Rams, NFC North, Patriots, and where Colin was right and wrong

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:23):
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(00:53):
on a Monday is the Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening live in US. Zam
gillis iHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio FS one one hour
from now. Where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong,
plenty of both. Joey Taylor is joining me as alas
on a Monday, which it was we thought, you know

(01:14):
what we thought this was gonna be clinch weekend. Everybody
clinches the playoffs. It was chaos weekend. It certainly next weekend,
joy Fourteen of the sixteen NFL games, somebody will clinch.
So we thought this weekend was gonna be clinch weekend.
It was chaos weekend. It's entertaining that it was wildly entertaining.

(01:34):
Let me start with this. Rams looked awful for most
of the game and lost two months ago. On this show,
I peeled back off the Rams. I said, I don't
buy this team. Too much glintz, too much glamor, too
many stars, no depth. They'll pay a price for this.
Everybody was slobbering over Sean McVay smarter than everybody else.

(01:58):
What has this team done? Never want a playoff game, folks.
Here's the truth about the Rams. They're building a five
billion dollars stadium, the most expensive stadium in America, and
they just brought the team to town. They are selling
PSLs like crazy, and they signed stars and overpaid for
them so they can sell personal seat licenses and pay
some of the bill. It's a lot of sales pitch,

(02:21):
it's a lot of glamour, it's a lot of glitz.
The Chargers Cross Town have none of it and have
a much deeper roster and a much better roster in
Dominican Sue no longer productive, a keep to leab like
him a lot past his prime. Dante Fowler was a
bust in Jacksonville and they gave up draft picks for him.
Brandon Cooks receiver disappears in big games, third team three years.

(02:45):
Ask yourself if I'm wrong, and this is not about sales,
pitch and glitz. What have they accomplished in the last
two years with mc McVay head Coach of the Year,
Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year,
Specialty to the Year, all personal accomplishments, no playoff wins
four and five last two years in December? Why? Because

(03:08):
they have no depth. If you overpay for anything in
any business, you overpay for employees, you overpay for parts,
you overpay for services rendered, you overpay on your lease.
If you overpay on stuff, you're gonna have to save
money elsewhere. They don't have any depth. The Chargers don't
have the stars cross Town, but they have depth. Three

(03:29):
great receivers, four running backs who can play. Rams have
one Todd Gurley hurts an ankle, limps a little their toast,
and now I got nothing against the Rams. I think
the Rams are interesting. I think they're good, but a
lot of this story so far as sales, pitch and
glamour and oh wow and personal accomplishments December and January

(03:51):
in the NFL Okay attrition sets in. Who's good right now?
The Bears. The Bears have one star player and a
bunch of good, cheap young players in depth Baltimore who
are Baltimore Stars. They got a lot of depth chargers.
I mean their star Philip Rivers. I mean, you know,

(04:15):
Boss is a good player, but it didn't play it
for like two and a half months. Is this is
the time of the year when you need depth and
that overpaid, marginally productive stars aren't worth it. I think
the Rams actually are very lucky. They're in a division
where Arizona is in a complete rebuild and San Francisco

(04:36):
lost their quarterback and is in a rebuild. In Seattle
is in a marginal rebuild, but they're still in a rebuild. Okay,
so can they turn it around? I think this is
their reality. They have a five billion dollars stadium. They're
brand newted Town in a very competitive market with the

(04:58):
Dodgers and Lebron and the Lakers, a lot of college teams,
and they got to sell PSLs and they got a
five billion dollars stadium and they overpaid for a lot
of guys you've heard of and domin conzue a keep
to Lee. Brandon Cooks was on the Saints, it was
on the Patriots, he was in playoff games. In the end,
they got no depth and people are figuring them out
and they become a target and we're always talking about

(05:20):
how great they are and how smart they are. Mcvay's
not the smartest young coach and the league Matt Nagge
in Chicago is he's pulling birds out of a hat
with Mitch Trubisky. Here was Sean McVay after the game.
We got to be able to figure this out and
figure it out fast because these last couple of weeks
we're doing things that are totally uncharacteristic of what good
football teams do. What we've done through the first you know,

(05:42):
handful of games this season. Everybody's got a hand in this,
and we got to get it figured out fast. They're
not a terrible team. They're gonna win their division. They'll
They'll probably be at home and win a playoff game.
I'm not saying they can't play, but I'm telling you
what's going on here. This is a sales pitch. It
is given up draft picks for a bust in Jacksonville
Dante Fowler. It's spending massive money for Brandon Cooks, who's

(06:07):
never done anything in a big game. Belichick and Sean
Payton bailed on him. I like to keep to leave
in Dominican sue. He's more brand than football player. Right now,
any depth don't have any all right, let me shift
gears to this. One of the reasons I like the
NFL more than college football. I learned stuff. Seasons are long,

(06:29):
teams start hot, they have injuries. You'll learn a lot
during NFL seasons. This weekend is we thought we were
going to get all the clinching. It was all the chaos.
Let me ask you, yesterday the Cowboys get shut out.
People are freaking out. What did we really learn about
the Dallas Cowboys yesterday? Daks limited. We all kind of

(06:49):
knew that, right, Other than the fanboys they lost on
the road off emotional wins with less to play for
and a team with a superstar quarterback. You do realize
Las Vegas favored the Colts. It was our bed of
the week. Fanboys and palm palm waivers in the media
got shocked. Every pro gambler in America was on the Colts.

(07:12):
There was no new discovery here. Dallas has had one
transformational moment this year, that win over New Orleans. Yesterday,
shut out by the Colts, didn't learn anything. That doesn't
mean anything. I looked for games when I learned something.
You know what I learned yesterday in the Colts Cowboys

(07:34):
game that the Colts offensive lines and defensive lines with
a bunch of young guys are way ahead of schedule.
Like this is a rebuilding here for the Colts. We
didn't even know if Andrew luck soup bone was good.
It was rebuild the old line, rebuild the D line,
and then they'll have a bunch of cap space. Oh hell, yesterday,

(07:56):
I'm watching that game. I'm watching their own line. Running
lane means wide open. I'm watching their D line, big
pressure on Dak. That's the only thing we learned yesterday
that Indianapolis is ahead of schedule on their rebuild. By
the way, the Colts have now shut out and dominated
a division leader Cowboys, and then snapped an eight nine

(08:17):
game winning streak with another division leader Texans the week before.
Don't get caught up in the shutout. Excuse me, but
didn't the Colts get shut out three weeks ago? Who
didn't learn anything in that game? When the Colts got
shut out by the Jacks? I didn't even talk about it.
Why Andrew luck suddenly no good? They were on the

(08:39):
road against a talented defense coming off some emotional wins.
They had some nice before that emotional wins. They went
on the road. They didn't match the urgency of Jacksonville.
And they went down there and the jack got defensive
players in pressure and they got overwhelmed. They didn't score
a thing. And who cares? Well, you forget about it.
A week later, he cared, nobody cares about this Dallas game.

(09:04):
The Colts had a lousy road shut out three weeks ago. Indie.
Now is the story. They are eight and sets. Their
O line and D line are way ahead of schedule.
They've got the New York Giants who looked like yesterday
they kind of mailed it in season over coming up next.

(09:24):
Dallas is exactly what we thought they were going into
the game. Really good young defensive talent, especially in the
front seven, superstar running back who needs to play really,
really well and give you about one hundred and thirty
hundred and fifty yards for Dak to be more effective.
But if Dak doesn't get Zeke's hundred forty yards, didn't,

(09:47):
doesn't get Amari Cooper breaking tackles for touchdowns, didn't. The
Cowboys had more than average penalties, did well. Dak's not
gonna do much against an aggressive, young defense that's way
better than anybody thought at this point. The reason I
like the NFL more than college football. I feel like
I learn things week to week. It's a week to

(10:10):
week league. Alabama, Clemson gonna play for the national title. Again,
I'm not learning much. Dallas is fine. They're gonna be
a playoff team. They're gonna host a playoff game, and
if it's low scoring and DAT get support, they'll win
that game. But if Zeke runs for eighty yards and
they have a few penalties and Amari Cooper gets doubled

(10:31):
and taken away, then Dallas won't win a playoff game.
And what I learned, you don't want any part of Indianapolis.
They are playing with house money. Be very careful about
these young teams that are ahead of schedule, that aren't
supposed to be good until next year. The Colts playing
with no pressure, a red hot quarterback, a coach, and
a quarterback aligned with tremendously talented rookies and first year

(10:57):
players all over the roster. That's the only thing I learned.
Coming up next, Colin right, Colin wrong, fifteen minutes from now,
coming up next, it's happening, and this is how it happens.
When dynasties end. This is how they end. That's coming

(11:21):
up next. Sleep can be a struggle. You might toss
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(11:43):
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(12:05):
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(12:27):
spray uses directed twelve hours congestion strikes vis sign x
nasal Spray forty minutes from now. Colin Wright Colin Wrong
also have Trent Dill for next hour. Sean Merriman's Great
Final hour of the show, Michael Vick in ten minutes.
Joy Taylor of Coy's joining me on a Monday. So
you know Christmas is a week out, like a week
from today is Christmas Eve. I'll be here, You'll be here.

(12:48):
Then Christmas Day I take off and skip for a
couple of days. Then Den, we're right back here. Joy,
question it. We're not leaving forever. No, we'll be back.
But this we have families and stuff too, That's right.
I we have. I got cats and dogs and kids
and why lust stuff and enjoys, very very busy. So
let me just say this New England. I know what

(13:09):
you think, Oh Colin that stump. Yeah, I was surprised yesterday,
I said Friday, I don't think this is much of
a rivalry. But Pittsburgh goought was buttoned up down the stretch,
kind of re established a running game, which is amazing.
They've got, you know, Pittsburgh classic big game step up.
You know, if they played Tampa Bay next week, they'd
probably lose by two touchdowns. That's Pittsburgh. But a couple

(13:29):
of years ago I started mentioning this. I noticed a
trend with Tom Brady that as he has aged his
December's he looks tired, he loses zip on his arm,
And sure enough, I went and looked it up and
he has his lowest completion percentage month is December. His
most interceptions in December, fewest yards per game in December,

(13:52):
his passer ratings lowest in December. And what do I
take from this? This is how you age unless you're
on cattle steroids. Yeah, baseball, thirty seven year old guys
suddenly played like they were in their prime on the
Tour de France. Guys who were older literally could scale
them out in like Superman. But if you're not on

(14:13):
cattle steroids, this is how Tim duncan aged. This is
how Tom Brady is aging. He is still good, he's good,
and he still has moments of great But as the
season wears on, it's a long season, and by December,
Tom could use a couple of weeks off. He could

(14:35):
use a bye week. He could really use about six
days and not throwing the football for the record, Belichick,
you do realize he was furious that he had to
trade Jimmy Garoppolo because Tom Brady has become the kind
of player Belichick moves off of good aging expensive, and

(15:01):
you want to get rid of them a year or
two early, not a year or two late. Belichick wanted
to have Jimmy Garoppolo ready for right now and this
would be Tom's last year. Instead, they have no backup
quarterback and an aging quarterback who was no longer pushed
by Jimmy Garoppolo. This is not all Brady's fault. Outside

(15:26):
of Trey Flowers, their front seven defensively is completely average.
This is not all Brady's fault. Edelman passed his prime,
too many drops, Gronks a non factor in most games.
Josh Gordon's your deep threat. Really, this is not all
Brady's issue. For years, he's been taken pay cuts, which

(15:46):
means they should have talent everywhere around him, and they don't.
But Tom is simply not good enough to squeeze twelve
to thirteen wins out of an average roster. I think
Tom this year will squeeze ten wins out of an
average roster. But they're not good enough to go on

(16:06):
the road and beat good teams. They're not going to
go on the road if they had to go on
the road and play Baltimore in a playoff game. They're
not good enough. They're not good enough if they were
in the NFC to go to Chicago and win at
this time of the year, December, when Tom is getting
worn out. So I think they'll squeeze ten wins out
of this thing. Some of us is on Belichick. Brady's

(16:27):
been taking pay cuts forever. Where are the players? Where
are they? Devin mccordy's talented Trey Flowers is good? Where
are the players? Where are you spending the money he's
whipped on draft picks? But New England now is just
a good team with a quarterback who's aging, who could
use absolutely a couple of bye weeks now some days

(16:52):
not to throw, to hydrate, rest, hang out with his kids.
Brady looks like he's looked the last four to five
years in December. But now what's around him, despite his
pay cuts, is really average, and he is simply not
at the point in his career where he can carry
average Andrew Luck can, I mean, Patrick Mahomes has the

(17:17):
energy for the next seven years to do that. There
are guys around this league that can do that. Tom's
not one of them. And this is how dynasties end
for the Spurs and the Patriots. When your star is
not on steroids. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no,

(17:37):
this is the herd Line news. By the way, the
Patriots since last year's AFC Championship are nine and six.
That's what they are. I mean, imagine what they would
be without Tom Brady exactly. And all this talk about
how it's it's it's more on Belicheck than Brady. Are
you look at that roster and what he's been able
to do. It would be a disaster without him. Edelman

(17:59):
now doesn't get open much and drops the ball. Gronks
a non factor. They have no deep pret I mean,
this is it's pretty much you cross your fingers that
they get a home playoff game. Tom gets a week
to rest. That's what your prey for Now we'll see. Well,
the twenty eighteen Browns have proven that the word same
old might no longer apply to them. You got a
big win yesterday, seventeen sixteen over the Broncos. They snapped

(18:21):
in eleven game losing streak against the Broncos they dated
back to nineteen ninety one. That was four years before
Baker Mayfield was born. The Browns are now six seven
and one, and they are still in the playoff race
games against Bengals and the Ravens left on the schedule. Yeah, barely,
but they are. Yeah. I mean, you know you're alive
or you're not. And with the Browns, they're gonna take
credit for that because they were two six and one

(18:42):
when they fired Hugh Jackson and they're four and two
since that, so reaching the playoffs isn't out of the question.
They trail the seven, five and one Pittsburgh Steelers and
the seven and six Ravens and the AFC North, and
then they're behind a bunch of other teams. The Ravens,
the Dolphins, the Colts, and the Titans are in the
chase with the Carts. By the way, I know everybody
in Cleveland they've been so bad for so long, they

(19:05):
have a right to get excited about this. But Greg
Williams coaching at the end of that game was unbelievable,
and I know everybody wants to this is what happens
in the NFL. Joy, We've seen this. You're bringing a
coach who's a loud, macho guy and he brings energy
to a locker room. You saw this with Dan Campbell
in Miami, and everybody's like, yeah, that guy, Greg Williams

(19:27):
been a coaching move at the end of the football game,
I'm like, dude, kick field goal? What are we doing here?
It was a bad coaching move. But we've seen this
a thousand times in the NFL. The interim coach, he's
old school, he barks in yells, he has a young roster,
the kids are fired up. But would you want Greg
Williams for the next five years? Well, it's gonna start

(19:48):
to be a discussion because if they win, if they've
been even one more game this season, I don't know
he's going to be He's going to be in the conversation. Oh,
why do they keep him or not? No, I think
obviously they're They're likely going to look around, but it's
Greg William's a long term answer. No, if he's not,
you can't keep him because you have a number one

(20:09):
overall traffic in Baker Mayfield. You need to set him
up for success. So I don't know what's going to
happen there. But if it's the Browns, it oh no,
it's it's a good thing. I don't want any any
team or any organizer franchise to be a disaster. That's
just a dud game every year. Joy, you and I
are in the story business, right. Cleveland's a really good story, Baker.

(20:31):
Cleveland being a disaster is an old story at this point,
so no one now, yes exactly. So there seems to
be a little deja vu last night when Nick Foles
led the Eagles to win over the Rams. It was
the same place last year where Foles came in and
relief of Carson Wentz and started that run to the
Super Bowl victory. And after the game, Foles was asked
if he's thinking about the future, and he says he

(20:51):
admits he can't help but look ahead. Sometimes that part
does creep in. Um, I do say there is a
human side, but no, I'm very self aware of those
distractions don't do any good. I really thrive and staying
in the moment and just enjoying it, and you know,
we'll see what happens. But I really just want to

(21:12):
enjoy the moment and just be in president and all
I do. That's why I try to focus on daily.
God he well, he's the best backup quarterback in the league.
Can we say that, of course? Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah.
For a couple of years it was case Keenom and
then he became a starter. I think Jacobe Broussette in
Indianapolis and Nick Foles with the Eagles are the two

(21:32):
backups that you can put in for two months and
they can win you games. Well, I think him winning
the Super Bowl kind of cemented that. All yeah, that
that pretty yeah. That has a way of doing that.
When the backup wins the Super Bowl, you're officially the
world's best back. Right. Well, I don't know what's gonna
happen with the Eagles with the rest of the season.
The next few games against the Texans and Washington and
they need to win out and then they need the
Vikings to lose one of their final two games in

(21:53):
order to clinch a wildcard spot. But stranger things have happened,
and last year with the Eagles. For the record, Philadelphi
has got a lot of good players. Now, the secondaries
a mess, But I come back to this, just that
receiving corps, ertz Alshawan, Jeffrey Golden, Tate, Nelson Agilar, Like,

(22:14):
Philadelphia's not go crazy here. They're not what they were
last year, but there's players Michael Bennett, Fletcher Cock. No,
they they got dudes, Yeah, they got dudes in Philadelphia.
It's it's you know, it's unfortunate. Carson Wentz has got
to stay healthy. And finally, speaking of finally, the Wizards
announced today that they have acquired Trevor Ariza from the
Suns in exchange for Kelly Kelly Ray Junior and Austin Rivers.

(22:39):
I returned to Washington for his second since there he
helped them advance to the playoffs in twenty fourteen, and
according to the ringers Kevin O'Connell, there was hawk between
the Lakers and the Sons about a deal with the
Suns wanted Josh Hart, not Entavius Caldwell Pope. Yes, Trevor
Reza is a really good player. It's there's some other
teams I think that could have used him, Like obviously
the Lakers would have been a great landing spot for him.

(23:02):
But um man, this this story over the weekends, this disaster,
I mean it was. It was like a Saturday Night
Live skit of what a lot of nbah's going bad.
It was a mass It was a disaster. So well,
it finally got done. So there's that. Yeah, and plus
pred of reason. A nice player catching shoot dude, good player. Yeah,
Joy with the news. Well that's the news, and thanks

(23:23):
for stopping by the Herd. Line. Well, he made four
Pro Bowls in thirteen years, and when he came into
the league, he was the most dynamic quarterback in the
history of the league with his feet. And again, four
Pro Bowls in thirteen years, multiple teams. Our friend Michael
Vick now joining us on a Monday in the Herd.
And it's interesting because you played in Philadelphia, Michael, and

(23:44):
Joy just mentioned that. It's a really good This is
an interesting topic. We know Philadelphia has got players, we
know they've been hurt all year. Yeah, but in Philadelphia,
I roll my eyes at this. But according to my
buddies in Philadelphia, they're like, listen, a lot of people
in Philly think Nick Foles is better than Carson Wentz.
I don't, but Nick Foles clearly as a better relationship

(24:05):
with Alshan Jeffrey, whereas Wins. It's zach Ertz. What does
Foles do, Michael, I can no longer deny it. What
does he due to the Eagles offense? That sparks it?
I think he takes pressure off the offense. I think
when Coston Wins is out there I think Doug Peterson
feels the need to be dynamic. Open the offense up,

(24:27):
you know, spread the ball around. You know, obviously get
the ball to Zach Ertz. But I think he has
a tough time of incorporating all the guys in the offense.
When Nick is out there, I think everyone is at ease.
I think the game plan is more simplified. I think
they more detail oriented. Is more detail oriented, but not
not stringing. It's not a bunch of different plays where

(24:50):
you know, guys are required to think. I think it's
more simplistic. And what you're saying, what you're saying is
Philadelphia says, listen, we don't have the high end talent. Yeah,
let's simplify it, do fewer things better. And with Nick
Foles there's not as much firework show, but it's as easy,
put your arms around it, pound the football as much.

(25:12):
And that's what you're seeing. The one thing I do
know is just in talking to several players and coaches
last year after the Super Bowl, when Cosson went down,
all the guys felt more prescious they'll perform, And I
think you know that helps within itself. You know, you
look at guys, you know, feeling like they have to
go out and beat at the very best all the time,

(25:34):
and then when a guy goes down. Now, I was like, okay,
you focus on the things that you really have to
do well, scale back on a majority of the offense,
probably someone on the defense, and then let guys go
play lights out and play faster. That's what it looks
like with Nick Foles, and that has to be the
game plan because it was too easy last night. I mean,

(25:56):
we didn't say the Philadelphia Eagles looked that way all
year long. And now it's starting to become frustrating to
me because I'm starting to think the same thing, like,
what's what's the difference in Nick Foles and Corston wins?
It's starting to stack up as far as wins and
the wind lost column rights for nick Les for Carson.
Let's go to the rams um. You know my takeaway,

(26:18):
Whether you heard it or not, Michael was listening. They're
building a five billion dollars stadium. They're brand new to
the city. You got the Lakers, you got the Dodgers,
you got usc football, you got the sports everywhere everywhere.
So they went and got some headliners and domin Con
sue a keep to leave and I think they overpaid
for Brandon Cooks and Dante Fowler. And here's my takeaway.

(26:39):
The Rams have stars, but the Chargers have depth. Yes,
And I watched the Rams Mike. They look tired. They
don't have depth. They have one running back, Cooper Cup left.
Now they have one receiver they have to rely on.
That's what I see. I see a team that's got
a bunch of stars, doesn't have a lot of depth.
And January is about depth. You know, they look like

(27:01):
a team who started out fast and and and had
a ton of success in a bunch of different areas.
And the first quarter of the season, it's always easy
to come out and get off to a good start
because you know opposing teams don't know how you're gonna
play it on what you know what you're gonna come
out with, and you know what your scheme is gonna
look like. After while, you start to create an identity

(27:21):
and things don't change, you just dress it up a
little different. So catching up with the scheme and now
you just gotta you gotta re you gotta reboot. You
gotta go back and look at what did we do
well early in the season. What are other teams doing
well versus the teams that we're about to play, And
you got to create concepts based on that um. But

(27:42):
they gotta they got a lot of talent, and I
think this team should be in a better position. Obviously
that game was competitive last night. They probably one that
they should have won. Yeah, you know, at the end
of the day, and uh, these seasons are long, Michael,
you know, and literally there's there's there's the pre Thanksgiving,
then there's post Thanksgiving, and then playoffs feel differently. It's inevitable,

(28:05):
inevitable for guys to not feel fatigued at the end
of the season. Like you go through, you know, the
first quarter, the first half of the season, and you
know things are going your way and then all of
a sudden, not just rookies, veteran players hit the wall too.
You know, I experienced that in thirteen seasons. Imagine the

(28:25):
guys like Tom Brady, who's you know, seventeen eighteen years in.
It's just something that you can dodge to get away from.
And you can't win every game. You can try, but
at the end of the season, postseason, that's when you
got to be at your best. But you got. You
have to be well rested, and you have to have
some players who fresh and can come off. Come off,

(28:50):
yes when you have Yeah, okay, So Dak Prescott get
shut out. Not a great look. Um, listen, Zeke had
a good day. Now of great day. Amari did okay,
but wasn't great. I mean I kind of look at
it and I think to myself with Dak, Dak needs
some great performances around him to win games on the road. Yeah,
Dak needs help, you know, from everyone offensive offensively and defensively.

(29:18):
Certainly not the type of performance you want to put
on film. You know, this is late in the season
and with the postseason right around the corner, because people
will look at that and watch it and they're gonna say,
we should do this to Dak Prescott because this is
what the Indianapolis coach did. They took Amari out, took
him out the game, they doubled it, they doubled him up,
and then they find out the areas that you struggling

(29:38):
and you're not so good in and you get exploited.
So I mean, it's blueprints that's created each and every week.
Certainly not the one that you wanted that the Dallas
Cowboys wanted yesterday, but can't take anything away from the
Indianapolis coach. They're really really good football team, really good team,
and better I think at this stage than we thought. Yeah,

(30:01):
a couple of different things. Number One, you had an
interview with Lamar Jackson last week. He's better than I thought.
I thought Josh Allen from Wyoming and Lamar Jackson from
Louisville needed to city a year. I done the same thing.
I just thought now. I thought Darnold Baker and Rosen
could come in, chop it up, be okay, get overwhelmed
at times to be okay. Lamar's doing it man. And
by the way, not a ton of bad places, not

(30:25):
a lot of picks. You know their offensive coordinator. You
think the Ravens coordinator is the key here. I think
the Ravens coordinator is the key. Mighty morning wig. I
think James Erban, the quarterback coach who we were all
together in twenty ten in Philadelphia, did some of the
same things. Not you know, at this pace or as
much value, but we did enough to keep teams off

(30:47):
balance and add it to get positive yards and move
the chains. Greg greg Roman is involved. Yep. You know,
so three heads better than one. And I mean Lamar's
doing everything he's actually be doing yep, and he's making
the game. Wait, is the game is easy for him?
Like what he's doing, I mean handed off or you

(31:09):
keep it. You know, short passes, not a lot of it,
passes down the field, not being asked to do a lot.
It's really a game plan that he can probably run
for the next couple of years and be successful at
it and just give defenses fits. Yeah. But by the way,
Baltimore plays real defenses. I say this every quarterback, I mean,

(31:29):
Andrew Luck's one of the few I think that does it.
Every quarterback's got holes in his game. Yeah, so Andrew's
hole right now or not? Andrew Lamar Jackson's hole is experience. Right,
You're not gonna give him the whole playbook. By the way,
Big Ben's first two years in Pittsburgh, it was a
lot of running. Yeah, they weren't giving a big balance.
It was Now you can let him throw fifty times
a game. So I think Baltimore is a headache. I

(31:51):
also think when you came into this league, people don't
have tape. It took people a year to figure out
the Wildcat. Yeah, people don't have enough tape on Lamar.
And by the way, I think week to week Baltimore
is figuring out who Lamar Jackson is, right, and they
have him in house right, and they'll continue to add
to the playbook. They'll continue to come up with different
concepts and then once the team, once opposing teams latch

(32:13):
onto what they're doing. Then you know, the offseason the
role around, they'll go scout more offenses that that's suited
for Lamar's game. They'll come back next year with something different.
He'll learn more in the passing game. Then it becomes
a situation or how do we, you know, incorporate more
passing game into the run game or do we even

(32:33):
bother with uh, you know, allowing him to pass more.
Let's do what he's comfortable with. And I think, you know,
that's the most important thing right now. They're doing the
things that getting them out of the stadiums would have
win and making Lamar successful and not putting a ton
of pressure on the offense or the defense. Yeah, I
don't want to see him running eighteen times a game.

(32:53):
I'd rather he's in the eight to twelve. But I
think some of us are sustainable. Running over fifteen times
to me is not stainable. Yeah, all right, New England Pittsburgh.
What was your big takeaway from the game. Pittsburgh is
a lot better than what we think. You know, Pittsburgh
comes to play when they want to play, and you know,
sad from beating the New England pages they should have

(33:15):
beat the Chargers, you know they have they had them beat,
you know, so this is a team that can put
it all together whenever they want. Obviously, New England looked tired.
Tom Brady looked like, you know, he he was into it,
but he needed help. And I can't understand why Josh
Gordon only had one or two receptions. Figure out, this

(33:39):
is a guy that they brought in to be the
marquee player for this team, to be the guy that
the stress, that can stress the field and and you
know create you know, other opportunities in in in the offense,
especially in the run game. Yeah, using that effectively. I
don't know why, um, but the Pittsburgh still has did
what they needed to do at a critical moment in
the season. Yeah. For the record, if you go look

(34:01):
at the Steelers this year when they played the Chargers.
It went down to the wire. They beat New England.
So this is what Pittsburgh does, as Joey knows being
from Pittsburgh, the big games. They rise to the moment.
Some of this is on Big Ben. I mean, I'll
be honest with you, some of this is on Big Ben.
He is not as laser focused as other players in
this league. And he sometimes shows up on Sunday and

(34:24):
it feels like for the first half he's messing around
and he's going off script, and I thought he was
really focused late. Yeah, and then they hit running game
yesterday and they created the balance that we talked about
yesterday and I showed it. They needed one hundred and
forty five yards rushing. That helps, yep, that pays dividends. Mike.
Great seeing you thirteen years for Pro Bowls, Mike Vick,

(34:45):
Thanks buddy. Coming up in twenty minutes, where Colin was right,
where Colin was wrong, and coming up next, Green Bay's
new reality and it's not pretty. It's the Herd. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app. Great to have you back.

(35:07):
So Chicago it's gonna win their division. I thought it
was a big win for them yesterday because they have
the better players and the better roster. They were at home,
better momentum, a younger quarterback right now, and he appears
to be healthier. Aaron Rodgers hurt again yesterday by the
end of the game. Listen, this is the way it works.
Chicago's got a bunch of good young players. Roquan Smith,

(35:29):
the rookie linebacker, Tret Cohen, the running back, Eddie Jackson,
Leonard Floyd, packers owe seven on the road. They feel
like kind of a team that needs to be rebooted.
Chicago's not going anywhere. And Aaron Rodgers, for a decade,
had this window when his division was utter dysfunction. The

(35:53):
Bears were a mess, Detroit was a mess, Minnesota couldn't
get their act together, and in that window, Aaron, to
his credit, dominated the NFC North and won a Super Bowl.
But that's over now. Green Bay's new reality going forward.
Chicago is like the Dallas Cowboys, a bunch of good
young players, most of them on defense, and they're not

(36:15):
real expensive. Yet they have a superstar pass rusher that
Green Bay will never be able to block. They won't.
Chicago's got the better coach. Chicago's quarterbacks never gonna make
thirty three million a year guaranteed. The new reality in
that division. I'm not saying Chicago's gonna win it every year,
but there is a new reality for green Bay. They

(36:37):
are paying their quarterback the most, which will make their
roster have to be younger and cheaper. Their quarterback is
now thirty five years old. Their quarterback was gimpy yesterday,
and I would probably sit Aaron for the rest of
the year. Aaron says he doesn't want to be sat
for the rest of the year. But Aaron Rodgers is

(36:57):
becoming Brett Farve got a super Bowl in the first decade,
but then Aaron Rodgers and Farv are getting older, more
annoying little injuries. They both got very expensive, They were
harder to coach, They were still iconic ad libbers, sometimes
to their detriment, and they didn't win out of Lambeau.

(37:19):
The Packers are o and seven on the road this year.
This is the new reality. Be very careful. Windows closed Jacksonville.
Remember what I told you, I didn't buy Jacksonville. Andrew
luck In Deshaun Watson got hurt. Their window was about
this big for about ten games, and they got to
the AFC Championship game. Tom Brady closed their window, Andrew

(37:40):
Luck came back, Deshaun Watson came back, and they got
Blake Portals. So right now, Jacksonville has the fourth best
quarterback in their division. I'm not saying Green Bay won't
be good. Aaron Rodgers is good enough to win with
very few parts. They have a really nice home field advantage.
And if you go look at the Packers over the years,
they tend to do a pretty good job drafting. I'm

(38:02):
not saying they're going to be in fourth or third
place forever, but the layoup line for the Packers is over.
They were in a ten year layup line. The Lions
were a dysfunctional mass, the Bears were an dysfunctional mass,
and Vikings had good ownership but couldn't get it right.
Vikings have a real good coach and a real good
roster and a good enough quarterback to win a division.

(38:24):
Chicago's got talent everywhere in the best coach in their
division and a quarterback who's never gonna make thirty three million.
So the layoup line is over. And by the way,
Dallas is good, the Rams are good, Philadelphia Eagles are
going to be good. The NFC's better than it's ever been,
So you gotta take advantage to it, you know, Brady.
By the way, Tom Brady's had a layup line for

(38:45):
fifteen years. The best quarterback he's faced in his division's
Chad Pennington for like two decades. Did you watch Sam
Darnold Saturday? You get Sam Darnold or the Jets some talent.
Tom Brady's layup lines over too. Now, Brady really took
advantage of it. Brady really took advantage of it. You
can't expect Tom to win anymore. Once Darnold gets pieces offensively,
it's over for Tom. And that could happen depending on

(39:07):
how they draft and how they have huge cap space.
But the layup line for the Packers is done. So
and I've been saying this it Aaron Rodgers would never
want to be compared to five. They become the same guy.
They really have. They chopped it up for ten years,
got a Super Bowl, and I mean they really did
their first ten years. They both have a Super Bowl,

(39:28):
both had multiple MVPs, both had nine out of ten
winning seasons and both made six Pro Bowls. Their first
ten years looked exactly the same. All I'm saying is
their last five are also going to look the same.
Rogers is hurt again. He's thirty five Khalil maxkill and nowhere.
Chicago's players, like Dallas are all good, mostly on defense,
and they're cheap right now. So no, Chicago's a fun story. Listen.

(39:51):
I work at Fox. We have the NFC. It is
very good for us that the Chicago Bears and the
Dallas Cowboys now both have the kind of the same team.
The Bears and the Cowboys. I think quarterbacks with very
low ceilings Mitch Robiski and Dak Prescott. But the Bears
and the Cowboys are loaded on defense, also storied franchises

(40:16):
with great fan bases. So yes, it's it's great for
when they're doing well in the league for everyone. You know,
it's interesting about Aaron Rodgers as if you look at
the NFC playoff picture today, the Saints are gonna win
their division, the Rams are gonna win it, the Bears
are gonna win it. I think the Cowboys are gonna
win it. Um Seattle looks like the best wild card
team to me. And then then then I think you

(40:37):
have the Vikings and the Eagles and the Panthers are
all gonna buy it for that final playoff spot. Seahawks
screwed up yesterday. They had the ball end of regulation,
they had the ball first and overtime, Seahawks just screwed
it up. Didn't get a couple of breaks on calls,
blah blah blah. But Eagles, Panthers, and Vikings are going
to battle for that second wildcard spot. Seattle is in Chicago.

(40:59):
Is a fun story here, and you know it's interesting.
So if you look at Aaron Rodgers, and this is
one of the things we've said about him, He's not
a huge guy. Aaron's not six four and a half
two thirty five. Aaron's my size. He's six two and

(41:19):
he's about two ten. I'm about one ninety eight. He's
not a gigantic guy, you know. And I'll say this
Leroy Butler was on Twitter yesterday saying, if you can't
outplay mich Trubisky, how good are you. Aaron's only job
is to outplay the other quarterback. You're never gonna win.
Scoring seventeen points Now, I think that's a little harsh

(41:41):
from Leroy on Aaron Rodgers. But Aaron decided to take
thirty three million dollars despite all those making ten million
dollars a year on commercials. And this is his new reality.
A young football team and a city in Green Bay
that's never attracted free agents last five years. It's gonna
still be a pro bowler. Gon win games, may win

(42:02):
the division again. The layup line's over all right. Coming
up next, Where Colin was right? Where Colin was wrong?
Trent Dilfer, Shawn Merriman, Ben Vollen, Patriots reporter from Boston.
Oh my word, the dynasty is melting. It's the Herd.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio

(42:22):
FS one and the iHeartRadio app AH Hour two. This
is the Herd, wherever you may be and however you
may be listening live in Los Angeles, iHeart Radio, Fox
Sports Radio and f S one. Joy Taylor is joining me.
This is an amazing time of the year. Joy Bowl

(42:43):
games and it's like decent Bowl games startup. We got
NFL player, you know. Next week, fourteen of the sixteen
games next week we'll have playoff implications. That's incredible. This
is I got I gotta tall you something. They may
kick me out of this business. But I'll just sit
home and talk to myself September through January, I will.

(43:06):
I won't even have a show. I'll just sit and
talk to myself about This time of the year is
so good. It's so much fun. I love coming to work.
Why why would you need to do that? Are you
talking about when you when I'm like eighty eight. Yeah,
I mean I just talk to myself. I'll have my
cats and my goofy dog, and I'll just talk to
myself about football. I'll have my own radio show. I'll
put an antena up on the house at yeah, and

(43:26):
just talk to people, mostly my neighbors. Maybe maybe they're
like a like an elderly Yes, sports talk, nursing home
sports talk. That's a hell of an idea, right there. Yeah,
I just wanted something. I want ten percent of anyone
who does my idea. All right, here we go it
to a Monday. Where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong,
Where Colin was right, best year, blazing five second best

(43:50):
year statistically. But I feel like it's my best year,
another winning week three and two. We picked the Colts
to upset the Dallas Cowboys. We picked Cleveland to do
something they don't do leve Ohio and win a football
game over Denver. And we loved the Titans over the
New York Giants. Still scratching my head over that Ram's performance,
but we're close to sixty percent on the year, and
that is good enough to be a professional sports gambler

(44:12):
if I wanted to do that. Where Colin was wrong,
I completely whipped on the NFC North. I predicted the
Packers would win it and the Bears would be abysmal. Well,
the Bears are going to win it going away and
Green Bay is now abysmal. Yeah, I was not close.
If you'd told me Aaron Rodgers for the second straight
year was not going to make the playoffs, I didn't

(44:34):
buy it. If you had told me Mitch Trubisky, I
mean I watched Mitt Trubisky last year with John Fox.
They looked like a college quarterback that was over his head.
Minnesota is the only team in this division I've gotten right.
But no team has shocked me and surprised me like
the Chicago Bears. That's why I think Matt n Aggie's

(44:54):
the coach of the year. Where Colin was right. But
we did tell you two months ago Chargers roster was
better than the Rams. We've been saying this now for
two months. They're stacked. They have three legit star receivers,
two big time running bags, two pass rushers. I talked
to a buddy of mine who's an NFL scout. I said,
what's their weakness? He goes, I don't love their guards

(45:18):
like they are good everywhere, and unlike previous Charger teams,
they don't turn the ball over and give games away.
Second fewest giveaways in the NFL. This team dudn't have
the glitz, dudn't have the glamour. This is the best
football team top to bottom in Los Angeles, the Chargers,
where Colin was row Listen. I knew Baker Mayfield could

(45:42):
play and win games. I set it as a rookie
Lamar Jackson, shucker. Okay, I just thought he'd roll. I
too much on running. I said, he can't be running
around eighteen times a game. Now he's been nicked up
a couple of times, and I don't think it's sustainable
to run eighteen times a game. I think if he
can get through this season healthy, then next year they'll

(46:03):
scale back in the running and develop his passing. But
he leads the Ravens in rushing. He is four and
won as a starter. He's very close to be in
five and oh as a starter, he could have won
that game in Kansas City. He has no interceptions in
his last three games. He's obviously, as Bobby Petrino told
every but he's very coachable. Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator,
has been around the league for a long time. You know,

(46:25):
I saw him more as a second third round quarterback
who you got to sit for a year. He's been
terrific and now now slide. Please RG three didn't learn
to slide. Andrew Luck didn't learn to slide. Please learn
to slide in the offseason. You will extend your career.
Remember where Colin was right. He wanted him to be

(46:47):
a wide receiver. No, no, no no, he is fast though.
Where Colin was right. Listen, we were the first person
to show to Bail in the Rams and we said,
it's it's a lot of hot dogging on defense, it's
a lot of freelancing. I think Todd Gurley is great,
but how many you give him the ball? Three hundred times?
I like Jared Gott, but he's still young, and I
think there's you know, I watched this Rams team. They

(47:09):
gave up eight point seven yards of past the Nick Foles.
Isn't the secondary supposed to be their strength? Sam Shields
and to keep to leave and Marcus Peters and the
young safeties. I thought their secondary was supposed to be
their strength. And the Dominican Sue and Aaron Donald. You'd
never be able to run on them. Everybody runs on them.
We bailed on him a couple of months ago. Their

(47:29):
names are bigger than their production. Where Colin was raw.
It's not that the Steelers beat New England, we were
wrong on that, but they ran the football and the
running game last couple of weeks, and it's kind of
you know, listen, I was joking about this Friday. I
don't even consider it a rivalry, but you know we're
gonna have Ben vollen on in five ten minutes here.

(47:52):
Patriots writer. He thinks the dynasty's over. I think it's
close to over. But I gotta be honest. Who was
making the mistakes down the stretch? It was New England.
The Steelers were buttoned up down the stretch. The Steelers
made their mistakes on two back to back plays in
the first half. They were buttoned up after that, they
were focused after that. They made the big plays after that,

(48:13):
couple of great catches by young receivers. That game looked
the opposite. I thought it would be New England that
would make the plays late. New England would not have
the penalties late and as wrong where Colin was right,
I don't think I've ever I know this for a fact,
I've never predicted an entire conference as accurately as I

(48:36):
predicted the AFC. I had the Steelers win in their division.
The Patriots went in the airs, the Texans went in
the airs, and then I said, keep your eyes on
the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens. Now. I was
not great on the Chiefs. I said they'd be five
hundred because I've never seen Patrick Mahomes play a season,
So I said, if he's great, my bad. But by
and large, if you look at our predictions in the AFC,

(48:58):
we have nailed it down to the wild card teams.
We said Baltimore and Indy are going to be way
better than Vegas thinks. And they have been way better
than Vegas thinks. And the teams leading the division are
pretty much the teams we said that would lead the division.
Where Colin was raw, I love Carson Wentz, and I
always say, you know, Nick Foles isn't in his league,

(49:20):
but I gotta be honest. Nick Foles does something because
Carson Wentz get zoned in on zach Ertz the tight end.
But there is something between Nick Foles and Alshan Jeffrey
and they just connect. Whatever that relationship is at practice,
personal relationship, I have no idea. Remember, maybe the coaches

(49:40):
are more comfortable with Alshon Jeffrey throws from Nick Foles.
But you know, I keep going out and saying Wentz
is a superstar, and Nick said back up at best.
But there is something to be said about what happens
when Nick Foles takes over. And you look at Philadelphia's
offense last night, it's six point two yards to play
with Nick Foles. You get six point two yards of

(50:02):
play in the NFL, You're not gonna lose. On a
lot of Sundays, Where Colin was right, Matt Naggie, not
Sean McVay is the young hotshot coach we should be
paying attention due. I like McVeagh, but the media, you
know what, mcveigh's good looking, he's in Los Angeles, he's
more glamorous. Well, guess what the Chicago guy that doesn't

(50:26):
have the high perfect model cheekbones is taking Mitch Traubisky,
Alan Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller and their six and
points and by the way, Pro Football Focus says they're
eight best players are all defensive players. Now, I know
he's not as hip as McVay. Pride didn't have the

(50:47):
you know, the cheekbones. But Matt Naggi is the guy
that has taken pretty solid but not spectacular offensive pieces
and they are six in points. And not only that,
they've had a tough schedule. You know, at a conference
they had to play Jets. Defense is a real defense.
Bill's defense a real defense. They play the Dolphins in Miami,

(51:09):
they had to face New England, real team. Matt Nagee,
congrats to you, real team, but I'd totally whipped on
man good stuff today, Ben Volan, I love you know,
I love something. I love when media can be critical
of their home team. It's hard to be critical of

(51:31):
your home team. You go to a grocery store, you
go to your gym, you go to your church. Everybody's
looking at you. That's a local reporter. It's hard to
be brutally honest and critical of a home team as
a reporter. Ben Voland rights for the Boston Globe and

(51:53):
he ripped the Patriots apart. I think the dynasty's melting.
And this is what happens to dynasty when you're superstar.
Tim Duncan or Tom Brady are not on steroids. They
gracefully age and decline. And I think right now New
England that we predicted to be ten and six, we
said the gun pullback. I don't think they're good enough

(52:15):
to win a road playoff game. And Ben Volland headline
yesterday reality Patriot Urnamy great football team? How did play?
His thoughts? He is on the ground every day at
practice and Trent Dilford two, we are just starting out.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter ninety and Pacific Welcome back now through

(52:38):
December twenty fifth, thirty percent off Joey Go to twenty
three dot com slash The Herd twenty three and me
dot com slash herd. Those DNA genestic testing kits, DNA
genetic testing kits, those are fun. Actually, it's fascinating to
find out that you're from Iceland or something. You know,
it's just awesome. I love those things. I always said
I really respect reporters who are willing to be critical

(52:58):
of the home team. It's harder. You get a lot
of crap at practice, you get a lot of ugly stairs.
People shut you out. But Ben Voland, who's been covering
the Patriots through the Aaron Hernando saga and that murder saga,
through the Patriots good Days, Bad Days, Spygate, deflate Gate,
super Bowl runs joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

(53:19):
Ben Voland is joining us. All right, let's start. Let's
start with an easy one, or maybe it's not. What
do you use? What do your eyes tell you? Ben?
What's wrong with the Patriots? They have a lot of
things wrong, And I think number one, you have to
look at the speed of the team on both sides
of the football. Where was it yesterday against the Steelers?
No speed on offense, no explosive plays, and then no

(53:40):
speed on defense. Not being able to get after the
quarterback and disrupt Ben Roethlisberger. They're relying on Rob Gronkowski,
who looks slow out there. Tom Brady starting to you know,
he obviously never moved around that well, but making bad
decisions inside the red zone for the second straight week.
Julian Edelman not looking like himself. This is a slow
team that I wonder, Colin if they overestimated how much Brady,

(54:03):
Gronk and Edelman had left. They really built the team
around these guys, and all three of them kind of
looked old on Sunday against the Steelers. I could argue,
though Belichick wanted to keep Garoppolo and wanted to bail
on Gronk and then Tom and the owners stepped in.
Couldn't I argue that Brady is Belichick is sitting there
Ben with a smirk saying to Craft and Brady, I

(54:23):
told you so. Because Belichick wanted to get rid of
Gronk and wanted to demote Brady pretty soon, did he not.
I definitely think he wanted to keep Garoppolo and that
probably entails getting rid of Tom Brady. And there are
all those reports about how the Patriots had a trade
offer on the table for Gronkowski before the draft. So
you know, the whole Patriots mantra, we get rid of

(54:44):
a player a year too early instead of a year
too late. They're not really sitting to it with their
most important players here Brady, Gronk and Edelman are You
hate to say it, but they're starting to look a
little bit past their prime. And like I said, I
wonder if the Patriots overestimated how much these guys all
have left. You know, there's been various stories they don't
get along, they do get along. Let's let's face it,

(55:05):
this is it's last at eighteen years. I mean that's
that's three times as long as like a Shaq Kobe,
Bradshawn Noel. You go to eighteen years from this point,
it's just gravy. I mean, you've been very, very lucky.
But when you let's let's just say they're they're a
three seed or a four. They don't get a home
field game. Do you see them capable of winning a
road game? Not in the playoffs? Not the way that

(55:28):
this Patriots team is playing this year. The hallmark of
the Patriots over the years their mental toughness and their
ability to overcome and especially on the road, and this
team just does not have it. They're three and five
on the road. It's the second worst road record under
Belichick and Brady. They went two and six in two
thousand and nine. That was the last time they had
to play in this wild card weekend. The Patriots still
have a good shot at the number two seed if

(55:51):
they went out, and if the Texans lose this weekend
at the Eagles and the Patriots go back to the
number two seed wild buy in the home game and
all that. But no, if they have to go on
the road in the playoffs and play a good team,
I don't like their chances. You look at the teams
in the quarterbacks they've lost to Colin. It's a head
scratching list. Blake Bortles, Matt Stafford, Marcus Mariota, Ryan Tannehill,

(56:15):
and then Ben Roethlisberger yesterday as well. So the Patriots
just have not played well on the road all year.
By the way, Darnold looked great in a loss. They
don't have any offensive personnel. I had multiple execs texting
me during that game, going, God, this kid looks like
Andrew luck first couple of years he's carrying nobody. I
wonder what's on the horizon for New England because Tom

(56:36):
Brady's been taking pay cuts. There should be all these
emerging great young stars like Cleveland has, for instance, or
Chicago has, or Dallas has. When you're not paying your
quarterback a lot, what's the future like, who's their emerging star?
Do you see a path out of this? It certainly
is not looking good for the future of the Patriots

(56:57):
right now. And I know every year we want to say,
is this the end? Well, here's why I say it is.
Your star players are starting to look their age, and
as you said, there's no one behind them. They have
not drafted well at all. They have given up young
players like Garoppolo and Brandon Cooks. Dion Lewis was a
guy they could have maybe built around for a few
more years. It's not like they have a bunch of
guys in the pipeline right now. They're just kind of

(57:17):
an aging team. It's a lot of the same bases
on defense as well, Devin mccordy, Dante hight Toower, Patrick Chung.
So they maybe have another year left in them after
this as far as the current Patriots run, but it
certainly does look like it's coming to an end soon.
And yeah, the way Sam Darnold played on Saturday Night,
he was fantastic, some of those throws he was making.
So hey, maybe the Patriots will finally have a little

(57:39):
bit of competition in this division. It's only been twenty years.
It's about time. By the way, they're going to draft
a quarterback, right, I mean, Ben, they'd have to, it'd
be ridiculous not to draft a quarterback, right. Well, I
thought they would draft one last year and they didn't.
You never know. With Bill Belichick, I could potentially see them.
I think obviously they would love to draft a kid
and groom him. And I think they do have a
lot of resources extra second and third round picks this

(58:01):
year where they can do some maneuvering. However, you know,
maybe they go that veteran stopgap route as well, like
the Vikings signing Kirk Cousins for three years. Maybe someone
becomes available, some sort of veteran quarterback that they can
use him as a bridge after Tom Brady and then
figure out what they're gonna do. But obviously, with Brady
being forty one and not having a great season, they

(58:21):
have to get the next guy ready to go good stuff.
Ben Volland Boston Globe Patriots rider, never afraid to be
brutally honest. I agree with him. I don't see the
dynamic players. I watched the Browns this week and I
see all sorts of young players, Bears, Cowboys, I see him.
I don't see it with New England. They're getting old, Ben,
Thank you so much, Thank you, Colm Trent Dilford. Before

(58:42):
the end of the hour, the always outspoken Sean Merriman.
Can I touch on the Sam Donald ting for a second?
Listen man, I said for years on Andrew Luck. If
you don't see it, I can't help you if you
don't see it. With Sam Donald, they have nothing to
work with pro football focus rates, their running backs, receivers,
an offensive line with as you know, bottom two in
the league, bottom three in the league. They have no players.

(59:04):
Darnald was spectacular Saturday. It doesn't matter wins or loses.
The kids unbelievable. He looks a little like Luck, a
little like Elway. Now. I don't think he's as naturally
gifted as John Elway. I don't think he's gonna be
as great as Andrew Luck. But in this league, ad
context like Lamar Jackson has a bunch of good players

(59:24):
around him, a veteran staff, a lot of smart offensive guys,
Greg Roman, Marty morning Wag defensive running game. Darnold has nothing.
By the way, Arizona has nothing, and Josh Rosen's getting crushed.
Darnold has nothing. He's won four games, two road games.
They have no business hanging around Houston Saturday. They got

(59:47):
no business being in that football game. They were using
their third running back, and there they were missing two receivers,
two running backs, and they had a right tackle that
was a back up and a backup at center, and
they took j. J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney down to
the wire. If you don't see it, just like I said,

(01:00:09):
well Andrew Locke, I can't help you. If you don't
see it. There's nothing I can do. Joy with the news, No,
no hurt on the news. This is the herd line news.
So Dak Prescott said, the Cowboys twenty three nothing shut
out lost the Colts yesterday. Quote definitely hurts. The first
time Dallas was shot on a game since November sixteenth,
two thousand and three, as the twelve nothing lost to

(01:00:31):
the Patriots and The loss also snapped the Cowboys five
game win streak and cost them a chance to clinch
the NFC East. Here is dak on the shutout. Any
competitor every wants to get shut out. I mean the
shutout definitely hurts. The shut out pisses you off, especially
when you're down there, and you're down there early in
the red zone. You have opportunity to score and you don't.
So yeah, one hundred percent. We've got to find ways

(01:00:52):
to capitalize and score in the red zone, and that
starts there. We do that, we don't get shut out.
We can't win like that, hurting ourselves, simple as that. Uh,
playing behind the chains, n of these sacks, whatever it
may be, Um ankle Pleansum we did. We just heard
ourselves from from the beginning all the way to the end,
and we never really gave ourselves a chance through the record.

(01:01:13):
He's great at a microphone, always says the right stuff.
He's ticked off, and you know, Patriot or Cowboy fans
are ticked off. So the first thing he says when
he comes to the microphone, I'm pissed. So all the
Cowboy fans are like, Okay, he's he's owning it. So
Cowboy fans are mad. He's mad. But I go back
to something here, Joey. You only get upset in life

(01:01:34):
if you don't match expectations. The Cowboys were underdogs in Vegas.
The people that are upset this morning thought that we're
going to go in there with a division wrapped up.
You think and roll Indie they were. I did. I
did not think that the Cowboys were going to win
this game. I didn't think they were gonna get shut out,
but I didn't think that they were going to win
this game. Yeah, this is a classic trap game, Indies

(01:01:57):
at home, India has more to play with. You have
a decided advantage at quarterback. Indianapolis and Dak and the
Cowboys had come off some really really important wins. This
was your classic let deaf. Even their defense, by the way,
their run defense, Gooley, you love your Cowboys. The Colts
ran the football with a fourth round or Marlon Mack.

(01:02:19):
This was an effort game. Now, I still think it's
hard to overcome beating Andrew Luck when I have Dak
in Indie. But even their defense, just just don't let
in expectations get you angry. No, I mean it was
a dud, but they have They have Tampa Bay next week,
so they'll have an opportunity to wrap up the division
at home against Sampa Bay and then they have the
Giants to end the season. So see other the rest

(01:02:39):
of the season goes for that. So Lebron had a
very rough game against the Wizards last night when the
Lakers played another very rare du second night of a
back to back. He shot five or sixteens in the field.
It's both of his three point attempts and half of
his six three throw attempts. He had four turnovers, more
turnovers than assists three assists. He has the worst game
of the year probably, Yeah, And this just came one

(01:03:00):
day after he had a triple double and a win
against Charlotte. He was Lebron after the game. We're a
team that is built on energy in depth, and we
didn't have either tonight. I don't think we're the only
team that probably will have a back to back like this.
You just try to find a way. Obviously night we
didn't have our way. The positive of the season is
we've gotten better every week since the season, starting every month,
and if we continue to do that, when April hits

(01:03:22):
would be right where we want to be. That's that's
a smart quote. They've been better month a month. They're
a better team every month. That's a great quote by Lebron.
Last night was the classic you could tell seven minutes
in the back I was. I was watching that game
on a little device and I'm like, seven minutes into
what John Wall's on fire, and I'm like, Lakers are done.
Like the Laker's body language is bad. They just didn't

(01:03:44):
come to play now. And when Lebron's playing like that,
if you don't have a superstar next to you, that's
what's gonna happen. I mean, it's a it's a game
against the Wizards in December. I don't think anyone's freaking out.
But this is the example of you you need a
second guy that's going to go out there and dominate
and lift every one when Lebron is struggling like that,
and he rarely struggles like that. Finally, sticking with basketball,

(01:04:06):
the Knicks are no stranger to mediocrity. They have been
for nearly two decades, and the fans have long clamored
for owner James Solan to sell the team, please so.
In a profile of Dolan, from ESPN Zan O'Connor Dylan
said he doesn't have any plans to sell the team,
but he wouldn't rule it out. He said, you hear
numbers all the time. I think people have sent feelers out,

(01:04:27):
but never any that were pursued. The feelers are around
five billion. But those things, it's like stock price. It's
only important if you're going to buy or sell. I
could never say that I wouldn't consider selling a Knicks
And of course this has sent everyone into a frenzy
at the mere idea and possibility that he may actually

(01:04:48):
sell the Knicks. I don't think he's going to sell
the Knicks. Well, he's a rich guy's kid, and he
likes his music, and he's not you know, he's a
smart guy. He's a bad owner. That doesn't mean he's
a bad human being. He's not a good you know joy.
It's funny about this. Paul Allen passed away in Seattle.
Paul I always found as an NFL owner, was a

(01:05:09):
great owner. He had money, he was very supportive, but
he stayed away and knew what he wasn't James Dolan
shares some of those qualities. But the difference is I
think James Dolan doesn't ever give anything time. Fire a GM,
fire a coach, get rid of a player. Well, I
think James Dolan has been rumored to be a little

(01:05:29):
more medling. Yes than that, he's and he's impatient, right,
he's impatient. He medals and more than anything else, like
the Knicks being the franchise that they are in historic
in New York City and you know, a basketball mecca,
to have a dysfunctional team to the point where free
agents don't even want to go there. Thinking about this,

(01:05:50):
here's what's amazing about the NBA. The New York, Philadelphia
and DC. These are huge, huge Eastern markets have mostly
been dysfunctional for twenty years, and the NBA is still
a very popularly he gets probably the second most second
or third most popular sports league in America. They've got
no favors. I mean, the Clippers now are good, and

(01:06:12):
I think they're gonna get Kahi Leonard. So the Clippers
are fine. But the NBA, over the last fifteen years,
their best run teams have been small markets. I mean,
can you imagine in the NFL off Tampa Bay led
their division and it was Buffalo. But in the NFL
right now, I get Chicago, I get it, Dallas, I
get yeah. I mean, luckily, what the NBA has done

(01:06:33):
has taken advantage of its youth and social media and
the ability for anyone is to be a fan of
any player and raising the star. Plus it's a global game,
so that helps the NBA and its popularity widely. That
they could use the Knicks though, but yes, of course,
if you use the Knicks, it would be amazing. How
amazing would it be if the Knicks were actually irrelevant team?

(01:06:55):
Can you imagine if the Cowboys for twenty five years
were irrelevant? I mean, the Knicks have been irrelevant for
two decades and the NBA still poputer. It's a mess.
Joy of the news. Well, that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the third line, I said this, Trent
Doper's coming up, so don't go anywhere, you know. I
said this yesterday. I was talking to somebody about this

(01:07:16):
Friday on the show. I said, you're gonna see Andrew
Luck and you're gonna see Dak Prescott. And Dak Prescott
is going to be driving Lamborghini to work. He's got
a great front seven, he's got an elite left tackle,
a superstar running back, a true number one. It's got
Pro bowlers everywhere, and the defense is better. And Andrew
Luck's driving a camera. He's got one really nice wide

(01:07:38):
receiver who drops it too much for my taste. But
Eric Ebroun, his tight end was a semi bust in Detroit,
Marlon Max a fourth rounder. Two rookies on the offensive line.
Best defensive players are rookie and they were on full display.
And Andrew Luck, seven years in the NFL, has still
never had the weapons that Dak Prescott has and completely

(01:07:59):
dominated yesterday. Is that I wish fans and sometimes the
media would understand. Bucky Brooks is a former player. Bucky
Brooks has a great line. He says quarterbacks are tractors
or their trailers. Andrew Luck is a tractor. He can
pull a team. Dak Prescott's a trailer. Good teammates pull him.

(01:08:23):
Here's Bucky Brooks on our show about a year ago.
Quarterbacks come in two forms. They either trucks or their trailers.
Meaning trucks they can carry the team. It doesn't matter
what they have around him, they can still find a
way to get you to the winner circle. Trailers are
guys who have to depend on the rest of the
pieces around him to really support them. The overwhelming majority

(01:08:44):
of the league are trailers. Is just do you have
the people around you that can put the pieces in
place that allow you to play at a high level.
And yesterday they were parked right next to each other.
The truck and the trailer were parked right next to
each other. By the way, Zeke had eighty five yards.
That's not bad, but Dak needs more. Amari Cooper had
four catches. That's not bad. Dak needs more. His offensive

(01:09:09):
line was still better than Luck's, but one of his stars,
like Zack Martin's out And this was a classic example.
Add context to it. Lamar Jackson's foreign one as a starter.
He's got way better coaching and players than Sam Darnell does.
Add context to quarterback discussions. This was a great example

(01:09:34):
of a Lamborghini park next to a camera. And what
Luck has been able to do for seven years in
this league. He just finally has an offensive line. Look
at his numbers. They still need a number two receiver.
They'll probably consider Lavian Bellet running back, maybe maybe not,
maybe not fit their culture. They still need, you know,

(01:09:57):
a pass rusher. They still need to be better defend
pensively upfront a linebacker, so we too often have no
context to what these guys do. I like parts of Dak,
but he entered this league with the best offensive line
and probably the best running back in football. Luck has

(01:10:17):
still never had anything close to resembling that. Trent Dill
for around the corner. Coming up on New Year's Eve,
the Red Box Bowl kicks off between Oregon and Michigan
State at two thirty eastern on Fox. Then flip over
to FS one as number seventeen. Utah battles number twenty
two Northwestern in the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday
Bowl at six thirty eastern, or catch it all on

(01:10:39):
the Fox Sports at I'll take Michigan State in Utah.
Utah's won eleven of twelve Bowl games under Kyle Whittingham.
He's eleven and one, which is just a ridiculous. Note.
I don't you know that's way better than Nick Saban
or Urban Meyer. I'll take Utah and I'll take Michigan State.
Michigan State, it's another great Bowl team, they've won five
of six. With that, we go to a guy who
played in this league for a decade and a half
a Pro Old or Super Bowl winner via the Coward

(01:11:01):
Global Satellite Network. Trent Dilfer, all right, I look to
you for wisdom on these Mondays. Brady's decline. I don't
want to overreact to it, but we got forty year
old guy. Gronk and Edleman are past the prime. I
mean Gronks perhaps in his last year. Do you see
light at the end of the tunnel for New England

(01:11:23):
rest of the year. I actually do, and I also
see all the things have been talked about it. It
doesn't look right. They look older than they have in
the past, they look slower than they have in the past.
But I also think they've also gone through a change schematically.
I believe they entered this season really trying to go

(01:11:43):
old school their offense, and it fit their personnel at
the time. Big offensive lineman's from the biggest offensive linemen
they've had in a long time. A new running back,
multiple running backs. Put a new guy in Sony Michelle.
That's a really young, a good young player. Not sure
what was gonna happen at at the wide receiver position
outside the numbers, especially, so they tried to play a

(01:12:05):
ball control slow the game down player the personnel and
mainly protect their defense offense, and it hasn't worked when
it doesn't really fit what Tom Brady does best. Can
he do it, absolutely and there's times you look spectacular
doing it. But what he does best and where I
think they will go here for the next two weeks
and into the playoffs is more of their old spread

(01:12:26):
up tempo offense where they spread you boundary to boundary
with running backs, tight ends, displaced outside receivers and create
more space. And when you do that, it does a
couple things, and so what makes them best. One It
gives Gronk more room to work with. It takes advantage
of his size more than playing him in a scrum.
It allows James White to be much more involved in

(01:12:48):
the offense, and what happens there is more run after catch,
allows Edelman to work the middle of the field without
help defenders where he's great one on one. And what
I think you'll do is will allow Josh Gordon now
to be the explosive guy. It'll move from Gronk being
the guy that used to go to explosive plays with
to Gordon and they can move them now they's integrated
in the offense from the perimeter inside which you saw

(01:13:12):
the Steelers Yester with Antonio Brown, where they lined them
up in the tight end position or the slop positions.
Great big plays. I think if they go spread, what
you'll see is these older guys now take advantage of
what they do best, use their brains, use decision making,
use the space on the field, and just say, hey,
we're willing to get into shootouts. And I'll take the

(01:13:33):
Patriots in that situation. Yeah, Mark James White Less, Sony
Michelle perhaps, Okay, Rams are the Rams fools gold. I
think their fool's goal because nobody else is great. Again,
they have massive holes. They're terrible against the run. Those
two great interior defensive linement. All they care about is
hitting the quarterback. They're out of position all the time.
The linebacker level isn't stout. They get bullied around the secondaries,

(01:13:57):
getting run by. I see all the same stuff, but
this same time, they have difference makers on defense, and
if they play well offensively and you get ahead of
you and those difference makers can really have an impact offensively.
They're obviously in a funk. But I give Sean McVay
a lot of credit and I think there'll be a
lot Like Bill Belichick and the other great coaches in
this league, they'll do a great self scout this week,

(01:14:19):
and they'll go back six, seven, eight weeks, and they'll
look at trends, what's made them good, what's made them bad,
and they'll start morphing their offense back into what the
players do best. And I think the Rams can make
the run just because they're that explosive offensively. By the way,
the two teams that kind of look the same to
me are the Cowboys and the Bears, where most of

(01:14:40):
their top most of their top players are on defense.
In fact, I think Pro Football Focus has the Bears
eight best players on defense, and they have quarterbacks that
we've briefly elevated, but I think Dak and Trubisky have
low ceilings. I think the Bears and Cowboys are the
same team. What say you? I'd add the Ravens to
that mix too. I think there's buckets right now. I
think depending on what happens tonight. Tonight, there's a chance

(01:15:03):
for the Saints to just distance themselves and put the
flag on the ground and say we're the only great
team in football. If they can do that, then I
put a bathtub full of teams that could possibly make
the run. And then within that bathtub, there's two different buckets.
There's the high ceiling low floor buckets. There's your Chiefs,
there's your Rams, there's some of those teams, and there's

(01:15:23):
your low ceiling, high floor teams. Those are your Cowboys, Ravens, Bears.
I totally agree with you, But right now, nobody's great
in the NFL. Everybody has basketballs, not just holes. And
we've talked about this. I think every week that's what
happens when you're paying your quarterback twenty five million dollars.
There's not enough money to spread around to have quality death.

(01:15:45):
But I think the other thing that's going on too
is there's not a head coach in this league that
on a Monday afternoon is they're watching films Tuesdays or
game planning, going, oh, we got this one. We know
we're better than the team we're playing. I mean, Keith
Carroll had to play the Niners this week. Can you
think the Seahawks are way better than the Niners? I
guarantee Pete Carroll's like, oh my gosh, I can see

(01:16:05):
ten ways we can lose this game. Yeah, to say,
you know, every coach is looking a's like, we're not
that good. We have to play a very particular way,
a very specific way in order to win, and if
we get outside of that formula, we can be in trouble.
Explain to me Michael Vick did earlier. I love Carson Wentz,

(01:16:25):
and I think Nick Foles is a world class best
backup in the league with Jacobe Brissette, That's what I
think he is. Maybe I'm wrong, but when Foles plays
and went sits Alshan Jeffrey's better, Like what's going on
with Philadelphia? I think this is a common trend I
scene for years now. What happens is coaches naturally rely

(01:16:47):
too much on their superstar quarterback. There's a natural laziness
that goes into the week of preparation and the conversations
goes something like this, do we want to work another
two hours and trying to figure out five to eight
scheme driven plays that can give us some free offense,
or we just want to trust our dude, because our
dude comes through all the time, whether he's Andrew Carson Wentz,

(01:17:09):
Tom Brady, Drew Brads, YadA, yadada, YadA, and they stop it.
Let's just trust our dude, he'll make plays. We need
him to make plays. And then the backup comes in.
They're like, whoa, we have to help this guy. We
have to do a lot of stuff offensively to get
others involved and really help him out. This has to
be a coach driven game more than a quarterback driven game.

(01:17:31):
The problem I have with that is that if you
go to Bill Walls, Bill Walls tree at Joe Montana
and Steve Young exactly the same. He was still going
to try to help him. Mike Marks, no matter who
his quarterback was, was always going to search and grind
to find the best schemes and help him. And I
think what happens too often is we think these quarterbacks,
I've used this a million times, they're using it, have

(01:17:51):
Superman capes on them, like they literally can do anything.
And what they'll all tell you is, no, we'd love
some help. We'd love ten freevies a game. We love
you some coach centric offense to make our job a
little bit easier. But sometimes that doesn't happen. So when
Nick Foles comes in, all of a sudden, I'm watching
them do some stuff schematically well, I haven't seen that
the last few weeks. No wonder guys are getting wide open.

(01:18:14):
Imagine if they did that when they had first and
wentz TRN Dill for a decade and a half. In
the NFL Pro Bowl Super Bowl, my coach of the
year's Matt Naggie. I think he's doing more offensively with less.
Sean McVay is doing some cool stuff, but he's got
more to work with. I think they're a great story.
But let's talk about Green Bay at lost oh and
seven on the road this year. Yesterday, Aaron got nicked

(01:18:36):
up a little thirty five years old, the last couple
of years banged up. He's now very expensive. If I
said to you, next five years for Aaron Rodgers, what
are they gonna look like? Trent de Pens, who comes
in there, and we talked about a couple of weeks ago,
this has to be a strong person. Now, this has
to be somebody's going to come in and say, you know, Aaron,
weren't doing everything we can to help you. We're gonna

(01:18:58):
make this more quarterback friend. We're gonna work our butts
off because you can have success, but you're gonna play
the game our way. And you're gonna do this our way.
This has to be a staff that comes in and
earns his respect, but at the same time demands and
pulls a ton out of him. There's so much more
in the tank than what we're seeing from Aaron Rodgers.

(01:19:20):
It has truly become a frenetic, sandbox type offense. He
doesn't look comfortable, He doesn't trust the people around him,
he doesn't trust his scheme. This needs to look a
lot more like the Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears
than it does what you're watching right right now. By
the way, you said this to me in a text
about two to three months ago. Man, the Chargers are good,

(01:19:41):
aren't they? Hole Trent backs, receivers, corners. Are they good
enough to win the Super Bowl? Not having a home
game if they're healthy. They're just so nicked up and
they got to get healthy. Imagine if they get all
these pieces together. Tena Allen with the hip pointer. Now
they've missed in the last couple of weeks, but yeah,
they have depth at the skill position. Offensively, on the

(01:20:05):
offensive line, they're way more physical, and that's what I
saw earlier here. They're way more physical than they've ever been,
and Philip is making better decisions, He's processing faster. Philip
was always the guy that read everything deep to short.
I mean, he was always looking to pull out the
machette on every play. And now he's point out the scalpel.
Now he's willing to go into death by a thousand

(01:20:26):
cuts and just nick you to death. And his decision
making if he can maintain that its slipped a little
bit the other night, But if he can maintain that
high level of decision making with offensive talent they have,
and then again a defense that has a difference maker
at all three levels defensive front, the linebacker position, and
now the secondary position with Derwin James. You don't have
to be great on defense. You just have to have

(01:20:48):
enough difference makers that make big plays at big times. Yeah,
and it is a bizarre story where they don't really
have a true home field advantage. Trent Dill for a
great talking to you, Bud, Thanks brother, All right, good stuff.
Sean Merriman outspoken, gonna join us last hour of the show.
Plus we do the three word game in the NFL.
I can describe every NFL outcome in three words, including

(01:21:11):
the one I did not watch. I had I have
to pick a game every week. I didn't watch I
pick one this weekend, and I haven't talked about it
because I didn't watch it. And I'm not going to
pretend I did. Special people in your life, show them
how much you appreciate. I'm going to one eight hundred
flowers dot com code heard one eight hundred flowers dot
com code heard, get twelve holiday lights, roses for twenty
nine ninety nine, another dozen and a vase free hour

(01:21:34):
three next. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Our three, Baby,
Here we go. This is the Herd, wherever you may
be in however you may be listening. iHeartRadio, Fox Sports,
Trodeo fas. One show has rolled today. Michael Vick's been

(01:21:57):
on Trent Dilfer a bad voland hammered the Patriots from
New England. Fourteen of the sixteen games next weekend can
clench a playoff spot. It's incredible playoff teams. Fourteen of
the sixteen have plaoff teams. That's incredible. This league is
on five. It's the best NFL season of my I've

(01:22:18):
said this to you, Joey It's the best NFL season
of my life. The quarterback, the good quarterbacks are almost
overwhelmingly healthy. We got a bunch of new quarterbacks. I
love watching play good. God, Josh Allen won this weekend.
Baker won this weekend. The rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson and
and Darnold was great and didn't win. But God, the
young quarterbacks are everywhere. And your Dolphins will finish five hundred.

(01:22:39):
What's new? You know every year? One of these years
we'll cutch on to the Wave seven Wildcat again. That
was a good year for us. The Wildcat. Yeah, let's
do something like that. Change it up, just a new offense. God,
it's just been an unbelievable year. So fifteen minutes from now,
the ALLA was outspoken. Former NFL linebacker great Sean Merriman
stops by best for last. We sum up every NFL

(01:23:03):
game in three words. But the Eagles beat the Rams
in Los Angeles last night. Rams have now dropped too straight,
and their cool head coach Sean McVay knows they need
to turn things around. We got to be able to
figure this out and figure it out fast, because these
last couple of weeks we're doing things that are totally

(01:23:23):
uncharacteristic of what good football teams do. What we've done
through the first you know, handful of games this season.
Everybody's got a hand in this, and we got to
get it figured out fast. Two months ago on this show,
I peeled back off the Rams. I said, I don't
buy this team. Too much glitz, too much glamor, too

(01:23:45):
many stars, no depth. They'll pay a price for this.
Everybody was slobbering over Sean McVay smarter than everybody else.
What has this team done? They never want a playoff game, folks.
Here's the truth about the Rams. They're building a five
bill in Dollars Stadium, the most expensive stadium in America,
and they just brought the team to town. They are

(01:24:05):
selling PSLs like crazy, and they signed stars and overpaid
for them so they can sell personal seat licenses and
pay some of the bill. It's a lot of sales pitch.
It's a lot of glamour. It's a lot of glitz.
The Chargers Cross Town have none of it and have
a much deeper roster and a much better roster in
Dominican Sue no longer productive. A keep talib like him.

(01:24:28):
A lot past his prime. Dante Fowler was a bust
in Jacksonville and they gave up draft picks for him.
Brandon Cook's receiver disappears in big games, third team three years.
Ask yourself if I'm wrong, and this is not about sales,
pitch and glitz. What have they accomplished? Head Coaches of
the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of

(01:24:51):
the year, Special Teams co to the Year, All personal accomplishments.
If you overpay for anything in any business, you overpay
for employees, you overpay for parts, you overpay for services rendered,
you overpay on your lease. If you overpay on stuff,
you're gonna have to save money elsewhere. They don't have

(01:25:11):
any depth. The Chargers don't have the stars cross Town,
but they have depth. Three great receivers, four running backs
who can play. Rams have one. Todd Gurley hurts an ankle,
limps a little their toast, and I got nothing against
the Rams. I think the Rams are interesting. I think
they're good. But a lot of this story so far
as sales, pitch and glamour and oh wow, and personal accomplishments.

(01:25:36):
December and January in the NFL Okay attrition sets in
who's good right now? The Bears. The Bears have one
star player and a bunch of good, cheap young players
in depth Baltimore. Who are Baltimore's stars. They got a
lot of depth chargers. I mean their star Philip Rivers.

(01:26:00):
I mean, you know, Boss is a good player, but
they didn't play it for like two and a half months.
Is this is the time of the year when you
need depth and that overpaid, marginally productive stars aren't worth it.
I think the Rams actually are very lucky. They're in
a division where Arizona is in a complete rebuild and

(01:26:21):
San Francisco lost their quarterback and is in a rebuild.
In Seattle is in a marginal rebuild, but they're still
in a rebuild. Okay, so can they turn it around?
I think this is their reality. They have a five
billion dollars stadium. They're brand newted Town in a very

(01:26:42):
competitive market with the Dodgers and lebron and the Lakers
and a lot of college teams. And they got to
sell PSLs and they got a five billion dollars stadium,
and they overpaid for a lot of guys you've heard
of and domin conzoe a keep to Lee Brandon Cooks
was on the Saints, it was on the Patriots. He
was in playoff games, and I got no depth. All right,
let me shift gears to this. One of the reasons

(01:27:05):
I like the NFL more than college football. I learned stuff.
Seasons are long, team start hot, they have injuries. You'll
learn a lot during NFL seasons. This weekend is we
thought we were going to get all the clinching. It
was all the chaos. Let me ask you, yesterday the
Cowboys get shut out. People are freaking out. What did
we really learn about the Dallas Cowboys yesterday? Dak's limited.

(01:27:29):
We all kind of knew that, right, Other than the fanboys.
They lost on the road, off emotional wins with less
to play for and a team with a superstar quarterback.
You do realize Las Vegas favored the Colts. It was
our bet of the week. Fanboys and palm palm waivers
in the media got shocked. Every pro gambler in America

(01:27:51):
was on the Colts. There was no new discovery here.
Dallas has had one transformational moment this year, that win
over New or yesterday shut out with the Colts didn't
learn anything. That doesn't mean anything I look for games
when I learned something. You know what I learned yesterday

(01:28:14):
in the Colts Cowboys game that the Colts offensive lines
and defensive lines with a bunch of young guys are
way ahead of schedule. Like this is a rebuilding here
for the Colts. We didn't even know if Andrew lux
soup bone was good. It was rebuild the old line,
rebuild the D line, and then they'll have a bunch
of cap space. Oh hell, yesterday, I'm watching that game.

(01:28:37):
I'm watching their own line running lanes wide open. I'm
watching their D line big pressure on Dak. That's the
only thing we learned yesterday that Indianapolis is ahead of
schedule on their rebuild. By the way, the Colts have
now shut out and dominated a division leader Cowboys, and
then snapped an eight nine game winning streak with another

(01:28:59):
division leader. Text the week before, don't get caught up
in the shutout. Excuse me, but didn't the Colts get
shut out three weeks ago? Who didn't learn anything in
that game? When the Colts got shut out by the Jacks.
I didn't even talk about it. Why Andrew luck suddenly
no good? They were on the road against the talented defense,

(01:29:23):
coming off some emotional wins. They had some nice before
that emotional wins. They went on the road, they didn't
match the urgency of Jacksonville, and they went down there
and the jack got defensive players in pressure and they
got overwhelmed. They didn't score a thing, and who cares. Well,
you forget about it. A week later, nobody cared. Nobody
cares about this Dallas game. Dallas is exactly what we

(01:29:45):
thought they were going into the game. Really good young
defensive talent, especially in the front seven, superstar running back
who needs to play really really well and give you
about one hundred and thirty hundred and fifty yards for
Dak to be more are effective. But if Dak doesn't
get Zeke's hundred forty yards didn't, doesn't get Amari Cooper

(01:30:08):
breaking tackles for touchdowns, didn't. The Cowboys had more than
average penalties, did well. Dak's not gonna do much against
an aggressive, young defense that's way better than anybody thought
at this point. The reason I like the NFL more
than college football, I feel like I learn things week
to week. It's a week to week league. Alabama clemson't

(01:30:30):
gonna play for the National title. Again, I'm not learning much.
Dallas is fine. They're gonna be a playoff team. They're
gonna host a playoff game. And if it's low scoring
and Dak get support, they'll win that game. But if
Zeke runs for eighty yards and they have a few
penalties and Amari Cooper gets doubled and taken away, then

(01:30:51):
Dallas won't win a playoff game. And what I learned,
you don't want any part of Indianapolis. They are a
planning with house money. Be very careful about these young
teams that are ahead of schedule, that aren't supposed to
be good until next year. The Colts playing with no pressure,
a red hot quarterback, a coach, and a quarterback aligned
with tremendously talented rookies and first year players all over

(01:31:16):
the roster. That's the only thing I learned. The outspoken
former Great linebacker Sean Merriman is coming up next and
our three word NFL game vic sinex nasal spray uses
directed twelve hours, cold and flu seasons here. Sean Merriman
played for almost a decade in the NFL. He was
a Defensive Player of the Year and a multiple time

(01:31:37):
Pro Bowler. Forty sacks in his first three NFL seasons.
He's joining us. By the way, it's been the craziest year.
I think I feel like the Saints are the best team.
Trent Dilfer said this, there's about eight teams I really like,
maybe ten and everybody else. If the Saints go out
and get blown out tonight, I don't know what the
hell is going on in this league. I can't figure
it out. No wide open. I think the Saints are

(01:31:58):
the best team. They are Chargers and Saints. Yeah, I agree,
I agree with I think the Chargers have the best roster.
I think, by the way, I think Kansas City's an
inch behind. So I would say this, if the Saints
win tonight, Saints Chargers, Chiefs. You buy that, Joy Saint.
If the Saints win tonight, Saints, Chargers, Chiefs, three best teams. Yeah,

(01:32:22):
I mean, I'm still not going to count the Patriots
out in the playoffs. Yesterday they look bad yesterday. I
think that you're Miami talking to you. Yeah. This is
also just Tom Brady still plays for that team. So
I mean, and I agree with that, because it doesn't
matter what Tom Brady does right now. You just can't
count them out when it's time to go win games
right now. For them, that wasn't a must win game.

(01:32:45):
I mean it was. I'm not saying it doesn't count,
but it's what the must win game when the game
is on the line. And they got to win football.
And I know I'm speaking from experience. They put me
on to plenty of playoffs. They win football games even
when they counted out by everybody else. They just know
how to win when when the game's on the line.
Right now, the game's not in the life with them,
you know, Sean, it is funny this time of the year.
I want to talk about two things. You know. Jared

(01:33:07):
Goff's arm looks like it's tired. Tom Brady again in
December his worst month. Take me back to your career,
which lasted about eight years. It's December, it's mid December,
Christmas is coming up. How did you feel terrible? I mean,
you know, just the injuries that I had kind of
accumulated over the years, built up and built up. And

(01:33:28):
it's funny because after your fifth year or sixth year,
it takes about an extra half a day to a
day to feel normal again. Friday morning. Yeah, first, you know,
first three or four years, you find you can come
in and Monday and work out, and Wednesday you feel
completely fine. You might have low ankle or something like that.
When you get past your fifth, sixth, and seventh, eight
year and eight plus years, you don't. You don't get

(01:33:48):
healthy until Friday Saturday, so you walk into the game
just barely healthy enough to feel good and gout and play.
I can't imagine what Tom Brady is. I don't I
don't care. He does play the quarterback position, and I
know he takes care, takes agear of his body, but
he can't walk in even at this point, he can't
walk into a game phillipe hundred percent. I can't see it,
especially this time of the year. Yeah, that's why I

(01:34:09):
think depth is important. I think the Bears have depth.
I think the Chargers have depth. I think Baltimore has depth.
I want to talk to you about the ram So.
I watched him last night, and about two months ago
I had said this joy listening. I said, I'm kind
of kind I'm gonna bail on this team because I
see a bunch of big names on the marquee, but
I don't see the production defensively, What is happening. Explain

(01:34:31):
this to me, because you know Wade Phillips, Yeah, did
you play with him in Buffalo? No? No, and with
the Charger with Chargers, Yeah, something's up with this defensive line.
Explain it to our audience. No. You know, I always said,
if you look at Wade Phillips in the history of
just him being a either head coaching defensive coordinator, he's
always had two outside guys either two outside linebackers, so
two d ns. You know, go back to Bruce to

(01:34:51):
rush the passion the Russ the pastor and Cornelia has
been at ben Zave back in Buffalo. You go back
in when he was with us. He said he had
myself and Sean Phillips with the Cowboys at DeMarcus where
you know they always had a tanem of outside guys
to go and base his defense. Right, it was always
about outside pass rushes. Look at the double digit numbers
that these guys gotten over his you know, twenty year
career he's been a coach. He doesn't have that. His

(01:35:15):
two best guys are an inside so all they're doing
for the most part is rushing up field. Aaron Donald
Downman consumer too. That is that why they're getting gashed
against the wrong gashed because this defense is the way
Philli has been so grateful for so long, has always
been based on the outside guys. Now it's just two
interior guys and now they're having to do to work.

(01:35:35):
Is which caused that that wide open gap in the
middle because they're Aaron and and Dominican are just going
for sacks right and in the process because that's what
I'm seeing, I'm seeing a defense I don't trust now.
It is interesting. The Rams were very good early. Now
they're struggling. How do you turn it around? Like if
you've been on teams, you know, Joy and I talk
about this. There's pre Thanksgiving, there's post Thanksgiving them, there's

(01:35:56):
playoff football, and they all feel different. Well, you know,
the problem is when you have teams not put the
cowboys in there too. You don't want to be going
into the playoffs and doing this. You're going to the
playoffs and you're starting to hit a wall and you
got guys banged up and you're not clicking on all cylinders.
That's that's where the problem is that she's been. They've
been like that in the past two Kansas City, Kansas
City they've been. They've been great early, great early, and

(01:36:17):
then now you're seeing the Chargers to beat them. You
see them struggle a little bit against the Ravens, and
they started to do a little bit of this, and
then when that happens going into the playoffs, it starts
to take take a hit to your momentum. That's that's
what's happening to the Rams. They had. They were so
good early on, and then we're starting to see certain
parts of their defense. Right, I think they ranked twenty
and twenty and something or whatever, and they got three

(01:36:40):
or four superstars and their defense, they're probably gonna be
superstars in any team. That's a that's hard to deal
with that many personalities and trying to figure out what
that person is good at and doing in one season
like they're doing right now, and they're kind of being exposed. Yeah,
So we we've asked this to Trent Dilfer and Michael
vec about Philadelphia is a fascinating team. So we know
Philade if he has got a bunch of good players,

(01:37:01):
and we know they entered the season with a bunch
of injuries, and we think we know that Carson Wentz
is better than Nick Foles. But Carson Wentz gets hurt.
Nick comes in and their offense was a machine for
the first three quarters. Explain to me how the backup
in Philly. I mean, Carson Wentz was gonna be an
MVP a couple of years ago. We know Carson's six
five rocket arm mobile. But Nick Foles comes in. Something

(01:37:23):
happens when he comes in, the offense looks special. You know,
Nick Foles is a great spark plug. He's the guy
who you want to play with if something happens. He's
not a great player being a starter in my opinion,
and just watching him, he's the kind of guy to
go out there and you have fun. He's throwing the
ball and you know, the huddles everybody to energize the
locker room. Nick Foles is going to come in and
get it done. But he's not a general. He's not

(01:37:45):
a guy that you're gonna start from day one in
a season and you can win football games. Well, now,
if Carson Wentz goes down and he needs to step
in because he's he's fun to play with, he's gonna
come in throw some backyard football and throwing them around,
and it's a change of pace. For these guys. But
if he had start this season of game one, he
wouldn't be successful. That's kind of what I see with
Lamar Jackson. This is fun. He started in the week eleven,

(01:38:08):
nobody has film on him, and he's doing stuff and
you can tell defenses are they don't know what to
do with Lamar. My question with Lamar Jackson is starts
week one, plays to sixteen. Can he stay healthy? Because
when I see Lamar, I see a fairly slight guy running. Now,
if he stays healthy the rest of the year, that
gives him another off season tweak the offense, get him

(01:38:28):
more past friendly. But I mean, you've seen a lot
of these guys you've seen running quarterback Tebow, Yeah, not
sustainable r G three. Is Lamar sustainable? You know? That's
that's really the big question. I think that's what a
problem is going to happen too. Would when you're a
young guy like Lamar Jackson, if you don't understand what's
going on out in the field and I'm not seeing
the playbook but defenses and other things, you got one

(01:38:50):
thing you can do to get yourself out every situation,
and that's running football. That stops at some point in time,
it's going to be enough hits. It's going to be
enough people trying to figure you out. They're going to
start having linebackers and defensive players to start spying the
quarterback so he can't run, and they're gonna force him
to throw the ball. So that's gonna be taking taking
away from him right now. He's a great band aid.
He's a change of pace from Flacco and that's doing

(01:39:13):
a lot of a lot for this organization. And they're
okay with that because if that can win you some
football games and progress you're seeing, you know, has some
progress during the season. By the way, Sean he is,
he does add Jews to the locker Yac, I was
just done with Flacco, right you can tell the team.
I mean, you've played with guys you add him into
the locker room and they add Jews to the locker room. Yeah,

(01:39:36):
and that's what you know, that's what he is with Flacco.
It was already it was already setting stone when Lamar
Jackson got drafted that he was on the way out
of there. It was just a matter of when it
was gonna happen. So you've seen them, Arale, you're seeing
his body language, everything was just kind of going down.
He just wasn't It wasn't exciting anymore, you know, Lar
Jackson getting there Now. The defense, I mean, I can

(01:39:57):
take the defense out of the ball. We we love hey, yeah,
going the ball, you know, do this. It just keep
us excited, give us something to go out there and
play the next series for on defense, and we're happy.
It's crazy right now. This is I don't remember a
season quite like this for you. Obviously, you played a
majority of your career with the San Diego Charger, so

(01:40:17):
you played with Philip Rivers. Yeah, I've always thought Philip
would get my vote as a Hall of Famer. I
watch him on the road. It's so different because they
don't have a home field. It's I mean, they do,
but they don't. You know, Charger players here, you know
the organization. I mean, what do you make of this
Charger team. I think it's the best team roster. I
think it's the best team in the league. They are

(01:40:39):
and I've been saying that. It's it's hard to say
it because people automatically seeing your homer, you know, you
played for the team. You're want to talk good about
the organization or whatnot. But that's not the case at all.
You know, Philip has been having a MVP type of
year the whole entire season. Why did it take one
Thursday night game against the Kansas City achieved before somebody say, oh,
we're gonna put up put him up there in the
MVP talks. Now, he's been doing well the whole entire season.

(01:41:01):
Why put him up there? Now? Do you need one
game against a kens the Chiefs team that was bad
on defense anyway? Did you need him to win a
close game in Pittsburgh? No, I think that Philip. People
have this think in their mind about Philip, whether they
like him or not, whether he should be a Hall
of Fame, they've already decided, and they've already decided whether
he's what they feel about him. So no't matter how he's,

(01:41:22):
no matter how he plays, no matter what the team does,
he's not ever going to get the credit that he deserves. Yeah,
you know, it's funny about that. Andrew Luck through a
lot of interceptions early in his career, and there's a
lot of people now that have made up their mind
Andrew Luck was a bunch of interceptions, And I'm like, no, no, no,
he finally now has an offensive line and a decent
running game. He doesn't throw him as much. People tend

(01:41:44):
to in sports make up their mind on you and
they just they won't move off it. And it's the
reality in this game is especially for quarterbacks, they just
they grow. Coaches grow. There's coaches in this league. I'll
be honest with the Chargers, and Anthony Lynn is a
better coach today than two years ago. I think he's
become a better coach. They're much better situationally. His first

(01:42:06):
couple of years in the league, he'd never been a
head coach. And you're like, I don't trust him. Late
now Layton games, I'm like, I like his play calling.
I like him. Yeah, when he won for two, you know,
it was like I was like, I trust him. I
kind of. It's funny we tend to forget in college football.
If you lose a game, people just write you off.
Teams improve over the course of seasons, and I don't know,

(01:42:28):
I think I think Chargers are an amazing team. You
still talk to Philip at all? Yeah, I talk to
him all the time. He's a trash talker. Yeah, you know,
he's another one off when he's running off the field
in Kansas City. He was waving at the fans. You know,
some of the fans who were heckling him the whole game. Now,
if you want an opposing team, you don't like it.
But if you play for him, I like, if you're
heckling my quarterback the whole entire game and he waves

(01:42:50):
back at you running off the field, we love it. Yeah, great,
good Seebody need Sean Merriman, Joy Taylor with the news. No,
no turn on the news. This is the herd Line News.
So the Browns are a little different this year. They
came into the season with a lot of attention and
then they did some losing and fired Hugh Jackson. But

(01:43:13):
they've seem to turn it around a little bit. They
snapped an eleven game losing streak on Saturday against the
Broncos that dated back to nineteen ninety one. Against the Broncos,
they lost to Denver eleven straight times nineteen ninety one.
That was four years before Baker Mayfield was born. So
the Broncos have owned the Browns for a while. Wow. Well,
Nick Chubb has an explanation for this spark that's gone
on in the coast of weeks. Our energy has stipped

(01:43:36):
it into a better place, and the guys are all
buying in. We all we all love playing with each other,
we love the people that's coaching us. I think everyone's
just all answered the new system and we're we're playing
hard for each other. It's going to be an interesting
offseason for the Browns because the way that they have
been playing since Greg Williams is taken over. What do
you do? Put them in an awkward position where you know,

(01:43:58):
the guys who are there have clearly bought in to
the situation, but do you think that he's the long
term solution because you need a long term solution. Well,
he's got the bounty gate stuff, you know. I was
talking to Jimmy Johnson, you know, legendary Jimmy Johnson coach,
yesterday and he said, I hope they give Greg the job.
I know him, he goes. You know, he's got a little,
you know, a little baggage and stuff, but he's he's
a grown up, he's a man. I think the bounty

(01:44:19):
gate stuff hurts him. I also thought he had a
bizarre coaching move late in this game, not kicking the
field goal. Bizarre. I don't know. You know, here's what
I would warn people. Don't live in the moment. Tim
Tebow won six great games? Is he for ten years?
The best thing for Baker Mayfield. Well, that's what I'm saying.

(01:44:41):
You don't want to lose the momentum that you've built
in this season, especially coming off of UM. Well, I
think that the I think the energy and the direction
of the organization is important, especially for the Browns having
been so historically dysfunctional. But like you said, you need
a long time solution. You need somebody there who has

(01:45:03):
proven sustained success or leaks consistency in that situation because
you took Baker Mayfield number one overall and you need
to turn the franchise around. So this constant turnover of
coaches has to stop at some point. Yeah, you would think,
but he's gonna make it difficult because he has. He
has at least temporarily turned it around. So this seemed
to be a little DejaVu last night with Nick Foles

(01:45:23):
leading the Eagles who went over the Rams. It was
the same this place last year that the Folds came
in into fill in for Carson Wentz and started that
runs the Super Bowl victory, and he was looking pretty
good last night. And after the game, Fols was asked
if he was thinking about the future, and he admits
that he can't help but look ahead. Sometimes that part

(01:45:44):
does creep in. I do say there is a human side,
but no, I'm very self aware of those distractions don't
do any good. I really thrive and staying in the
moment and just enjoying it. And you know, we'll see
what happens. But I really just want to enjoy the
moment and just being present and all I do. That's
why I try to focus on daily. Is he the

(01:46:05):
nicest kid ever? There are certain players in the NFL
You're like, it seems like a nice kid. They also
played better with him in there. It's bizarre. I mean,
it's no one. I mean, do people really think that
Carson Wentz is not like that he's better than Carson Wentz.
But sometimes people are just a better fit. Yeah. I

(01:46:25):
imagine if they went out, it'll be just funny, you know,
this year, Like I think Harrison's gonna be funny if
the Saints get blown out tonight and Nick Foles wins
on the way out and they went a playoff game,
We're all going to be like, what the hell happened
this year? What's the craziest year? Because I feel like
the smoke right now this minute. The Saints are the

(01:46:45):
best team, and there's about eight really good teams. What
if the Saints get shelled and what if Nick Foles
wins four straight games? And this year, I wouldn't be surprised.
That's so bizarre. They have the Texans um at home
next week and then they're on the road against Washington,
and uh, well, they're gonna they're gonna win the Washington
so they're gonna be at least one on one. I mean,
they just beat the Rams on the right one and

(01:47:06):
it wasn't close for it really, it was that they
went into a prevent offense late first three quarters. It
was an you can't just I mean, I think the
Texans the Eagles is gonna be a good game, but
you can't just assume the Texans are going to beat
them there. And finally, the Lakers shop that done against
the Wizards last nights and several of the players will
quick to point out that, you know, it's the second
night of a back to back, might have something to
do with it, but someone who didn't have any issue

(01:47:27):
with the scheduling is Alonzo Ball and here is his
quick reasoning, amaze the schedule. Um, I just go out
there and play. You know, I get paid well, so
I got open the plane. Yeah, they don't do you know, joy,
they don't do as nearly as money. Back to back
to The NBA has done a really good job of
working the schedule around. That is, it used to be

(01:47:48):
really brutal when I was a kid. Not too long ago.
These guys flew commercial. They flew commercial. Wilt Chamberlain could
be on your plane. I know, it isn't that crazy. No,
years ago in the NBA, you took the first flight
out of a town, so the six am flush and
coach and coach you'd literally be an insurance salesman. And
you're like, hey, there's Koree abdul Jabbar sitting next to

(01:48:09):
me on a commercial like sitting or like this. I
don't even I don't even know how that's possible. But
that's what they did for travel is greatly improved. And
by the way, have you seen those team planes before.
I've never seen them. I've never seen the inside of
a team plane before. But from pictures. It looks like
they've been a lot roast beef sandwiches with horse rash.

(01:48:33):
You're not flying like the rest of us. No, they're
not doing the crackers and the little the little pretzels
and a little tiny bags. They're doing the back to backs.
Especially when you're doing the coastal road trips. It's it's
so hard on your body. You're not getting any sleep,
even if even if you are traveling like that, Like
the altitude affects you too. There's a lot that goes
into these. Yeah, as nice as a flight is, if
you're a seven footer, it doesn't matter how nice to plane.

(01:48:56):
Alonzo summed up pretty well, Yeah, he gets paid well.
Joy with the news, Well, that's the news and the
herd Lite. We have Michael Vick on earlier. You know,
it is kind of bizarre because you know, it'd be
like if Andrew Luck's backup came in Jacoby Brissette and
the cults were way better offensively, and you're like, well,
Luck's better than Jacoby Brissette, but Jacoby Brisett's a good backup.

(01:49:17):
And I asked Michael Vick, who knows Philadelphia and their schemes, Well,
why is it Wentz out folds in. We know Wentz
is better, it was going to be the MVP. Something's
going on here. I think when Coston Wentz is out there,
I think Doug Peterson feels the need to be dynamic,
open the offense up. When Nick is out there, I
think everyone's at ease. I think the game plan is

(01:49:39):
more simplified. When Cosson went down, all the guys felt
more precious they'll perform, and I think, you know that
helps within itself. You know, you look at guys, you know,
feeling like they have to go out and beat at
the very best all the time. That's what it looks
like with Nick Foles, and that has to be the
game plan because it was too easy last night. And

(01:50:02):
by the way, Nick Foles has a very good relationship
clearly on the field with Alshon Jeffrey. When Foles plays,
Jeffrey's a big factor. Now when Wench plays, zach ERT's
the tight end who's a great player becomes the bigger
factor coming up. Will sum up every NFL game this
weekend in three words. That is next in best for last, Well,
it's that time true car can easily find you the

(01:50:26):
car you want. You know, I know somebody who's getting
a car for Christmas. First time in my life I've
met somebody getting a car for Christmas. I I too
know someone who's getting a car for Christmas. You no,
oh yeah, not me either. One more Herd. 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. Sunday, it's a great slate

(01:50:49):
of NFL action, highlighted by the Buccaneers facing up against
Zekiel Elliott and the Cowboys, or Pilliel Mac and the
Bears taking on the forty nine ers. It's all on
Fox and the Fox Sports at check local listenings the
game in your area. Further record, fourteen of the sixteen
NFL games this next weekend have playoff implications. Is the

(01:51:11):
best NFL season I've ever seen where other sports college
football has given us the same national title game. Probably
NBA's got one great team. I've never seen a league
with this much parody. It's it's incredible, and the good
news is joy Jimmy Garoppolo comes back next year. I
think we have two college kids that can come in

(01:51:31):
and play immediately, and all the young all the young
rookie quarterbacks are working. Josh Allen I didn't think. I
thought he needed to sit for two years. Josh Allen's working,
So it's good. It's called best for last. Here we go.
It's our three word NFL game. I can describe every
NFL game in three words. Here we go. Chargers Chiefs

(01:51:55):
from Thursday, legit LA contender, four game winning streak, deepest
roster in my opinion, in the NFL. They have the
longest current NFL winning streak, and Philip Rivers behind Patrick
Mahomes and Drew Brees, has the third highest passer rating.
They no longer make those dumb Charger mistakes. I don't

(01:52:18):
think there's a team that has this many good players
on a roster. I talked to a buddy this weekend
of scout and I said, what's their weakness? He said,
maybe guard. They are stacked. Browns Broncos decisions, decisions, disasters.
That was a mess. Denver coach Vans Joseph, trailing by four,

(01:52:41):
went with a field goal late that didn't make any sense.
Then Greg Williams called a time out, effectively canceling the
Browns offsides penalty that would have ended the game and
sealed the win. I know everybody in Cleveland's fired up
about Greg Williams, but that was a poorly coached NFL
football game. Texans Jets. Darnold's the store. His leading rusher

(01:53:02):
was out, his top receiver was out. He threw two touchdowns,
no picks, one hundred passer rating behind an offensive line
that lost its center and lost its right tackle. That
was one of the most impressive losing performances by a quarterback.
He has nothing to begin with. He had backups at
running back, receiver, center, right tackle against Jadeveon Clowney, J. J. Watt,

(01:53:25):
and he almost pulled it out. Dolphins Vikings, minnesot Watt
that Dolphins ranked thirtieth in defense. One o'clock window, wouldn't
you know, Kirk Cousins lights it up. That's always the case.
One o'clock window at home, Minnesota looks unbeatable. Cowboys Colts
not sends two thousand and three, first time the Cowboys

(01:53:49):
have been shut out since Week eleven, fifteen years ago.
In fact, Quincy Carter, if you remember him, was the quarterback,
then you know Dak was twenty four of thirty nine,
but it was a lot of Dak and dunk, dink
and dak passer rating with sixty four no touchdowns, a
lot of underneath throws. Listen Zeke had a decent game,

(01:54:10):
but he didn't have a great game and Amari Cooper
they rolled coverage over it. He didn't get the big
day and they faced a Indianapolis team that's defensive line
is way better than predicted. Redskins Jags fourth string quarterback. Yeah,
the Redskins signed quarterback Josh Johnson on December fifth. They've

(01:54:34):
gone through Alex Smith, Colt McCoy, Mark Sanchez, and by
the way, prior to the season, Josh Johnson hadn't throwed
a pass in the NFL in seven years, So good
luck with that. Packers Bears, Rogers new reality, all right,
Bears when the division first time in eight years, they
are loaded on defense with young, affordable players. Now Khalil

(01:54:56):
Mack is their star. But first back to back losing
seasons for the Packers since nineteen ninety ninety one. Aaron
was hobbled at the end of the game. He's now
thirty five. He now makes thirty three million a year,
meaning this is a team that's not going to be
able to keep some of their free agents, which the
Packers are prone to do. I think this is Aaron's

(01:55:18):
new reality. They'll win games, may still win the division,
but it's going to be a harder last five than
his first ten in this league. Raiders Bengals, Oakland beat Pittsburgh. Yeah,
last week Oakland beat Pittsburgh, and yesterday they couldn't compete
with the Bengals for a quarter. They are now three
and eleven on the season. Buccaneers Ravens Joe Flacco never more.

(01:55:45):
It's over now. We knew going into the season once
they drafted Lamar Jackson. We thought, all right, well, Joe
Flacco is not going to be here forever. Well, forever's over.
Lamar's four and one, They're leading rusher. He is indisputedly,
inarguably added juice and energy to this team. And by

(01:56:06):
the way, the Ravens are also just a half a
game back of the Steelers in the AFC North Lions
Bills finally found a quarterback. Josh Allen's averaging eighty eight
yards rushing in the last four games. That's seventh most
of any player in the National Football League. Buffalo's got

(01:56:28):
a defensive staff, a defensive first staff, and I do
like a lot of the things they do on defense,
but this is nice. No more overpaying for Ryan Fitzpatrick
in September. The Buffalo Bills have found Josh Allen, who,
by the way, has a little Ben Roethlisberger. Not sand
He's got a little big, tall guy, big arm, runs around.

(01:56:49):
Got themselves a little Ben Roethlisberger. Patriot Steelers time beating Tom.
Do you know New England has never made the Super
Bowl with out a bye and joy currently they're not
in position for a bye, and I thought yesterday it

(01:57:09):
looked like they needed a week to reboot. They look tired.
Edelman now drops more footballs than ever. Gronk was barely
part of their game plan until late. I'd like more
James White. I like Sony Michelle, but I'd like to
see more James White. I'll believe it when I see it. Yeah,
Titans Giants, remember the Titans, Okay eight seed. By the way,

(01:57:34):
Physically they're as impressive if they ever got into a
bar fight or a hotel abby fight. It's one of
the most physically impressive teams in the league. Yesterday they
just imposed their will I'm the New York Giants. They
face Washington at home and the Cults at home. Now
they have had no luck with Andrew Luck he owned

(01:57:55):
the Titans. But they've still got a chance. Seahawks forty
nine Ers. Seahawks blew it. They couldn't clinched the wild
card with the victory. And you know what, I'm already
excited for next year. Jimmy Garoppolo and Jared McKinnon. So
Kyle Shanahan gets his quarterback and his running back next year.
The forty nine Ers lose a lot of close games.

(01:58:18):
They've got their tight end, They've got some receivers. I
like they got a couple of pass rushers. Cardinals Falcons
did not watch. Falcons blew them out by thirty. Game
was over in like eight minutes. Eagles Rams don't buy
the glitz. Back to back losses for Los Angeles. They've

(01:58:40):
now lost four of their last five games in December
and January. I think this team they're trying to sell PSLs.
They wanted some stars. They overpaid for Brandon Cooks and
Dominican SU's doing his own thing, Dante Flowers. They gave
up draft picks for I would not have. I think

(01:59:02):
they're top heavy. I think you see this like the
Golden State Warriors right now, although they have titles, have
a great starting five and no bench. When you pay
a bunch of stars a lot of money, you have
no depth. Now, the Warriors starters are so good they'll
win anyway. The Rams pay about seven guys a ton,
but they don't. If Todd Gurley gets hurt, they don't
have a running game. If Robert Woods got hurt, now

(01:59:23):
they don't have a passing game. And boy, I hope
to keep to Lee can fix this secondary because it
they get beat a lot. Finally, Saints Panthers tonight, Cam's
last stand. Panthers have lost five straight. They're in game
outside of the Steelers games. They're in games, and I

(01:59:44):
don't want to hear any more excuses. Their online is
good enough. DJ More Rookie can play Christian McCaffrey, Like,
I don't want to hear any more excuses. You got
to win this game tonight. With a loss tonight, Carolina
would not be a Limon aided joy, but they would
need so much help. So I think it is Cam's

(02:00:06):
last stand. I think one of the there's there's occasionally
you'll see these bizarre stats. Cam Newton has never had
back to back winning seasons. It's just just a hey,
why that's the story of Cam Newton though. Yeah, roller culture, Cam, Yeah,
and I think you you Eventually, over time, players become
sort of their personality. Derek Fisher, a former Laker, former
Nick coach. We'll be joining us on the show tomorrow.

(02:00:30):
Michael Vick, Ben voland Trent Dilfer and Sean Merriman stopped
by today. If you're looking for the perfect holiday gift,
now the original untucked shirt on tugget dot com. Code
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dot com. Code heard for twenty percent in savings. So
it uh it is. It is very interesting to me

(02:00:51):
when I look at this game tonight, it doesn't feel
like it's the be all end all, But if the
Saints lose tonight, the league's in utter chaos. Remember who
was the hottest teams in the league in September. It
was Kansas City and it was the Rams. They're both
don't look quite as good defense on both issues, can't
make key stops. Who are the teams that struggled early?

(02:01:16):
The Colts and that Houston. Okay there now over the
last two months playing really well. Sometimes I think, Joy,
we forget these seasons are long. Oh do we forget?
Every year? We do the same thing with the NBA.
We panic early, it's a disaster, trade everyone, and then
after the All Star break we're like, oh, and maybe
it just takes a few months to get things going.

(02:01:38):
It's the same thing at the NFL. We always forget.
The Saints struggled a little the first week or two.
They struggled with Cleveland, but this and lost to Tampa
and their opener and struggled with Cleveland. But I think
if you ask me who's been the best team the
longest I would say the Saints. They have been the
best team in the league the longest time. You just

(02:01:58):
feel like you can trust them more. Yes, I do,
And I told you I feel like the best teams
in the league now are is some combination of Chargers,
Chief Saints. But if the Saints luis tonight, I didn't
say that. The Herd Hierarchy and Derek Fisher on our
show tomorrow, thanks so much for stopping buying a Monday
in LA For everybody here, it's been the herd,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Rams, NFC North, Patriots, and where Colin was right and wrong