned DK huge loss, Washington, huge loss.
I would love to see Aaron Rodgers under center more
using his Hall of Fame brain, getting them into the
right play call, using his cadence, taking advantage of free plays.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
It's something the things.
Speaker 8 (27:33):
That he does better than anybody in the world, really,
but this idea of him just dropping back and empty
and throwing to his guys that he feels comfortable with
even if it's not a great matchup, that's not winning.
I just don't think that's their best formula. That's kind
of what he tried to do Aaron Rodgers did last
year with the Jets. That's not the thing to me.
I think where he can be exceptional is when he's
(27:54):
just sort of running the offense, you know, using all
the skills in experience that he's had that he has,
and in helping the players around him, mainly the running backs,
be successful. And again, I think it's like point guard
not shooting forward, and if he can do that, they
can be They can actually do some damage in the playoffs.
(28:15):
But they got to kind of, like, I think, take
a hard look in the mirror and say, Okay, what
do we really do best right now?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So you know, it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I'm watching Green Band Malik Willis and he goes in
Tennessee and Mike Rables and win now mode, and so
they don't pay a lot of attention to Eliku. They're
not going to be there to monitor him and mentor him.
He goes to Green Bay and there's no necessary urgency.
You know, Jordan loves your franchise quarterback. So he gets
a really good coach, Matt Lafleur, he gets a really
(28:47):
good organization, he gets really good players. And then you
watch Malik Willis after a couple of years and you're like, oh,
this kid, kid, this is why he was so well
thought of. He also went to a small school in college, Matt,
so the NFL was a huge jump and that, you know,
that doesn't help. And so I watch him now and
I watch the Packers and I'm like, Jordan loves the
(29:08):
franchise guy if you ran a team in this league,
because there's not going to be many quarterbacks in that
first round?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Do you think Malik Willis?
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I look at that talent and I'm like, is he
a franchise guy or is it just Lafleur the environment?
And he's just a really really talented bridge guy. But
I'm watching Saturday Night and I'm like, man, there's a
lot there, Like I get why he was drafted out
a liberty so high. Would you roll the dice on
Malik Willis? Is it an environment or is that kid
a franchise What do you what do you see?
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Are you saying as your starting quarterback in free agency?
Speaker 7 (29:42):
Is that what you mean?
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Just go for it and sign him to a three
year deal.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
Yeah, it's it's interesting because I remember when he came out,
a lot of people liked him, some people didn't. And
you know, I remember he was the third string quarterback
in Tennessee and he was an afterthought and it was
about well Levice and Mason Rudolph and these guys, and
you know, clearly your environment does matter. Green Bay is
one of those places that even back when I was
the backup there, even before I got there, Brett Favre,
(30:08):
Mark Brunell, Tai Depmer, Steve Bono, like, there's like a
lot of guys there in the room. They over invest
in the quarterback position. And Malik is one of those
guys in a long list that play really really good football.
I think Matt Lafleura does a great job. I think
Kyle Shanahan does a great job. I think Sean McVay
does a great job. There's a lot of these guys
that come from that, Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak,
(30:29):
now Clink Kobiak Tree where we have a system that
we believe in. It's not all on you to go
play playground ball. You just have to trust us, be coachable,
and let the offense work for you. It's sort of
like just add milk and stirr kind of deal. And
some guys are able to make that jump and some
guys aren't. And I think Malik is a great example
(30:50):
of a guy that plays within the system, has great
coaching around him, and clearly is a problem for defenses.
He's kind of overachieved for what is expectation level was
would I make it?
Speaker 7 (31:01):
Would I make a jump on him?
Speaker 8 (31:02):
If you're running that exact same offense, I think you
can do that.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yes, yeah, yeah, it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Okay, So Seattle plays San Francisco. Uh, and it's interesting
just to be instructive. Niners opened as a one and
a half point favorite.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
The Sharps, the wise.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Guys all bet Seattle, And I was telling j Mack
he loves Purty, and I said, Brock's one of those
guys that if you give him time.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
And you don't speed him up.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Sam Donald's a little like this, that that Brock is
highly effective.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
If you speed Brock up.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
If you speed Donald up, then you because these guys
are aggressive, throw the ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
San Francisco is not going to speed Donald up. They
have no pass rush. Seattle can speed Brock up. So
I think Seattle is probably the play here. What do
you envision You know Seattle so well Seattle San Francisco,
you've seen.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Both so many times. What is that going to look like?
Speaker 8 (31:59):
Well, this is a really good Seattle team, and I
know people have been sleeping on them until probably this morning,
you know, on the national scene. This is probably the
best defense they've had in a long long time. This
is the most points they've scored on offense. I think ever,
you know, you go back to Week one though. In
Week one, Seattle played San Fran and they just didn't
look like themselves. And sometimes that can happen when you
(32:22):
play your friends. And Clint Kubiak and Sam Donald, they
came from San Fran, Kyle Shanahan like they know our offense,
and they it was unrecognizable what they decided to be
on offense in that first matchup. They didn't have a
fullback in the game. They were an empty formation so much,
and I think they just got to get back to Hey,
this is our identity and I don't care what you
(32:42):
know about us. We're going to do what we do,
and I think if the Seahawks do that the second
time around, offensively, yes, I agree, Sam Donald will have
time to throw and he'll be comfortable. On the defensive side,
I think Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, DeMarcus Lawrence, those are
underrated guys that can at pressure on Pergy. But again,
he's very, very elusive and just so, if you just
(33:04):
beat your guy in front of you, that doesn't necessarily
mean that you won the down. Kind of got to
play team defense to the whistle. So now I think
the number one seed in play at San.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
Fran I don't.
Speaker 8 (33:15):
I think this is a too close to call a game.
The NFL got it right. Saturday night prime time should
be a great one.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Matt Hasselbeck on a Monday, wild night, last night, wild games.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Great seeing you man, all right, buddy, see it
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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