February 4, 2026 • 48 mins
Colin Cowherd explains why Mike Vrabel was the right man for the job in New England and if Sam Darnold’s legacy is on the line vs the Patriots in the Super Bowl
San Francisco All Pro RB Christian McCaffrey joined the show to talk about his unique relationship with Darnold along with 2-Time Super Bowl Champ Chris Long
Colin also gave us his Top 10 players in the Super Bowl
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Here we go. It is a Wednesday, it is Super
Bowl week. We're live, We're in Los Angeles. It's the
Hurt wherever you may be, however you may be watching us.
Christian McCaffrey stopping by today, Fred Warner, Chris Long And
as always, I do it for the big games. I
(00:52):
did it for the AFC Championship. I did it for
the NFC Championship. I get a notepad and I write
down the ten best players in the game, and I'll
have that either later this hour or top of next down.
So I've worked at seven different corporations in my life.
Been very fortunate, and there's been a lot of different
leadership styles. I would say this though, when a culture
(01:18):
or a business is broken, one style is highly effective.
Conflict the Bears were broken, the Patriots were broken, the
Broncos were broken, the Chargers were broken, and they brought
in coaches that had only really one thing in common.
They'll get in your face. They don't avoid conflict. Mike
(01:41):
Frable came into a broken franchise. I know Girodmeo was
only there for a year. It was a mess. And
the media loves fluff pieces on nice guys. I know
Mike he got mad at me once on text, because
that's who Mike is and he never holds grudges. But
I remember when Mike mcdan and you'll got that Dolphin job.
He's a nice guy, he's fun and he's quirky, And
(02:04):
I kept asking the question, is he going to stand
in a room of fifty five alphas and kind of
intimidate them and they're worried about keeping their job or
a DNP. And two years after he took the job,
he saw a bunch of stories leaking. Doesn't command the
respect of the room players are working him. So just
(02:27):
a reminder, Bill Walts, Jimmy Johnson, and Bill Belichick, they
demanded excellence. They didn't request it, it was demanded. And
there were two organizations this year to me that totally
felt broken. The Bears Ben Johnson got hired, and the
Patriots Mike Crable got hired offensive guy, defensive guy. And
(02:48):
Bears fans are funny in Chicago. They come up to
me all the time. You're so hard on Caleb Williams,
and I always say Ben Johnson's harder. Stop seeking comfort.
You finally got a quarterback. Don't lecture people on how
to handle them. Bill Belichick was on Tom Brady's butt
twenty years in demanding excellence. Ooh, Caleb Williams improved, So
(03:14):
what is he playing in this game? Drake may is
Sam Darnold is? There is no who I arrived at quarterback?
Go ask Tom Brady and Drew Brees every seasons and
new season. Football is hard. It is violent, and it
is precise, and there is a requisite level of intensity
(03:35):
and conflict that is absolutely necessary. Mike McDaniel's a good guy.
Mike Brabel jumped into the middle of fights during training camp.
I mean, you watch those old Jimmy Johnson clips and
Bill Walsh clips. I watched an unbelievable documentary on Netflix
last week, Miracle The Boys of eighty. It's on Lake
(03:57):
placid on Herb Brooks Rest in peace. Herb Brooks scared players.
Nobody said nice guy. Even his kids acknowledged he was tough,
he was demanding, he didn't sleep well. And Herb Brooks
achieved something that an average coach wouldn't because great coaching
(04:22):
and great bosses take you to a place and accompany
to a place you couldn't get in your own and
you couldn't get with average leadership. And so when I
was hearing these stories early where Rabel's jumping into fights,
and I know a lot of people through the years
that have dealt with Rabel, he does not hold grudges.
Belichick would seethe, roll his eyes at you once a year, snap,
(04:48):
but he held grudges. I've been told this by multiple people.
Vrabel will snap at you as a reporter three days
a week. Never holds a grudge. And I think that's instructive.
I think grudge holding is bad management. But when I
think of Rabel and Ben Johnson and Harball and Sean Payton,
some offense, some defense, some young, some the one thing
(05:10):
I think is incredibly comfortable with conflict. And Tom Brady
was on yesterday and I said, I think it almost
plays into his favor. The Patriots are underdogs. Everybody's talking
about Seattle. That totally plays into Vrabel being able to
go to his players and make them uncomfortable and tell
(05:34):
them again, no pandering, no soft speech, nobody thinks you
can win. Here was Brady yesterday on Mike No. One.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Brabel, he's probably got every bit of underdog material up everywhere.
We were fourteen point underdogs in two thousand and one
Braves as part of that team. Believe me, Colin, if
you kick the Seahawks, I'm sure he's gonna be telling
the entire team that Colin Collor picked the Seahawks. We're underdogs.
That's just the mentality. And you know that's okay. I mean,
someone's got to be that. They've been clutched. They've played
(06:05):
good defense, they've played good offense. They've been explosive plays,
surgical plays. They run the ball, they've had explosive runs.
They've really found a lot of different ways to win.
And that's why that's why they're playing in this game.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And as of Wednesday, I still like New England close.
So I read a story this morning. The headline was
who has the most to gain or lose legacy wise
in the big game, and they list ten different people.
I love Mike McDonald. You have to have a legacy
before you can improve or deteriorate it. Like the guys
(06:39):
like thirty eight years old, it didn't have a legacy yet.
Now you can change Mike McDonald's trajectory, but you're not
changing his legacy on this list. And really it's the
only player on this list who you can change their legacy.
And you know who it is. It's Sam Donald. Because legacies,
(07:00):
I mean Sam's was already engraved in stone. They wrote
it down with a sharpie bust. He wins. And by
the way, you can feel the tension last week in Seattle,
you can feel his legacy. We judge Sam donald interceptions
different than Drake May. If Drake May throws two picks,
(07:21):
it's not a headline. If Sam Donald throws one and
they lose, that's the headline. Last week against the Rams,
he was virtually perfect. In fact, people talked about Matt
Stafford's game. Actually Donald was better because Stafford wasn't good
on third down and Stafford was un was watching Donald.
Donald was unbelievable on third down, the key down. So
(07:45):
in this Super Bowl. There is one player who can
change his legacy. It will change the way he is introduced.
In fact, I was reading stories this week and there's
literally something happening in football, and I believe sort of
the jet fuel for it is Donald. Where people are
now saying, we judge quarterbacks too early, we quit on
(08:09):
quarterbacks too early. That's because of Sam Darnald. Nobody wrote
that story a couple of years ago, because of Gino
Smith and Seattle. That is a Sam Donald story. There
is no quarterback ever that's won a Super Bowl after
being on five teams. He was a buff. It was
engraved in stone, it was written in sharpie. It's not
a new chapter, it's a new book. But I will
(08:31):
tell you this that when I watched Donald, and I
don't think I'm unique or singular in this. When I
watch him, When I watched him against the Rams, I
watched him nervously, and I wondered it Sam doesn't play nervously.
But I thought, we are just going to judge Sam
more harshly. And that tells me he is the one
(08:55):
guy that comes into this game who can change his legacy,
because you know how it works. Sam loses and doesn't
play particularly great, that ram win disappears, vanishes into the ether.
Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Drake May has played poorly in
the playoffs. If Drake May plays good enough to win,
(09:18):
not even well, Oh my god, Drake May was a
Super Bowl. If Sam Donald plays okay but has an
untimely pick, it will be you can't trust Darnald a
big game? What about last week? Who played last I
don't remember that game two weeks ago. So here's Mike
Vrabel on what he sees on film with Sam Donald.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
He's handled it well.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
I think that, you know, again, there's a willingness to
stand in the pocket, and there's a willingness to progress through.
There's a lot of talent. I think his courage to
stand in there. I mean the Rams nailed him and
he and he completed an unbelievable pass to.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Cooper on the sideline.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So he and shy Way didn't Duck, didn't fade back.
He stood there and face the fire, which what you
have to do in this league if you're going to
be an elite quarterback.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I still think I'm gonna take the points. I think
it's low scoring. I think there are several field goals.
I do think Seattle has more good players, but not
that many more good players.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
J McK.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I think you and I see the same kind of game,
A lot of it between the thirties. Both defenses excellent,
both those lines okay quarterbacks. Both can be a tad
mistake prone if pressured. I think it's pretty low scoring.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
I would totally agree the unders coming down.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
I thought at forty five yesterday it just people are
concerned with this Patriots offense. Can they do anything against
a fier Seattle defense the entire time?
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So I went, I have a relationship at the school
that I went to and with somebody at the university
who is friends with a current coach in the AFC.
He is a current position coach in the AFC, and
they are close. I know my friend, but I don't
know the coach. And he said, the coach in the AFC,
(11:24):
and I won't tell you what team that has played
the Patriot says he thinks New England is going to
struggle to block Seattle's front. He thinks New England is
going to have their hands full blocking Seattle's front. Now,
I also think New England's front and their secondary are outstanding,
(11:45):
so but that's I think it's a very I mean,
I told you that I think it's got a twenty
three seventeen field to it that it just feels, you know,
twenty four to twenty that kind of field.
Speaker 7 (11:58):
To Meaniel doesn't have a Will Anderson coming off the edge.
But what they do have is just waves of defenders
coming on the blitz and you don't know where it's
coming from up the middle, left right. I do wonder though,
on Seattle's side, Colin, I don't know how to say
this politely, but is there any concern at all that
Sam Darnold maybe reverts to being Carolina Sets.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I think here's the bigger deal. If you bracket JSM,
who's their number two receiver, Raha.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Heat has zero touchdowns in nine games receiving with.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
His well, yeah, Rashidzahat is a special teams foenof and
it is a singular sideline over the top throw, which
they did last week. Yeah, if you take out Stefan Diggs,
I still think they have some interesting pieces New England does.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
Boody's pretty pretty good on the outside.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Very explosive, So it's to me, I think it will
be a defense even when Brady played for the Patriots,
and I think veryble has Belichick's sort of sensibility. Tom
was never a big first quarter or Super Bowl guy.
New England's gonna come in. It's gonna be much, very
(13:08):
much feel it out. You're not gonna put Drake May
in bad spots. Seattle, who I think probably believes they
have better personnel slightly, is also not going to get
hyper aggressive early. It's a first quarterback for May and Darnell.
You could see a very conservative It's like a boxing
match with two great fighters. First couple of rounds. Nobody
(13:30):
wants to be put their chin in danger. I could
see a very conservative first quarter, and I really have
a feeling special teams will play a factor. I think
when your defenses are both great, your O lines are
the weakness. Your quarterbacks are good but can make mistakes.
I think the margins, I think the special teams will
(13:51):
play a factor.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
And there goes to Seattle.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that those special teams was the
Rams liability while they're not well. I mean you said
even after the Seattle Rams game you thought the Rams
were better. You were not the only person saying, oh,
come on, special teams were a huge factor all year
for Seattle.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (14:19):
Steve Gotts Here, I have a podcast Empire. It continues
to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
Speaker 8 (14:33):
It's called ste Goots and Company Live, which is available
in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day.
Some of the biggest names in sports, a lot of
phone calls.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
I love you guys.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You show It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 8 (14:46):
A lot of interact shit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you could
expect from Stu Gottson Company and stew Gottson Company Live.
So listen to Stu Gotson Company Live and I will
original podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review Steve Gotsen Company and.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
God Bless Football.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
Taylor's livelihood depends on it.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
You do it today and you can.
Speaker 8 (15:10):
Check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Here we go live in LA. It's the herd wherever
you may be, however you may be watching, listening, whatever
the platform. Thanks for making us part of your day. Well.
I do this before, probably about five different games over
the course of the year. I will write down the
top ten players. And my feeling is if whoever's got
(15:46):
the most quality players, especially if the quarterbacks are pretty even.
And I think in this space the quarterbacks are pretty even.
Sam's got more experience, both have big arms, both are athletic,
both are coachable, both are tough, both can be a
little reckless. I think the quarterbacks are pretty close. So
here we go. It is an annual Super Bowl tradition.
It is a Wednesday. Here are the top ten players.
(16:08):
Number ten, Milton Williams, New England outstanding. He has changed
their rush defense. Patriots now number one run defense in
the league. Darnold's going to have to throw highest graded
interior lineman in the entire postseason. Led all players with
eight pressures in the AFC Championship game according to PFF.
(16:32):
SO people thought he was a little overpriced. I wouldn't
worry about that. He is a game altering interior d
lineman has been great, worth every penny for the Patriots.
Number nine DeMarcus Lawrence, Seattle. What a year for him.
It wasn't like he was a reclamation project, but he
just got on a team where you couldn't double him
(16:55):
as much. Led the Seahawks and force fumbles and fumble
recoveries and defense touchdowns this year, led the Seahawks, and
sacks and pressures. It almost feels like its body has changed.
He feels twitch year, he feels quicker this year. A
good cat. Dallas let him go. You know everybody talks
about Micah. DeMarcus Lawrence has just emerged as a big
(17:20):
time player. Eleventh highest credit edge defender this year. Number nine,
Number eight Mike owhennu for a guard for the Patriots.
We had him on last week as well. He's their
best offensive lineman. He does not miss snaps and it's
not a great offensive line, so he was their only
returning starter. No sacks or pressures allowed all postseason, and
(17:45):
nobody else in that offensive line has played at his level.
Eighth highest graded guard this year, and I think he
really matters in this game because I do think New
England's tackles, could struggle in pass pro, so I think
he he's very important. Number seven Nick aman Worri, the
(18:05):
rookie from South Carolina. That dude is versatile. When you
can get a guy who can provide sacks and coverage,
dude to safety and opposing quarterbacks have a seventy two
point five passer rating against him. He is really something else.
A second round pick. I remember draft day when he
got picked. All the draft experts said that could be
(18:28):
the best player in the second round. He has been sensational.
Number seven, number six, Stefon Diggs. Play him in the slot,
play him on the sideline. Second highest graded player for
the Patriots. You know, people talk about his personalities, disruptive.
You know, here's what I know. Line him up anywhere
these wide receivers where you can line up on the
(18:50):
slot or the sideline. Outstanding top ten receiver PFF slot
and on the outside. Stefon Diggs, Number six, number five,
Drake May. He's young, he'll get better, but he's really
good now. First quarterback to win three playoff games against
top five defenses in a single postseason. He's twenty three
(19:12):
years old. He had a couple of bad halfs had
won against Pittsburgh early in the year, but again, this
team had so many free agents and so many rookies
playing key roles. Here's all I know. When the game's
on the line against Denver, they asked him to run
and him to make the big throw. That shows me
trust from coaches. They dialed his number in the biggest
(19:35):
spots in that Denver in Houston game. I can live
with some mistakes for a rookie quarterback. He's five, number four.
He's not a rookie year too. Sam Darnold thirty and
seven over the last two years. Like May, there are
times he can be a little loose with a football.
He'll get it knocked out of his hands. Love his
arm strength, love his toughness, love his coachability. You know,
(19:59):
Sam play nearly a perfect football game against the Rams defense,
and that is sand something. I put him at.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Four, number three.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Kenneth Walker, just like he was at Michigan State. He
breaks tackles. Highest graded running back in the playoffs. Now,
is he Christian McCaffrey in terms of versatility. No, Christian
McCaffrey is one of the top three or four running
backs I've ever seen. But what he provides. I mean,
you go to that RAM game, what he provides, he
(20:27):
makes people miss this year second most misstackles force behind
Bijon Robinson. That is an additive player. Number two Devin Witherspoon,
the corner for the Seahawks. Let him in tackles in
the Divisional round. Highest graded cornerback who could beat him once.
But it's there's an argument that's about his hard a
(20:50):
position to play in the league. He has been great
physical since he came out of Illinois. You know again,
when you come in, they are going to test you.
As a young corner, he gets tested a lot and
he is always up for it. I just love his mindset.
I love his toughness. He can tackle, he doesn't shy
away from contact. I love him as a player. Number
(21:13):
on a JSN route running hands. These young receivers now
omar On Saint Brown JSN, the've got the route tree
figured out. I mean, it's just there's nothing I don't
like about him. This year when Sam Darnold targeted JSN
(21:34):
hit one hundred and twenty three passer rating. And you know,
these young receivers like a Puka or a JSN are
good because teams are game planning to stop them, and
they are still repeatedly open. So they're my top ten players.
It is six to four Seattle advantage. At number eleven.
(21:55):
I had Leonard Williams of the Seahawks, who had a
tremendous year. He has just been a stud forever, so
I've said this before. I think these teams are a
lot alike. I think the weakness of both is the
old line. I think the quarterbacks are aggressive that can
make mistakes. I like the running games for both, the
(22:16):
secondaries for both, and the defensive front for both, and
the coaches are magnificent. I think it's a very even
football game. I think it's twenty three to twenty. I've
said I'm going to go out and say New England
and I'm from the Pacific Northwest. Underdogs and lower seeds
do very well in this game.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Whenever you play a team or a defense like the
Houston Texans defense or the Seattle Seahawks defense that plays
with incredible aggressiveness and incredible speed. You try to use
that against them, you know, misdirection, traps reversus screen game.
(23:07):
So I mean, just something to think about is that
Josh McDaniel's the offensive coordinator for New England, maybe the best.
I mean, he's certainly in a short list of the
best screen game coordinators in the NFL. And so I've
said before is I think these rosters, I think Seattle
has more very top of the league players, Devin Witherspoon JSN.
(23:32):
I mean, those are really top of the league players.
I'm and worry the safety is just emerging as a stud.
But I had of the ten best players, I had
six to four Seattle, Christian Gonzalez, Leonard Williams. Just outside
of that, I think these are mirror images. The weakness
of both teams is consistent offensive line play. The strength
(23:55):
is defensive pressure and great secondaries, excellent defensive coaches. Seattle
is young, so young teams give you great energy, but
they make more mistakes. I'm on a little bit of
an island here. The lower seed Seattle is a one
seed New England too. Those lower seeds have done very
(24:15):
well in this game. For two weeks. All they talk
about Vrabel is just working that into every speech. We're
the underdog, and I think that it forced. It creates
an attention to detail and an urgency. And I know
I'm on an island and I'm from the Pacific Northwest.
(24:37):
Upset would not surprise me. I think it's a low
scoring game. Special teams matter a lot with that. Chris
Long won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in twenty sixteen,
then the following year with the Eagles. We only five
players to ever do that. Smart guy. Always good to
see again. So is there a through line between in
(24:58):
your two super Bowl teams? I mean, we've seen teams
win a super Bowl, you know, with Trent Dilfer and
with Peyton Branning. You know, we've seen it with Jalen
Hurts and Mahomes. If I said to you, okay, Chris,
give me the through line in your experience, a key
element that you had with both teams.
Speaker 9 (25:18):
Golly, Colin, that's a good question. I would say probably
the team that prepared the best. I mean, I felt
like we had a great week of practice in Philly,
and then when we went to the Super Bowl there
in Minneapolis, I thought we were really locked in and
obviously preparing with Bill Belichick, who's been there a million
(25:39):
times in Houston the year prior, I felt like we
had a really good year week of practice and it
was kind of like we ended up down twenty eight
three or whatever it was. I can remember going to
the half and just the feeling of calm in that
locker room was incredible. You had guys saying we're going
to win this game, and they believed it and forgot.
(26:00):
Like me, who is accustomed to losing his whole career,
I was like, yeah, right, So a lot of it
is and I heard I heard you talking about this.
A lot of it is belief having been there, you know,
Josh McDaniels like, having been in one hundred of these things,
that feels like and then vrabel as a player, that
is an advantage that I think New England has in
(26:20):
this game, and it's how you find your normal immediately
once you get in town, whatever that Super Bowl city is.
How quickly can you find your normal routine as a player.
I think its preparation was the throughway between those two
super Bowls for me.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know, it's interesting you forget because Drake May has
played in bad weather for three straight games and great defenses.
Everybody now thinks, you know, New England's offense a bit
of a mess. I'm like, guys, they had the most
the most big plays in the league. Their offensive line
because they have a rookie left tackle, was a bit
of a work in progress. But I think what's happened
(26:56):
in this game because the rams C game was so dynamic,
We're like, that's what Seattle is well most of the time.
It should be noted stafford ate this defense of Seattle
up twice with no mobility, and then you look at
New England You're like, oh god, this offense is hard
to watch. Yes, in blizzards against the Texans, it is
(27:20):
hard to watch. My belief is New England, because of
the snow games and the recent activity, we have recency bias.
We're undervaluing this team. Beat Buffalo could have beaten them
a second time. When I say to you, Patriot Seahawks,
do you indisputably believe well, Seattle's got just far more
good players.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
I think they have more good players. But if you're
picking New England, you're making a coach and a quarterback pick.
You know, for the reasons that we discussed the experience
for the coaches. And I think Drake may you know,
whether it's him or Stafford, he's one of the two
most valuable players in the league this year.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
It's a regular season award. You know, the.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Explosives you talked about, They hunt those explosives. They hunted
them right there boute in the snow, putting Houston away.
They're gonna hunt them on Sunday, I think, especially with
the Rams having so many explosives in that third matchup. Now,
the difference is the Rams have Devonte Adams and they
have pukin Nakua. They got a bunch of tight ends
(28:22):
they throw the ball to. I think the interesting thing
is going to be how Seattle secondary matches up with
New England's pass catching weapons, which I think if you
went back and you looked at like where they were
ranked to start the season, Colin probably thirty first outside
they were ranking that wide receiver group, yep. So I
mean that's a reality they they've probably played above themselves
(28:43):
and a lot of it has to do with the quarterback.
But I think the explosives are gonna be a big
part of this game. And the other thing is you
can't you can't sell New England short because they're gonna
play before this is all said and done for the
top five defenses in the NFL in route to this
super Bowl. That's a tough path for these guys. You
mentioned the the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I always thought. I lived in New England region for
ten years and I always people say, like, what was
it like? And you live there, and I always said,
there's all this money, but you'll never see a maserati.
I said, it has the lowest percentage of convertibles, maseratis, porsches.
Why it's not a showy region. It's mit it's Harvard.
(29:24):
They're first in on analytics. When you look at the
history of the sports there, it's always viewed itself the region.
They like being overlooked. They've got a chip on their shoulder.
And when I lived there, I always said, there's all
this wealth here, but you wouldn't know it. It's down
a long driveway, nobody's driving sports car. There is something
about New England being an underdog in this game that
(29:47):
I think really fits their profile. They like that they
Belichick every year is like he would you could ask
him about the Browns, he'd go, unbelievable, team I don't
know if we can match up with them. When you
were there, did you if you sense that sort of
an academic feel that they don't want the press, they
want the trophy.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
I think they won an enemy.
Speaker 9 (30:09):
You know, that's kind of like the Boston thing, the
Massachusetts thing. It was explained to me when I got
there that they call these people massholes. I found them
to be really nice people, but they love a common enemy.
And you know, for a long time when they were
the dynasty, and I as a player, always appreciated that
dynasty and found myself admiring it. I think a lot
(30:32):
of people, as fans, they get tired of it, and
you know, so you get this callous kind of mentality
of it's us against the world. And even in some
of these runs that they weren't underdogs, you know, they
were trying to play into that whole thing. Now here
they are catching four and a half points on the
world's biggest stage.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I don't think I think this year is.
Speaker 9 (30:50):
So unique, Colin, and that you could have probably picked
twelve teams and said any of these teams could have
won the Super Bowl. So I don't think there's a juggernaut.
And I think verybele selling that to his team, like,
these guys aren't Juggernauts. Neither of these teams were supposed
to be here at the beginning of the season. I
think it's gonna be a great game. I I lean
more low scoring, yes, and and I do think it
(31:14):
is powerful to play that. Obviously, with my time in Philly,
we we put that thing on overdrive the whole you know,
nobody believes anything. We put on dog masks. So I
believe in that tactic and it works.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
The you know, it's it's go to your first super Bowl.
And I always like asking players go to your first
series or your first time on the field, in your
first Super Bowl, what do you remember about it? Were
you nervous? A lot of pro athletes say they it's
a blur. They don't remember a lot about it.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yeah, it is a blur.
Speaker 9 (31:48):
It's you can almost remember more the the sounds and
the smells, like your senses. But you know, you don't
have concrete memories of what transpired on the first drive.
You know, I remember in New England, it couldn't have
started worse. I've been waiting my whole life for this,
you know, spending eight years in Saint Louis two and
fourteen one and fifteen seven and nine was the ceiling
(32:08):
for us. So like to get there, you wait your
whole life for it. And I remember at this point
in the season, I had been not relegated, but you
know I was a third down player. You know they
were playing me at three technique leading up to the game.
You know, I was a defensive end on third down.
And we couldn't even get to third down Colin. I
was barely on the field. It was like I was
(32:28):
I was gonna cramp from being too tight from sitting
on the sideline. We're down twenty one to three, twenty
eight three, whatever it is. I remember the first the
first third down, I get in, I get slide. We're
three man rush, so I get this wall of bodies.
I stick my foot in the ground and I chipped
off a piece of a bone in my knee, And
I remember thinking, did I just get hurt? The first
(32:49):
play of the Super Bowl. But your adrenaline is so
strong that just carries you through the game. It is
a blur, man. It's the sights and sounds of it
the whole week, from preparing right through the parade. It's
like you better have a polaroid or like a camera
because it just goes by so fast.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I look at four coaches who took over messes, Ben Johnson,
Jim Harbaugh. I would say, Mike Frabel, Yeah, Sean Payton
teams were a mess.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
And I said, I've had a lot of different bosses.
I've worked at seven corporations, right, I said, there's a
lot of different ways to manage. But when something's broken,
the way to fix it quickly is you have to
be comfortable with conflict. And I've heard stories about that,
like the Seahawks when Mike McDonald took them over, We're
not broken, okay, that they weren't to broken franchise. They
(33:44):
won a lot of games Denver. When Sean Payton got
there was broken. New England was broken. And I've heard
stories about Vrabel like he it's media, it's trainers, it's players,
it's Brady, it's Belichick. He's a conflict guy. He was Belichick.
I mean the whole New England culture. I mean your
(34:06):
take on what you hear about Vrabel as a former player.
Does it matter that he's a former player? Does that
buy him credibility?
Speaker 9 (34:14):
Yes, it does And I'm not saying that guys that
didn't play can't cover the game or coach the game
to the level I mean, like, there's some great football
people that had never put on a helmet. But when
you have a guy like him who was a really
good player, not the most gifted player, probably garnered the
respect of all his teammates. Was described to me as
(34:35):
like the consummate teammate. Yeah, that's like a superpower in
a position of leadership. And you see him waiting on
guys coming in the locker room after the game, giving
them all hugs. That stuff's not performative. I feel like
I have a pretty good radar as a former player
on guys that like and a lot of this is
college football centric, where you see guys and you're like,
these guys are fake. This is all performative. Mike Vrabel
(34:57):
is who he is. What you see is what you get.
Played appreciate that, and we also appreciate being told the truth.
That's one thing I always appreciate about Belichick was, you know,
like I had coaches that would walk a mile around
confrontation and telling you the truth and telling you if
what you were doing wasn't cutting it or what we
were doing as a team. Something needed to change. Too
(35:19):
often personal relationships getting the way of success, and in
the NFL that's definitely the case. This is an organization
has found their way on the doorstep of this thing
again and they did it by doing the hard things.
And you know, I think hiring Mike Vrabel is going
to turn out to be one of the best decisions
a team has made this decade.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Chris Long Smart Guy, green Light Chris Long Podcast. Also
partnering with Super uh, which is something close to my heart.
On pet adoption. I've done that several times. Talk about
that Super loves pets. Colin, You'll love Super for that.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
You know. They told me I got a partnership with Super.
What are you doing today? I get to go play
with some dogs. I'm going to a shelter Muttville. Uh.
Speaker 9 (36:03):
Super wants you to look at the underdogs at the shelter.
The older dogs. Try to give those dogs a shot
to get overlooked a lot. And I think this is
somebody texts me this morning, I don't have it on
my calendar. I think is an eighth anniversary of us
winning that Super Bowl and Philly we were underdogs everybody
loves an underdog this time of year. We just talked
about one for some time in the Patriots suber is
looking out for the underdog. Super loves pets. I'll be
(36:25):
headed out in an outback wilderness in a little bit, Colin,
and that sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
We'll be going to Muttville to play with some dogs.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
So you look good, Chris, you look good.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Thanks man. Thanks, I'm hanging in there.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, good, fam Dad looks good. Dad's hanging on. You
know that.
Speaker 9 (36:42):
Guy's genetics are insane. How old is he? He's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
He doesn't talk about that television age. Yeah, good to
see anybody.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
It's good to see you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Likewise, all right, Chris Long, super smart guy. Great family
green Light with Chris Long Pault. We had Fred Warner earlier.
Good job by Dave. We got some good guests today.
We got Christian McCaffrey coming up.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
So it's his first interview of the day. So Christian
McCaffrey comes in. Ha, he's ready to go. Nine years
five all pros I've said this before. He's one of
the top three running backs I've ever seen, Walter Payton,
Barry Sanders, and Christian So you carried the ball. You
had four hundred and fifty touches this year. How many
(37:36):
days after the season ended did you wake up and feel, Man,
I feel grabbing to go for a walk. I'm gonna
walk the dog. I don't even know I'm a football player.
How many days after the season did you feel you
rolled out of bed and it felt great?
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Oh, Man's a good question. I think.
Speaker 10 (37:57):
I was talking to Kyle Yuscheck yesterday. We were at
the Pro Bowl. Such a great experience, but I hadn't
done really anything since that or before that, and so
being able to move around a little bit actually felt great.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
So I was happy about that.
Speaker 10 (38:10):
You never know when you when you take a couple
of weeks off that first workout back, I don't know
how I'm gonna feel, but it was good to move
around and my body felt pretty good. So it made
me excited to start training this offseason.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
So you face the Seahawks three times this year, so
we know, I mean, they've got a lot of dudes.
I mean on the corners, Nick im and Wara. That's
the safety. The rookie is a tremendous rookie. So what
are the looks for you? You, I mean they they
did a as good a job as shutting down you
as anybody in this sport has done since you entered
(38:42):
the league. What was their secret sauce against your off.
Speaker 10 (38:45):
Ebse Well, I think, you know, when you play against
a defense like that, you really can't make mistakes. You know,
you have to be very detailed and efficient stay on
the field. And they play such good team defense. They swarm,
you know, and I think that to me is the
biggest testament to how good they are. It's not just
(39:05):
you know this scheme, but they have the players to
make the scheme come to life. Obviously you mentioned all
the individual players that they have that are fantastic, But
you know, I always think the best defense is that
I've always faced, played the best team defense. They play together,
They play as a unit. The pass rush is linked
up with the secondary. The linebackers flow hard, and you know,
can be downhill that can play well in coverage, and
(39:27):
you know, really makes a complete defense.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
You know, you were teammates with Sam Darnold for a
year and I love Donald as the guy. I loved
him at SC. I just think he's a guys guy.
He's a he's a pro athletes, pro athlete, he's a
really solid human being. He wasn't playing in San Francisco
that it's really hard you've always played to be a
good talented guy and sit and watch what was he
(39:53):
like as a teammate during that time?
Speaker 10 (39:56):
Actually, Colin I was a teammate with him a Carolina too,
so I've had two I had two stints with him,
and you know, I remember when people ask me about
Sam when I had first you know, I'd always known
him a little bit, but when I first met him
in Carolina, from the jump, I was like, this guy's
a dude. And the more and more you see him
at practice that you see the throws you make, you
(40:17):
understand why he's a top pick in the draft.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
And then you're around him more and you're like, this
is one.
Speaker 10 (40:21):
Of the best players I've been around period.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (40:24):
And it's because of how talent, talent, how talented his
arm is. He's he's way more athletic than people give
him credit for, and he's really good at taking what's
given to him and doing his job, and I think
so many times you see quarterbacks who start out in
bad situations and get the blame for it. And he's
somebody that I can't say enough good things about. He
(40:45):
shows up every day with an unbelievable attitude whatever position
he's in, never makes excuses, never complains about you know,
something that happened in NTV Frank Man. I mean he's
He's gone through so much in this league that a
lot of people would have folded or would have had to,
you know, blame, blame whoever it might have been that
they felt was their fault.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
He never did that. He showed up every day, kept working.
Speaker 10 (41:07):
Uh you know, even last year taking you know, taking
Minnesota to a fourteen win season and taking him to
the playoffs, and then doing it again this year.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
Now playing in the super Bowl.
Speaker 10 (41:16):
I think it's a testament to his resiliency, the kind
of guy he is and the player he is. You know,
if you're not a quarterback in this league, that's good,
and don't take a team to a super Bowl. So
I I mean, he's one of my best friends and
also an incredible player.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Well you mentioned best friends. In fact, it was your
wedding in Rhode Island. I walked into the hotel and
there was all these Carolina Panthers and there was Greg
Olson and Jonathan Stewart and uh, uh was that Matt
Khalil was it was? I think he was that Luke
Keithlee was saying khal rank Khalil. And then and then
I saw Darnold later and I saw a long snapper.
(41:52):
So that's I remember that moment that he was one
of your guys. He was one of the guys you
roll with. You know, it's interesting. I think New England
and Seattle are a little alike. Here's what I worry
about Seattle. Josh McDaniel's the OC has been in. This
will be his tenth Super Bowl. Seattle is a young
(42:12):
team as good as they are, this is a new experience,
overwhelmingly for this roster. So I mean, you know, go
back you play it in the twenty twenty three Super Bowl,
go back to your first Super Bowl? Is it is
it jarring? Is it overwhelming? Early?
Speaker 10 (42:32):
You know, I think youth can be a crutch for
a team, but it can also be a superpower. Now,
if you've got a bunch of young, hungry, young guys
who play the right way and play extremely hard. That
can be a massive advantage on a big stage. And
so I think, you know, each game has a life
of its own, all that distractions are what they are.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
You know.
Speaker 10 (42:52):
I was lucky enough to be on a team that
had a bunch of guys who had already played in
a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
Obviously Kyle's been to Super.
Speaker 10 (42:57):
Bowls, and so the vice throughout the week was how
to control some of those distractions and keep the mind
on football. And I thought our guys did a good
job of that. You know, it's once the game starts,
it's football, you know, and it's all about execution. So
you know, for me personally, I felt like, you know,
we manage those as best as we could.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Listen, I know when you're on the sidelines, you're not
watching necessarily other offensive players. But JSN for Seattle is insane.
I said this. He reminds me has a little Jerry
Rice to him and I in that he never slows
down into the break. Out of the break. It's just
one gear. You have this ability like you cut and
(43:37):
it's the same speed. When you're on the sidelines and
you're and you're watching JSN, what do you seem what
what do you look at and go, wow, that is
different than other guys.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Well, you're right.
Speaker 10 (43:52):
Yeah, I don't always watch other guys, but I think
when you're playing against somebody like that, you can't help
but watch him because he you know, he's always making plays.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
I think he has everything you would want.
Speaker 10 (44:02):
You know, he's fasty strong, he's quick, He's really good
after the catch. He has great hands, so even if
he is covered he's not makes great contested catches.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
But you're right, you know, to maintain the same.
Speaker 10 (44:14):
Pad level in and out of routes is very deceiving
for corners. And you know he does as good a
job of anybody at that.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah, that's what Brady said. He keeps the same pad level,
so he keeps you off balance. You don't really know
where he's going. Okay, by the way, you're this prebiotic soda.
I live on this stuff. This all the pop stuff
you're doing. So tell my wife all the time, and
I got my family on this. How long have you
(44:42):
been working with them?
Speaker 10 (44:45):
I just started working with him, but I've been drinking
it for a while now. I mean, I love the stuff.
It's it's a soda. You don't have to feel bad
about drinking. You know, I love it. I absolutely love it.
And now I've been with Alipop now for about seventeen
minutes or whenever this started. But it was one of
those partnerships that I got really excited about because I
genuinely love the product. You know, it's good for you.
(45:06):
It's very low in sugar, high in fiber, and something
that I don't feel bad about putting my name my
name to it all.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Hey, a lot of people think I don't like brock Purty.
It is not true. It's just that my partner here, Jason,
is so obnoxious and I'm a darnald guy because I
love Sam, so I don't want that spreading that I'm not.
I'm not a Rock Purtty guy. He's a quality quarterback.
If I didn't have this guy across from me telling
(45:34):
me he's better than Elway, I always feel like, you know,
I have to like slow him down. But I will
say this about Rock Purdy. I think he genuinely loves
seeing his teammates succeed. You can see it in the
way he greets his teammates. Not all, not all pro
athletes are happy for other guys. To succeed. Did you
(45:55):
initially did you know he was going to be this good?
This quick? When you mean seventh round guy Iowa State?
Did you see it?
Speaker 10 (46:04):
I didn't. I'll be honest with you. I knew he
was going to be good. I didn't know he was
going to be this good. He's surpassed every expectation of mine.
I've I've played with a lot of quarterbacks and he's
one of those guys where every day he does stuff
that now it's not a shocking because it's who he
is and he does it every day. But he's unbelievable, man,
he really is. I think I go back to when
I first got traded to the Niners. I was trying
(46:26):
to learn the plays as quick as possible, and he was.
He was the third string quarterback at the time, and
it was him who I was going over the plays with.
We were doing walkthroughs and after hours, you know, trying
to get this stuff done, and you could see the
intensity and the urgency. And he wasn't just doing this
for me. He was doing this for him too, trying
to go through his reads, his progressions, and so man,
he's had a chip on his shoulder.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
I'm sure since he was a kid. He plays with it.
Speaker 10 (46:49):
He plays with with with so much confidence and swagger,
but puts the work in. You know, he's calm and collected,
but he's a killer and super can't say enough good
things about him and pumped up that he's our quarterback.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yeah, no, he is. I mean there's he is one
of those guys that he is one of my favorite quality.
If he throws a pick, it does not bother him.
He just he has a short memory. He's a gamer.
Like and some guys, it bothers. It never bothers him.
I mean, listen, it's hard in this league. You get
fourteen possessions. You're playing as Seattle. You're gonna you're gonna
(47:22):
make mistakes, You're gonna fumble, You're gonna do this. And
I I will say this, this guy has been well coached.
I don't know his parents, but they did a good
job because he is just a gamer. I'm glad you
like him. That helps I love him.
Speaker 4 (47:34):
I love him.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Christian as you like him too. I swear to God,
I do I swear Christian.
Speaker 10 (47:40):
Good good good. Seeing you co appreciate it, man, all right.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah, it's sometimes I get marginalized because I got you
over here saying best quarterback in the league, Josh Allen
brock Purty, and I have to pump the brake.
Speaker 7 (47:57):
I like how He laughs and goes yeah, and sir,
I'm glad you like him too.
Speaker 6 (48:01):
Everybody knows baby in San France, that's your guy.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, it was. You know, maybe I'm turning the corner.
Speaker 6 (48:10):
Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Yeah. I went to Rhode Island to a wedding and
there was like nine Carolina Panthers in the hotel and
they're like Christians getting married, and Darnold was just down
the street street them all
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Here we go. It is a Wednesday, it is Super
Bowl week. We're live, We're in Los Angeles. It's the
Hurt wherever you may be, however you may be watching us.
Christian McCaffrey stopping by today, Fred Warner, Chris Long And
as always, I do it for the big games. I
(00:52):
did it for the AFC Championship. I did it for
the NFC Championship. I get a notepad and I write
down the ten best players in the game, and I'll
have that either later this hour or top of next down.
So I've worked at seven different corporations in my life.
Been very fortunate, and there's been a lot of different
leadership styles. I would say this though, when a culture
(01:18):
or a business is broken, one style is highly effective.
Conflict the Bears were broken, the Patriots were broken, the
Broncos were broken, the Chargers were broken, and they brought
in coaches that had only really one thing in common.
They'll get in your face. They don't avoid conflict. Mike
(01:41):
Frable came into a broken franchise. I know Girodmeo was
only there for a year. It was a mess. And
the media loves fluff pieces on nice guys. I know
Mike he got mad at me once on text, because
that's who Mike is and he never holds grudges. But
I remember when Mike mcdan and you'll got that Dolphin job.
He's a nice guy, he's fun and he's quirky, And
(02:04):
I kept asking the question, is he going to stand
in a room of fifty five alphas and kind of
intimidate them and they're worried about keeping their job or
a DNP. And two years after he took the job,
he saw a bunch of stories leaking. Doesn't command the
respect of the room players are working him. So just
(02:27):
a reminder, Bill Walts, Jimmy Johnson, and Bill Belichick, they
demanded excellence. They didn't request it, it was demanded. And
there were two organizations this year to me that totally
felt broken. The Bears Ben Johnson got hired, and the
Patriots Mike Crable got hired offensive guy, defensive guy. And
(02:48):
Bears fans are funny in Chicago. They come up to
me all the time. You're so hard on Caleb Williams,
and I always say Ben Johnson's harder. Stop seeking comfort.
You finally got a quarterback. Don't lecture people on how
to handle them. Bill Belichick was on Tom Brady's butt
twenty years in demanding excellence. Ooh, Caleb Williams improved, So
(03:14):
what is he playing in this game? Drake may is
Sam Darnold is? There is no who I arrived at quarterback?
Go ask Tom Brady and Drew Brees every seasons and
new season. Football is hard. It is violent, and it
is precise, and there is a requisite level of intensity
(03:35):
and conflict that is absolutely necessary. Mike McDaniel's a good guy.
Mike Brabel jumped into the middle of fights during training camp.
I mean, you watch those old Jimmy Johnson clips and
Bill Walsh clips. I watched an unbelievable documentary on Netflix
last week, Miracle The Boys of eighty. It's on Lake
(03:57):
placid on Herb Brooks Rest in peace. Herb Brooks scared players.
Nobody said nice guy. Even his kids acknowledged he was tough,
he was demanding, he didn't sleep well. And Herb Brooks
achieved something that an average coach wouldn't because great coaching
(04:22):
and great bosses take you to a place and accompany
to a place you couldn't get in your own and
you couldn't get with average leadership. And so when I
was hearing these stories early where Rabel's jumping into fights,
and I know a lot of people through the years
that have dealt with Rabel, he does not hold grudges.
Belichick would seethe, roll his eyes at you once a year, snap,
(04:48):
but he held grudges. I've been told this by multiple people.
Vrabel will snap at you as a reporter three days
a week. Never holds a grudge. And I think that's instructive.
I think grudge holding is bad management. But when I
think of Rabel and Ben Johnson and Harball and Sean Payton,
some offense, some defense, some young, some the one thing
(05:10):
I think is incredibly comfortable with conflict. And Tom Brady
was on yesterday and I said, I think it almost
plays into his favor. The Patriots are underdogs. Everybody's talking
about Seattle. That totally plays into Vrabel being able to
go to his players and make them uncomfortable and tell
(05:34):
them again, no pandering, no soft speech, nobody thinks you
can win. Here was Brady yesterday on Mike No. One.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Brabel, he's probably got every bit of underdog material up everywhere.
We were fourteen point underdogs in two thousand and one
Braves as part of that team. Believe me, Colin, if
you kick the Seahawks, I'm sure he's gonna be telling
the entire team that Colin Collor picked the Seahawks. We're underdogs.
That's just the mentality. And you know that's okay. I mean,
someone's got to be that. They've been clutched. They've played
(06:05):
good defense, they've played good offense. They've been explosive plays,
surgical plays. They run the ball, they've had explosive runs.
They've really found a lot of different ways to win.
And that's why that's why they're playing in this game.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And as of Wednesday, I still like New England close.
So I read a story this morning. The headline was
who has the most to gain or lose legacy wise
in the big game, and they list ten different people.
I love Mike McDonald. You have to have a legacy
before you can improve or deteriorate it. Like the guys
(06:39):
like thirty eight years old, it didn't have a legacy yet.
Now you can change Mike McDonald's trajectory, but you're not
changing his legacy on this list. And really it's the
only player on this list who you can change their legacy.
And you know who it is. It's Sam Donald. Because legacies,
(07:00):
I mean Sam's was already engraved in stone. They wrote
it down with a sharpie bust. He wins. And by
the way, you can feel the tension last week in Seattle,
you can feel his legacy. We judge Sam donald interceptions
different than Drake May. If Drake May throws two picks,
(07:21):
it's not a headline. If Sam Donald throws one and
they lose, that's the headline. Last week against the Rams,
he was virtually perfect. In fact, people talked about Matt
Stafford's game. Actually Donald was better because Stafford wasn't good
on third down and Stafford was un was watching Donald.
Donald was unbelievable on third down, the key down. So
(07:45):
in this Super Bowl. There is one player who can
change his legacy. It will change the way he is introduced.
In fact, I was reading stories this week and there's
literally something happening in football, and I believe sort of
the jet fuel for it is Donald. Where people are
now saying, we judge quarterbacks too early, we quit on
(08:09):
quarterbacks too early. That's because of Sam Darnald. Nobody wrote
that story a couple of years ago, because of Gino
Smith and Seattle. That is a Sam Donald story. There
is no quarterback ever that's won a Super Bowl after
being on five teams. He was a buff. It was
engraved in stone, it was written in sharpie. It's not
a new chapter, it's a new book. But I will
(08:31):
tell you this that when I watched Donald, and I
don't think I'm unique or singular in this. When I
watch him, When I watched him against the Rams, I
watched him nervously, and I wondered it Sam doesn't play nervously.
But I thought, we are just going to judge Sam
more harshly. And that tells me he is the one
(08:55):
guy that comes into this game who can change his legacy,
because you know how it works. Sam loses and doesn't
play particularly great, that ram win disappears, vanishes into the ether.
Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Drake May has played poorly in
the playoffs. If Drake May plays good enough to win,
(09:18):
not even well, Oh my god, Drake May was a
Super Bowl. If Sam Donald plays okay but has an
untimely pick, it will be you can't trust Darnald a
big game? What about last week? Who played last I
don't remember that game two weeks ago. So here's Mike
Vrabel on what he sees on film with Sam Donald.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
He's handled it well.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
I think that, you know, again, there's a willingness to
stand in the pocket, and there's a willingness to progress through.
There's a lot of talent. I think his courage to
stand in there. I mean the Rams nailed him and
he and he completed an unbelievable pass to.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Cooper on the sideline.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So he and shy Way didn't Duck, didn't fade back.
He stood there and face the fire, which what you
have to do in this league if you're going to
be an elite quarterback.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I still think I'm gonna take the points. I think
it's low scoring. I think there are several field goals.
I do think Seattle has more good players, but not
that many more good players.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
J McK.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I think you and I see the same kind of game,
A lot of it between the thirties. Both defenses excellent,
both those lines okay quarterbacks. Both can be a tad
mistake prone if pressured. I think it's pretty low scoring.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
I would totally agree the unders coming down.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
I thought at forty five yesterday it just people are
concerned with this Patriots offense. Can they do anything against
a fier Seattle defense the entire time?
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So I went, I have a relationship at the school
that I went to and with somebody at the university
who is friends with a current coach in the AFC.
He is a current position coach in the AFC, and
they are close. I know my friend, but I don't
know the coach. And he said, the coach in the AFC,
(11:24):
and I won't tell you what team that has played
the Patriot says he thinks New England is going to
struggle to block Seattle's front. He thinks New England is
going to have their hands full blocking Seattle's front. Now,
I also think New England's front and their secondary are outstanding,
(11:45):
so but that's I think it's a very I mean,
I told you that I think it's got a twenty
three seventeen field to it that it just feels, you know,
twenty four to twenty that kind of field.
Speaker 7 (11:58):
To Meaniel doesn't have a Will Anderson coming off the edge.
But what they do have is just waves of defenders
coming on the blitz and you don't know where it's
coming from up the middle, left right. I do wonder though,
on Seattle's side, Colin, I don't know how to say
this politely, but is there any concern at all that
Sam Darnold maybe reverts to being Carolina Sets.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I think here's the bigger deal. If you bracket JSM,
who's their number two receiver, Raha.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Heat has zero touchdowns in nine games receiving with.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
His well, yeah, Rashidzahat is a special teams foenof and
it is a singular sideline over the top throw, which
they did last week. Yeah, if you take out Stefan Diggs,
I still think they have some interesting pieces New England does.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
Boody's pretty pretty good on the outside.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Very explosive, So it's to me, I think it will
be a defense even when Brady played for the Patriots,
and I think veryble has Belichick's sort of sensibility. Tom
was never a big first quarter or Super Bowl guy.
New England's gonna come in. It's gonna be much, very
(13:08):
much feel it out. You're not gonna put Drake May
in bad spots. Seattle, who I think probably believes they
have better personnel slightly, is also not going to get
hyper aggressive early. It's a first quarterback for May and Darnell.
You could see a very conservative It's like a boxing
match with two great fighters. First couple of rounds. Nobody
(13:30):
wants to be put their chin in danger. I could
see a very conservative first quarter, and I really have
a feeling special teams will play a factor. I think
when your defenses are both great, your O lines are
the weakness. Your quarterbacks are good but can make mistakes.
I think the margins, I think the special teams will
(13:51):
play a factor.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
And there goes to Seattle.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that those special teams was the
Rams liability while they're not well. I mean you said
even after the Seattle Rams game you thought the Rams
were better. You were not the only person saying, oh,
come on, special teams were a huge factor all year
for Seattle.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (14:19):
Steve Gotts Here, I have a podcast Empire. It continues
to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
Speaker 8 (14:33):
It's called ste Goots and Company Live, which is available
in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day.
Some of the biggest names in sports, a lot of
phone calls.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
I love you guys.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You show It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 8 (14:46):
A lot of interact shit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you could
expect from Stu Gottson Company and stew Gottson Company Live.
So listen to Stu Gotson Company Live and I will
original podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review Steve Gotsen Company and.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
God Bless Football.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
Taylor's livelihood depends on it.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
You do it today and you can.
Speaker 8 (15:10):
Check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Here we go live in LA. It's the herd wherever
you may be, however you may be watching, listening, whatever
the platform. Thanks for making us part of your day. Well.
I do this before, probably about five different games over
the course of the year. I will write down the
top ten players. And my feeling is if whoever's got
(15:46):
the most quality players, especially if the quarterbacks are pretty even.
And I think in this space the quarterbacks are pretty even.
Sam's got more experience, both have big arms, both are athletic,
both are coachable, both are tough, both can be a
little reckless. I think the quarterbacks are pretty close. So
here we go. It is an annual Super Bowl tradition.
It is a Wednesday. Here are the top ten players.
(16:08):
Number ten, Milton Williams, New England outstanding. He has changed
their rush defense. Patriots now number one run defense in
the league. Darnold's going to have to throw highest graded
interior lineman in the entire postseason. Led all players with
eight pressures in the AFC Championship game according to PFF.
(16:32):
SO people thought he was a little overpriced. I wouldn't
worry about that. He is a game altering interior d
lineman has been great, worth every penny for the Patriots.
Number nine DeMarcus Lawrence, Seattle. What a year for him.
It wasn't like he was a reclamation project, but he
just got on a team where you couldn't double him
(16:55):
as much. Led the Seahawks and force fumbles and fumble
recoveries and defense touchdowns this year, led the Seahawks, and
sacks and pressures. It almost feels like its body has changed.
He feels twitch year, he feels quicker this year. A
good cat. Dallas let him go. You know everybody talks
about Micah. DeMarcus Lawrence has just emerged as a big
(17:20):
time player. Eleventh highest credit edge defender this year. Number nine,
Number eight Mike owhennu for a guard for the Patriots.
We had him on last week as well. He's their
best offensive lineman. He does not miss snaps and it's
not a great offensive line, so he was their only
returning starter. No sacks or pressures allowed all postseason, and
(17:45):
nobody else in that offensive line has played at his level.
Eighth highest graded guard this year, and I think he
really matters in this game because I do think New
England's tackles, could struggle in pass pro, so I think
he he's very important. Number seven Nick aman Worri, the
(18:05):
rookie from South Carolina. That dude is versatile. When you
can get a guy who can provide sacks and coverage,
dude to safety and opposing quarterbacks have a seventy two
point five passer rating against him. He is really something else.
A second round pick. I remember draft day when he
got picked. All the draft experts said that could be
(18:28):
the best player in the second round. He has been sensational.
Number seven, number six, Stefon Diggs. Play him in the slot,
play him on the sideline. Second highest graded player for
the Patriots. You know, people talk about his personalities, disruptive.
You know, here's what I know. Line him up anywhere
these wide receivers where you can line up on the
(18:50):
slot or the sideline. Outstanding top ten receiver PFF slot
and on the outside. Stefon Diggs, Number six, number five,
Drake May. He's young, he'll get better, but he's really
good now. First quarterback to win three playoff games against
top five defenses in a single postseason. He's twenty three
(19:12):
years old. He had a couple of bad halfs had
won against Pittsburgh early in the year, but again, this
team had so many free agents and so many rookies
playing key roles. Here's all I know. When the game's
on the line against Denver, they asked him to run
and him to make the big throw. That shows me
trust from coaches. They dialed his number in the biggest
(19:35):
spots in that Denver in Houston game. I can live
with some mistakes for a rookie quarterback. He's five, number four.
He's not a rookie year too. Sam Darnold thirty and
seven over the last two years. Like May, there are
times he can be a little loose with a football.
He'll get it knocked out of his hands. Love his
arm strength, love his toughness, love his coachability. You know,
(19:59):
Sam play nearly a perfect football game against the Rams defense,
and that is sand something. I put him at.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Four, number three.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Kenneth Walker, just like he was at Michigan State. He
breaks tackles. Highest graded running back in the playoffs. Now,
is he Christian McCaffrey in terms of versatility. No, Christian
McCaffrey is one of the top three or four running
backs I've ever seen. But what he provides. I mean,
you go to that RAM game, what he provides, he
(20:27):
makes people miss this year second most misstackles force behind
Bijon Robinson. That is an additive player. Number two Devin Witherspoon,
the corner for the Seahawks. Let him in tackles in
the Divisional round. Highest graded cornerback who could beat him once.
But it's there's an argument that's about his hard a
(20:50):
position to play in the league. He has been great
physical since he came out of Illinois. You know again,
when you come in, they are going to test you.
As a young corner, he gets tested a lot and
he is always up for it. I just love his mindset.
I love his toughness. He can tackle, he doesn't shy
away from contact. I love him as a player. Number
(21:13):
on a JSN route running hands. These young receivers now
omar On Saint Brown JSN, the've got the route tree
figured out. I mean, it's just there's nothing I don't
like about him. This year when Sam Darnold targeted JSN
(21:34):
hit one hundred and twenty three passer rating. And you know,
these young receivers like a Puka or a JSN are
good because teams are game planning to stop them, and
they are still repeatedly open. So they're my top ten players.
It is six to four Seattle advantage. At number eleven.
(21:55):
I had Leonard Williams of the Seahawks, who had a
tremendous year. He has just been a stud forever, so
I've said this before. I think these teams are a
lot alike. I think the weakness of both is the
old line. I think the quarterbacks are aggressive that can
make mistakes. I like the running games for both, the
(22:16):
secondaries for both, and the defensive front for both, and
the coaches are magnificent. I think it's a very even
football game. I think it's twenty three to twenty. I've
said I'm going to go out and say New England
and I'm from the Pacific Northwest. Underdogs and lower seeds
do very well in this game.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Whenever you play a team or a defense like the
Houston Texans defense or the Seattle Seahawks defense that plays
with incredible aggressiveness and incredible speed. You try to use
that against them, you know, misdirection, traps reversus screen game.
(23:07):
So I mean, just something to think about is that
Josh McDaniel's the offensive coordinator for New England, maybe the best.
I mean, he's certainly in a short list of the
best screen game coordinators in the NFL. And so I've
said before is I think these rosters, I think Seattle
has more very top of the league players, Devin Witherspoon JSN.
(23:32):
I mean, those are really top of the league players.
I'm and worry the safety is just emerging as a stud.
But I had of the ten best players, I had
six to four Seattle, Christian Gonzalez, Leonard Williams. Just outside
of that, I think these are mirror images. The weakness
of both teams is consistent offensive line play. The strength
(23:55):
is defensive pressure and great secondaries, excellent defensive coaches. Seattle
is young, so young teams give you great energy, but
they make more mistakes. I'm on a little bit of
an island here. The lower seed Seattle is a one
seed New England too. Those lower seeds have done very
(24:15):
well in this game. For two weeks. All they talk
about Vrabel is just working that into every speech. We're
the underdog, and I think that it forced. It creates
an attention to detail and an urgency. And I know
I'm on an island and I'm from the Pacific Northwest.
(24:37):
Upset would not surprise me. I think it's a low
scoring game. Special teams matter a lot with that. Chris
Long won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in twenty sixteen,
then the following year with the Eagles. We only five
players to ever do that. Smart guy. Always good to
see again. So is there a through line between in
(24:58):
your two super Bowl teams? I mean, we've seen teams
win a super Bowl, you know, with Trent Dilfer and
with Peyton Branning. You know, we've seen it with Jalen
Hurts and Mahomes. If I said to you, okay, Chris,
give me the through line in your experience, a key
element that you had with both teams.
Speaker 9 (25:18):
Golly, Colin, that's a good question. I would say probably
the team that prepared the best. I mean, I felt
like we had a great week of practice in Philly,
and then when we went to the Super Bowl there
in Minneapolis, I thought we were really locked in and
obviously preparing with Bill Belichick, who's been there a million
(25:39):
times in Houston the year prior, I felt like we
had a really good year week of practice and it
was kind of like we ended up down twenty eight
three or whatever it was. I can remember going to
the half and just the feeling of calm in that
locker room was incredible. You had guys saying we're going
to win this game, and they believed it and forgot.
(26:00):
Like me, who is accustomed to losing his whole career,
I was like, yeah, right, So a lot of it
is and I heard I heard you talking about this.
A lot of it is belief having been there, you know,
Josh McDaniels like, having been in one hundred of these things,
that feels like and then vrabel as a player, that
is an advantage that I think New England has in
(26:20):
this game, and it's how you find your normal immediately
once you get in town, whatever that Super Bowl city is.
How quickly can you find your normal routine as a player.
I think its preparation was the throughway between those two
super Bowls for me.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know, it's interesting you forget because Drake May has
played in bad weather for three straight games and great defenses.
Everybody now thinks, you know, New England's offense a bit
of a mess. I'm like, guys, they had the most
the most big plays in the league. Their offensive line
because they have a rookie left tackle, was a bit
of a work in progress. But I think what's happened
(26:56):
in this game because the rams C game was so dynamic,
We're like, that's what Seattle is well most of the time.
It should be noted stafford ate this defense of Seattle
up twice with no mobility, and then you look at
New England You're like, oh god, this offense is hard
to watch. Yes, in blizzards against the Texans, it is
(27:20):
hard to watch. My belief is New England, because of
the snow games and the recent activity, we have recency bias.
We're undervaluing this team. Beat Buffalo could have beaten them
a second time. When I say to you, Patriot Seahawks,
do you indisputably believe well, Seattle's got just far more
good players.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
I think they have more good players. But if you're
picking New England, you're making a coach and a quarterback pick.
You know, for the reasons that we discussed the experience
for the coaches. And I think Drake may you know,
whether it's him or Stafford, he's one of the two
most valuable players in the league this year.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
It's a regular season award. You know, the.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Explosives you talked about, They hunt those explosives. They hunted
them right there boute in the snow, putting Houston away.
They're gonna hunt them on Sunday, I think, especially with
the Rams having so many explosives in that third matchup. Now,
the difference is the Rams have Devonte Adams and they
have pukin Nakua. They got a bunch of tight ends
(28:22):
they throw the ball to. I think the interesting thing
is going to be how Seattle secondary matches up with
New England's pass catching weapons, which I think if you
went back and you looked at like where they were
ranked to start the season, Colin probably thirty first outside
they were ranking that wide receiver group, yep. So I
mean that's a reality they they've probably played above themselves
(28:43):
and a lot of it has to do with the quarterback.
But I think the explosives are gonna be a big
part of this game. And the other thing is you
can't you can't sell New England short because they're gonna
play before this is all said and done for the
top five defenses in the NFL in route to this
super Bowl. That's a tough path for these guys. You
mentioned the the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I always thought. I lived in New England region for
ten years and I always people say, like, what was
it like? And you live there, and I always said,
there's all this money, but you'll never see a maserati.
I said, it has the lowest percentage of convertibles, maseratis, porsches.
Why it's not a showy region. It's mit it's Harvard.
(29:24):
They're first in on analytics. When you look at the
history of the sports there, it's always viewed itself the region.
They like being overlooked. They've got a chip on their shoulder.
And when I lived there, I always said, there's all
this wealth here, but you wouldn't know it. It's down
a long driveway, nobody's driving sports car. There is something
about New England being an underdog in this game that
(29:47):
I think really fits their profile. They like that they
Belichick every year is like he would you could ask
him about the Browns, he'd go, unbelievable, team I don't
know if we can match up with them. When you
were there, did you if you sense that sort of
an academic feel that they don't want the press, they
want the trophy.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
I think they won an enemy.
Speaker 9 (30:09):
You know, that's kind of like the Boston thing, the
Massachusetts thing. It was explained to me when I got
there that they call these people massholes. I found them
to be really nice people, but they love a common enemy.
And you know, for a long time when they were
the dynasty, and I as a player, always appreciated that
dynasty and found myself admiring it. I think a lot
(30:32):
of people, as fans, they get tired of it, and
you know, so you get this callous kind of mentality
of it's us against the world. And even in some
of these runs that they weren't underdogs, you know, they
were trying to play into that whole thing. Now here
they are catching four and a half points on the
world's biggest stage.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I don't think I think this year is.
Speaker 9 (30:50):
So unique, Colin, and that you could have probably picked
twelve teams and said any of these teams could have
won the Super Bowl. So I don't think there's a juggernaut.
And I think verybele selling that to his team, like,
these guys aren't Juggernauts. Neither of these teams were supposed
to be here at the beginning of the season. I
think it's gonna be a great game. I I lean
more low scoring, yes, and and I do think it
(31:14):
is powerful to play that. Obviously, with my time in Philly,
we we put that thing on overdrive the whole you know,
nobody believes anything. We put on dog masks. So I
believe in that tactic and it works.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
The you know, it's it's go to your first super Bowl.
And I always like asking players go to your first
series or your first time on the field, in your
first Super Bowl, what do you remember about it? Were
you nervous? A lot of pro athletes say they it's
a blur. They don't remember a lot about it.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yeah, it is a blur.
Speaker 9 (31:48):
It's you can almost remember more the the sounds and
the smells, like your senses. But you know, you don't
have concrete memories of what transpired on the first drive.
You know, I remember in New England, it couldn't have
started worse. I've been waiting my whole life for this,
you know, spending eight years in Saint Louis two and
fourteen one and fifteen seven and nine was the ceiling
(32:08):
for us. So like to get there, you wait your
whole life for it. And I remember at this point
in the season, I had been not relegated, but you
know I was a third down player. You know they
were playing me at three technique leading up to the game.
You know, I was a defensive end on third down.
And we couldn't even get to third down Colin. I
was barely on the field. It was like I was
(32:28):
I was gonna cramp from being too tight from sitting
on the sideline. We're down twenty one to three, twenty
eight three, whatever it is. I remember the first the
first third down, I get in, I get slide. We're
three man rush, so I get this wall of bodies.
I stick my foot in the ground and I chipped
off a piece of a bone in my knee, And
I remember thinking, did I just get hurt? The first
(32:49):
play of the Super Bowl. But your adrenaline is so
strong that just carries you through the game. It is
a blur, man. It's the sights and sounds of it
the whole week, from preparing right through the parade. It's
like you better have a polaroid or like a camera
because it just goes by so fast.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I look at four coaches who took over messes, Ben Johnson,
Jim Harbaugh. I would say, Mike Frabel, Yeah, Sean Payton
teams were a mess.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
And I said, I've had a lot of different bosses.
I've worked at seven corporations, right, I said, there's a
lot of different ways to manage. But when something's broken,
the way to fix it quickly is you have to
be comfortable with conflict. And I've heard stories about that,
like the Seahawks when Mike McDonald took them over, We're
not broken, okay, that they weren't to broken franchise. They
(33:44):
won a lot of games Denver. When Sean Payton got
there was broken. New England was broken. And I've heard
stories about Vrabel like he it's media, it's trainers, it's players,
it's Brady, it's Belichick. He's a conflict guy. He was Belichick.
I mean the whole New England culture. I mean your
(34:06):
take on what you hear about Vrabel as a former player.
Does it matter that he's a former player? Does that
buy him credibility?
Speaker 9 (34:14):
Yes, it does And I'm not saying that guys that
didn't play can't cover the game or coach the game
to the level I mean, like, there's some great football
people that had never put on a helmet. But when
you have a guy like him who was a really
good player, not the most gifted player, probably garnered the
respect of all his teammates. Was described to me as
(34:35):
like the consummate teammate. Yeah, that's like a superpower in
a position of leadership. And you see him waiting on
guys coming in the locker room after the game, giving
them all hugs. That stuff's not performative. I feel like
I have a pretty good radar as a former player
on guys that like and a lot of this is
college football centric, where you see guys and you're like,
these guys are fake. This is all performative. Mike Vrabel
(34:57):
is who he is. What you see is what you get.
Played appreciate that, and we also appreciate being told the truth.
That's one thing I always appreciate about Belichick was, you know,
like I had coaches that would walk a mile around
confrontation and telling you the truth and telling you if
what you were doing wasn't cutting it or what we
were doing as a team. Something needed to change. Too
(35:19):
often personal relationships getting the way of success, and in
the NFL that's definitely the case. This is an organization
has found their way on the doorstep of this thing
again and they did it by doing the hard things.
And you know, I think hiring Mike Vrabel is going
to turn out to be one of the best decisions
a team has made this decade.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Chris Long Smart Guy, green Light Chris Long Podcast. Also
partnering with Super uh, which is something close to my heart.
On pet adoption. I've done that several times. Talk about
that Super loves pets. Colin, You'll love Super for that.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
You know. They told me I got a partnership with Super.
What are you doing today? I get to go play
with some dogs. I'm going to a shelter Muttville. Uh.
Speaker 9 (36:03):
Super wants you to look at the underdogs at the shelter.
The older dogs. Try to give those dogs a shot
to get overlooked a lot. And I think this is
somebody texts me this morning, I don't have it on
my calendar. I think is an eighth anniversary of us
winning that Super Bowl and Philly we were underdogs everybody
loves an underdog this time of year. We just talked
about one for some time in the Patriots suber is
looking out for the underdog. Super loves pets. I'll be
(36:25):
headed out in an outback wilderness in a little bit, Colin,
and that sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
We'll be going to Muttville to play with some dogs.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
So you look good, Chris, you look good.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Thanks man. Thanks, I'm hanging in there.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, good, fam Dad looks good. Dad's hanging on. You
know that.
Speaker 9 (36:42):
Guy's genetics are insane. How old is he? He's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
He doesn't talk about that television age. Yeah, good to
see anybody.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
It's good to see you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Likewise, all right, Chris Long, super smart guy. Great family
green Light with Chris Long Pault. We had Fred Warner earlier.
Good job by Dave. We got some good guests today.
We got Christian McCaffrey coming up.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
So it's his first interview of the day. So Christian
McCaffrey comes in. Ha, he's ready to go. Nine years
five all pros I've said this before. He's one of
the top three running backs I've ever seen, Walter Payton,
Barry Sanders, and Christian So you carried the ball. You
had four hundred and fifty touches this year. How many
(37:36):
days after the season ended did you wake up and feel, Man,
I feel grabbing to go for a walk. I'm gonna
walk the dog. I don't even know I'm a football player.
How many days after the season did you feel you
rolled out of bed and it felt great?
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Oh, Man's a good question. I think.
Speaker 10 (37:57):
I was talking to Kyle Yuscheck yesterday. We were at
the Pro Bowl. Such a great experience, but I hadn't
done really anything since that or before that, and so
being able to move around a little bit actually felt great.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
So I was happy about that.
Speaker 10 (38:10):
You never know when you when you take a couple
of weeks off that first workout back, I don't know
how I'm gonna feel, but it was good to move
around and my body felt pretty good. So it made
me excited to start training this offseason.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
So you face the Seahawks three times this year, so
we know, I mean, they've got a lot of dudes.
I mean on the corners, Nick im and Wara. That's
the safety. The rookie is a tremendous rookie. So what
are the looks for you? You, I mean they they
did a as good a job as shutting down you
as anybody in this sport has done since you entered
(38:42):
the league. What was their secret sauce against your off.
Speaker 10 (38:45):
Ebse Well, I think, you know, when you play against
a defense like that, you really can't make mistakes. You know,
you have to be very detailed and efficient stay on
the field. And they play such good team defense. They swarm,
you know, and I think that to me is the
biggest testament to how good they are. It's not just
(39:05):
you know this scheme, but they have the players to
make the scheme come to life. Obviously you mentioned all
the individual players that they have that are fantastic, But
you know, I always think the best defense is that
I've always faced, played the best team defense. They play together,
They play as a unit. The pass rush is linked
up with the secondary. The linebackers flow hard, and you know,
can be downhill that can play well in coverage, and
(39:27):
you know, really makes a complete defense.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
You know, you were teammates with Sam Darnold for a
year and I love Donald as the guy. I loved
him at SC. I just think he's a guys guy.
He's a he's a pro athletes, pro athlete, he's a
really solid human being. He wasn't playing in San Francisco
that it's really hard you've always played to be a
good talented guy and sit and watch what was he
(39:53):
like as a teammate during that time?
Speaker 10 (39:56):
Actually, Colin I was a teammate with him a Carolina too,
so I've had two I had two stints with him,
and you know, I remember when people ask me about
Sam when I had first you know, I'd always known
him a little bit, but when I first met him
in Carolina, from the jump, I was like, this guy's
a dude. And the more and more you see him
at practice that you see the throws you make, you
(40:17):
understand why he's a top pick in the draft.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
And then you're around him more and you're like, this
is one.
Speaker 10 (40:21):
Of the best players I've been around period.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (40:24):
And it's because of how talent, talent, how talented his
arm is. He's he's way more athletic than people give
him credit for, and he's really good at taking what's
given to him and doing his job, and I think
so many times you see quarterbacks who start out in
bad situations and get the blame for it. And he's
somebody that I can't say enough good things about. He
(40:45):
shows up every day with an unbelievable attitude whatever position
he's in, never makes excuses, never complains about you know,
something that happened in NTV Frank Man. I mean he's
He's gone through so much in this league that a
lot of people would have folded or would have had to,
you know, blame, blame whoever it might have been that
they felt was their fault.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
He never did that. He showed up every day, kept working.
Speaker 10 (41:07):
Uh you know, even last year taking you know, taking
Minnesota to a fourteen win season and taking him to
the playoffs, and then doing it again this year.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
Now playing in the super Bowl.
Speaker 10 (41:16):
I think it's a testament to his resiliency, the kind
of guy he is and the player he is. You know,
if you're not a quarterback in this league, that's good,
and don't take a team to a super Bowl. So
I I mean, he's one of my best friends and
also an incredible player.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Well you mentioned best friends. In fact, it was your
wedding in Rhode Island. I walked into the hotel and
there was all these Carolina Panthers and there was Greg
Olson and Jonathan Stewart and uh, uh was that Matt
Khalil was it was? I think he was that Luke
Keithlee was saying khal rank Khalil. And then and then
I saw Darnold later and I saw a long snapper.
(41:52):
So that's I remember that moment that he was one
of your guys. He was one of the guys you
roll with. You know, it's interesting. I think New England
and Seattle are a little alike. Here's what I worry
about Seattle. Josh McDaniel's the OC has been in. This
will be his tenth Super Bowl. Seattle is a young
(42:12):
team as good as they are, this is a new experience,
overwhelmingly for this roster. So I mean, you know, go
back you play it in the twenty twenty three Super Bowl,
go back to your first Super Bowl? Is it is
it jarring? Is it overwhelming? Early?
Speaker 10 (42:32):
You know, I think youth can be a crutch for
a team, but it can also be a superpower. Now,
if you've got a bunch of young, hungry, young guys
who play the right way and play extremely hard. That
can be a massive advantage on a big stage. And
so I think, you know, each game has a life
of its own, all that distractions are what they are.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
You know.
Speaker 10 (42:52):
I was lucky enough to be on a team that
had a bunch of guys who had already played in
a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
Obviously Kyle's been to Super.
Speaker 10 (42:57):
Bowls, and so the vice throughout the week was how
to control some of those distractions and keep the mind
on football. And I thought our guys did a good
job of that. You know, it's once the game starts,
it's football, you know, and it's all about execution. So
you know, for me personally, I felt like, you know,
we manage those as best as we could.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Listen, I know when you're on the sidelines, you're not
watching necessarily other offensive players. But JSN for Seattle is insane.
I said this. He reminds me has a little Jerry
Rice to him and I in that he never slows
down into the break. Out of the break. It's just
one gear. You have this ability like you cut and
(43:37):
it's the same speed. When you're on the sidelines and
you're and you're watching JSN, what do you seem what
what do you look at and go, wow, that is
different than other guys.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Well, you're right.
Speaker 10 (43:52):
Yeah, I don't always watch other guys, but I think
when you're playing against somebody like that, you can't help
but watch him because he you know, he's always making plays.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
I think he has everything you would want.
Speaker 10 (44:02):
You know, he's fasty strong, he's quick, He's really good
after the catch. He has great hands, so even if
he is covered he's not makes great contested catches.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
But you're right, you know, to maintain the same.
Speaker 10 (44:14):
Pad level in and out of routes is very deceiving
for corners. And you know he does as good a
job of anybody at that.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah, that's what Brady said. He keeps the same pad level,
so he keeps you off balance. You don't really know
where he's going. Okay, by the way, you're this prebiotic soda.
I live on this stuff. This all the pop stuff
you're doing. So tell my wife all the time, and
I got my family on this. How long have you
(44:42):
been working with them?
Speaker 10 (44:45):
I just started working with him, but I've been drinking
it for a while now. I mean, I love the stuff.
It's it's a soda. You don't have to feel bad
about drinking. You know, I love it. I absolutely love it.
And now I've been with Alipop now for about seventeen
minutes or whenever this started. But it was one of
those partnerships that I got really excited about because I
genuinely love the product. You know, it's good for you.
(45:06):
It's very low in sugar, high in fiber, and something
that I don't feel bad about putting my name my
name to it all.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Hey, a lot of people think I don't like brock Purty.
It is not true. It's just that my partner here, Jason,
is so obnoxious and I'm a darnald guy because I
love Sam, so I don't want that spreading that I'm not.
I'm not a Rock Purtty guy. He's a quality quarterback.
If I didn't have this guy across from me telling
(45:34):
me he's better than Elway, I always feel like, you know,
I have to like slow him down. But I will
say this about Rock Purdy. I think he genuinely loves
seeing his teammates succeed. You can see it in the
way he greets his teammates. Not all, not all pro
athletes are happy for other guys. To succeed. Did you
(45:55):
initially did you know he was going to be this good?
This quick? When you mean seventh round guy Iowa State?
Did you see it?
Speaker 10 (46:04):
I didn't. I'll be honest with you. I knew he
was going to be good. I didn't know he was
going to be this good. He's surpassed every expectation of mine.
I've I've played with a lot of quarterbacks and he's
one of those guys where every day he does stuff
that now it's not a shocking because it's who he
is and he does it every day. But he's unbelievable, man,
he really is. I think I go back to when
I first got traded to the Niners. I was trying
(46:26):
to learn the plays as quick as possible, and he was.
He was the third string quarterback at the time, and
it was him who I was going over the plays with.
We were doing walkthroughs and after hours, you know, trying
to get this stuff done, and you could see the
intensity and the urgency. And he wasn't just doing this
for me. He was doing this for him too, trying
to go through his reads, his progressions, and so man,
he's had a chip on his shoulder.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
I'm sure since he was a kid. He plays with it.
Speaker 10 (46:49):
He plays with with with so much confidence and swagger,
but puts the work in. You know, he's calm and collected,
but he's a killer and super can't say enough good
things about him and pumped up that he's our quarterback.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yeah, no, he is. I mean there's he is one
of those guys that he is one of my favorite quality.
If he throws a pick, it does not bother him.
He just he has a short memory. He's a gamer.
Like and some guys, it bothers. It never bothers him.
I mean, listen, it's hard in this league. You get
fourteen possessions. You're playing as Seattle. You're gonna you're gonna
(47:22):
make mistakes, You're gonna fumble, You're gonna do this. And
I I will say this, this guy has been well coached.
I don't know his parents, but they did a good
job because he is just a gamer. I'm glad you
like him. That helps I love him.
Speaker 4 (47:34):
I love him.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Christian as you like him too. I swear to God,
I do I swear Christian.
Speaker 10 (47:40):
Good good good. Seeing you co appreciate it, man, all right.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah, it's sometimes I get marginalized because I got you
over here saying best quarterback in the league, Josh Allen
brock Purty, and I have to pump the brake.
Speaker 7 (47:57):
I like how He laughs and goes yeah, and sir,
I'm glad you like him too.
Speaker 6 (48:01):
Everybody knows baby in San France, that's your guy.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, it was. You know, maybe I'm turning the corner.
Speaker 6 (48:10):
Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Yeah. I went to Rhode Island to a wedding and
there was like nine Carolina Panthers in the hotel and
they're like Christians getting married, and Darnold was just down
the street street them all
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
iHeartRadio 24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com