The Herd-HOUR-2-Cam Newton

Cam Newton should win comeback player of the year

Guests: Greg Cosell and Mark Sanchez

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Sports Radio, all right, we go, it's our two five

(00:24):
minutes away. Greg co Sell, NFL Meet Sandwich live in
Los Angeles. This is the Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be listening Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
I got to be honest with you, how had another
woman come up to me today and say they liked
my facial hair? My entire life, I've never had a
woman come up and compliment me. I've had like six
of them in a month. I told you a long

(00:47):
time ago. I am a facial hair fan. I like
facial hair on then. I think it makes you look younger.
I don't know what it makes me look, but I
am liking the attention I'm getting. Is this goolays. If
you walk around we've been talking about your facial hair
all the time, it generally comes up yes, yeah, wow,
I really like it. So that, of course is Joey Taylor,

(01:08):
Greg cole sell in a couple of minutes. So it
is amazing that Jimmy Butler. I thought of him one
way and then he embraced the system, and I'm like, oh,
I love Jimmy Butler. And Cam Newton I thought one
way and then he embraced the system, and I'm like,
oh my god, I really like Cam Newton. He can
embrace the system. I'm not anti independence, but if Antonio

(01:29):
Brown would have embraced Pittsburgh, he'd still be the best
receiver in the NFL. Sometimes you just have to let
a little independence go. Trust the coach, trust the really
good system that's already in place. Pittsburgh's in place, New
England's in place, Miami's in place. They know what they're
doing too, not just you, not just the athlete. Sometimes
the coach does too. And this is Kyrie Irving struggled
with I'm not going to listen to the system, and
it didn't work. And Cam is not going to win

(01:54):
Comeback Player of the Year. Alex Smith is going to
get that twenty surgeries. Alex is gonna get it. But
I'm gonna give I'm not a big award guy, but
I'm gonna give Cam an award. I'm gonna call him
the cam Back Player of the Year. I'm introducing a
new award. It's a one time only. Cam gets my
cam Back Player of the Year, because I think it's
a fascinating situation. Like Jimmy Butler, I literally think of

(02:15):
Cam differently, the willingness and not everybody'll do it in
any sport to say, all right, I need help, I
need coaching. This system works. I'm going to relinquish a
little bit of my independent spirit and do this. And
it's really good. And I watched them against Seattle, Oh
my god. And I watched them without Cam against Kansas City,

(02:36):
Oh my god. And well, here's what's fascinating about this proposition.
New England doesn't pay full boat for anybody. They didn't
for Brady. They're not going to give him thirty that's
not what they do. They didn't do that with Tom.
They don't. They don't don't do that with anybody except
like Belichick loves his corners, maybe as Stefan Gilmour and Cam.

(03:00):
If you extrapolate his numbers, because this is a very
specific offense, is going to end up with ten touchdowns,
ten picks, thirty five hundred yards and an eighty nine
passer rating. But stats can be overrated. He's completely a
difference for this roster. He is their best playmaker, so
he has real value for an organization that values him

(03:23):
but doesn't pay. But in fairness to Cam, he's never
made the big boy franchise money and this year he's
playing for free. And if he stays health, he's got
four years left. I would not blame Cam saying it's
about seventeen and a quarterback I want to be. I
want to be. I'm not taking Paca. Brady was different.
Brady had made a lot of money. Brady was by

(03:43):
the end by year like twelve thirteen. He's married Gizelle.
They got a four hundred million dollars net worth. That's different.
Cam has never been paid really huge money, didn't even
get the advantage of a franchise tag. He's playing for free.
So what do you do with Cam? And said this,
give me about two more weeks of Cam, and I
think I would give him to your contract and I

(04:04):
would pay him in the I don't know what i'd pay.
That's up to the salary cap, but it's fascinating. Cam
has every right to test the market, and I do
believe now he's going to have a market. Absolutely, he's
going to have a market somewhere. I mean, winning's too important,
and he's been too instrumental for New England. But they
don't pay and they didn't pay Brady, and they don't
pay offensive people. They just don't. So it's a really

(04:27):
I'm going to give him my Camback Player of the
Year because I think he's been instrumental in making New
England in what we thought was a rebuilding year, a
really fascinating piece that may be perfectly built to beat
Kansas City and for that matter, a Green Bay or
a Seattle. On the other side, Greg ko Sell has

(04:50):
been working for forty one years at NFL Films. You
bet football, you're a fantasy football player, There's nobody like him.
We call it our fellm meet Sandwich, and he is
joining me now live, So let's go to I said
earlier today that Green Bay feels like the least flawed

(05:13):
team I've seen. I like Seattle in Tennessee, but they
have no pass rush. Pittsburgh is beating bad teams and
letting them hang around. You know, I like Kansas City,
but could just stop falling behind by double digits on
a regular basis. But I look at the Baltimore appears
to play better with a lead than from behind. And

(05:33):
then I look at Green Bay and I'm like, they're
good on third down six point eight yards of play
the sack differential. You can't get to their quarterback, they
get to yours. But we all pay attention to the
floor and Aaron Rodgers, and we should. But I look
at but when you look at the tape of them,
do they have a flaw? Because I can't see it

(05:53):
yet with Green Bay? Well, you know what's really interesting
column And by the way, nice facial hair. But what
I really what's really interesting about Green Bay is they
do not play very much man to man coverage. And
in today's NFL you always think that, hey, you have
to be able to play man coverage in this league

(06:15):
to be really, really good on defense, and they don't.
So it's not necessarily a flaw. It's just something that
I find fascinating when I watched them, and it's obviously
a choice made by Mike Patton. He's got two corners
in an Alexander and King, who I think can line
up and play man, but they just don't do a
lot of that, so it'll be interesting. But offensively, they're

(06:37):
fascinating now because the Matt Lafloor influence is clearly present
in the motion in the play action pass games. This
is now Matt Laflor's offense that Aaron Rodgers is executing
at a very high level. And if you notice through
the first four games, because they've had a buy so
they're four and oh, you don't see Rogers running around

(06:59):
as much. There has not been as many improvisational Rogers plays.
There have been far more pocket throws. Here's a team
that's good, but there's something that doesn't quite work, and
it's Pittsburgh. I know they run to the ball, they're
very athletic defensively, but they don't average much yard per play.

(07:19):
They let bad teams hang around. I'm not a I
you know, Tomlins, a veteran, Big Ben's good the defense.
So they are one of those teams that they can
win playoff games. I don't doubt that, but I'm there's
something missing for me. And you look at the film
on the Steelers. What am I What's missing that I
just don't feel well. I think that their corners have

(07:42):
been a little up and down this year. Hayden and
Steven Nelson. I think they've had good moments, but also
some bad snaps. The past game has been interesting. They've
got a ton of weapons and at times you'll see
schemed plays like the seal game sealing touchdown to Claypool
this past week was a clearly schemed play based on

(08:02):
what they had gotten throughout the game against the Eagles.
But they've not really been explosive as a passing team
this year. Given their weapons, I think that's the next
step for their offense, and maybe they're just sort of
working that in as the season progresses. Obviously it was
a different kind of offseason and training camp, but it's
not an offense that has really been explosive, and I

(08:25):
think they have the people to do that. So they
played Cleveland this week. I think Stefan I think Stefanski,
it's so funny. Last week. First half, I thought Baker
played an exquisite half of football. Second half he reverted
to some Baker stuff. What was the difference between the
first half and second half? On were what they were calling?

(08:45):
I think quite honestly, And again, you know me, I
don't do hot controversial takes. Colin. I say what I
see on film. I quite honestly don't believe Baker Mayfield
has played that well. Their four and one and their
run game has been really good, and Stefanski has great
concepts in the past game that are executed really well.

(09:06):
But I think Baker is playing a little fast, both
mentally and physically. I think he needs to slow down
his entire process. He overstrides at times because he plays
so fast, and he throws those high fastballs. He's a
very talented kid. I think he's got a really good arm.
We've seen him be exceedingly accurate throughout his career at times.

(09:28):
But I think that for them to get to where
they believe I'm sure they can get to, he's going
to have to play a lot better than he's playing now.
So it's funny about Andy dalton first four years in
the league. He and Dack's numbers. I mean, they just
mirror each other, they really do. It's interesting, and I
think there's this sense now that well, let's let's taper

(09:52):
the offense down a little. But the truth is Andy,
when he had weapons. He's not going to carry a team.
But when he had weapons and since an, he was
very efficient and he can make most of the throws.
And I watched that, I watched that last drive last
week and I thought, oh, this is this is a
franchise quarterback. This is not He's only thirty two, Greg,
there's a lot of there's a lot of throws in
this arm. Will the offense, in your opinion, change dramatically

(10:16):
with Dalton instead of Dak? Well, to me, they have
to make a decision as to how they want to
play based on their defense, Colin, their defense has not
been very good and it gives up a lot of points.
So normally, normally when your defense is like that, you
try to at least to some degree, limit the number

(10:38):
of plays that it's on the field. And you do
that by running the ball. And it's not as if
they don't have a good back or can't run the ball. Now,
Dak is a really good quarterback and he put up
huge numbers. I had a coach tell me that in
this offense that Andy Dalton could essentially do what Dak does. Now,

(10:59):
whether that turns out to be numbers, that's that's not
the point. The point is can he run the offense efficiently?
And I believe he can. Clearly they have weapons and
they have a great back who My sense is they
need to lean on a little more, not because of Dalton,
but because of their defense. Well, I'll make Cowboy fans
pretty optimistic. For Cowboy fans listening to our show. So

(11:22):
one of the surprises of the weekend for me was
how Washington so easily dismantle how the Rams so easily
dismantled Washington. Goff mostly had good pressure. This is a
very capable defensive front for the Washington football team. And
I came out of that game and I thought, they're
gonna go east again. They're gonna get pushed around up front.

(11:43):
Goff's gonna be pressure. And after that game, I'm like,
I'm I think maybe I'm under selling the Rams a
little bit. They've done something offensively. They there's a I
don't know, it just feels like maybe there's the girly
situations gone. They're something is working this year that I
didn't see last year. Are they healthier? Is it schematic?

(12:06):
But they are more forceful. It feels like to meet
point of attack this year. Well, I think you're seeing
a young coach continue to develop with his scheme. Every
coach has basic concepts and schemes that they use because
coaches coach what they know. But then you build upon those,
you expand those, and I think you're seeing a young

(12:27):
coach doing that. McVeigh is one of those coaches who
is just kind of a lunatic in a good way.
He loves this stuff, he works at it. You're seeing
an expansion of basic principles. How they get to those
principles at times is different. They had to play this
week that's very reflective of that when Gerald Everett lined
up as an eye formation fullback and ran around and

(12:49):
ended up catching it for forty yards. So they're just
taking their basic concepts and adding and tweaking and expanding.
And I think offensively they're one of the most overlooked
teams in the league because people have this narrative about
Jared Goff that he's not a great player, and there
is a programmed element at times to his game, no question,
but they're doing more things and Goff happens to be

(13:12):
a very good thrower. Yeah, no, there's no question. I
always felt there's a Matt Ryan quality to him some limitations,
but I think he throws a beautiful deep ball, and
when he's in a rhythm he throws He and Russell
Wilson throw two of the prettiest deep balls in the league.
It's just a soft, catchable ball that always seems to
get the guy in stride. So here's an interest. First
impressions are really important. So my first impression of Ryan

(13:34):
Tannehill in Miami is he's okay, He's kind of athletic,
He's okay. Okay. Then he goes to this staff and
in his last seventeen games, his numbers look a lot
like Lamar Jackson's last seventeen And I'm not saying I'm
not saying he's that quarterback, but is it possible that
he was miscast in Miami and with this staff he's

(13:56):
a very capable player. Well, he wasn't bad in Miami.
There's the sense that he was bad. And by the way,
he's a better thrower than Lamar Jackson. But he's a
talented kid. And I think it's a case of a
really good mix between scheme and player because they're an
offense that starts with Derrick Henry. In terms of what

(14:16):
they do both from a personnel standpoint and a formation standpoint,
a lot of two tight ends, sometimes three tight ends
when everybody's healthy. They play with a fullback at times,
so play action is a major part of what they do.
And then you add in the fact that he's got
movement ability both by design with the play action boot

(14:38):
game and the ability to make secondary action plays. And
one other point which is often overlooked when people talk
about quarterbacks. He's been very accurate. His ball placement has
been consistently precise, as we see watching these highlights, and he,
to me is a really solid quarterback in a really
good system. Worried about Josh Allen after that game Tuesday,

(15:03):
anything you see that bothered you, Well, I'm not worried
about him personally. He's been phenomenal against man coverage this year,
and in that game the Titans played over seventy five
percent zone and I think you're seeing that to some
degree with Patrick Mahomes as well. You're making these quarterbacks
have to read it out and throw through tighter windows.
They're certainly capable of doing it, but even Mahomes. Mahomes

(15:25):
has been leaving the pocket prematurely. I think for Josh Allen,
and I said, I don't think watching the tape he
had a bad game. But I think you're just making
these guys have to go through the process a little longer,
and sometimes they don't want to go through the process,
and they know they can move, so they move and
they all make some great plays. We know Mahomes can
do that and Allan can do it too, but it

(15:45):
just they have to go through the process differently versus
zone than versus man. Where versus man you pretty much say, hey, kay,
I know it's man, and here's the guy I want
to throw too, here's the matchup. I like, Yeah, Raiders
slowed down Mahomes enough. It was the upset of the weekend. Again,
what on the film what jumped out to you in
the Raiders upset of the Chiefs. Great zone coverage, great

(16:09):
eye discipline, A particular concept against Kelsey when he was
the single receiver to the boundary that was really really
effective because they played zone to the three receiver side
and matched up to Kelsey with a corner on the
single receiver side. So some really good concepts. I thought
they played with great eye discipline. That's what you must do.

(16:30):
It's I discipline and leverage in your zone concepts. When
you play against the Chiefs, you can't play man they
have too much speed, so you play zone and it
all comes down to discipline and leverage and assignment football.
But there's been three games this year in which Mahomes
has not quite been Mahomes. Now, he's always going to
throw a lot of yards Colin, but the Chargers, the

(16:52):
Patriots and the Raiders played a lot of zone coverage
and he was not as comfortable and he starts to
move when he doesn't need too. And as I said,
he'll make plays. He's the most special quarterback in the
league talent wise, But ultimately, if you can get him
out of his structure, then you feel you have a
better chance. Okay, finally, Derek Carr, and I've said this

(17:14):
before to you and others, is that you know, there's
this there's a sense that Derek Carr. I think he's
like a little more athletic. He's kind of reminds me
of Kirk Cousins. They're a little reluctant sometimes, yeah, a
little reluctant. But I think Derek's a good athlete. I
think he throws a pretty ball. He's got a little
I said, he reminds me a little of Tony Romo.

(17:36):
He's got a little ability to move with his feet
and get out of coverage. So what did you see
from Derek Carr, the often criticized quarterback, Another case where
I think this scheme is really helping him now that
he's been in Gruden system for a number of years.
Gruden does a great great job with his use of personnel,
his formations. You know, Gruden loves what we call the

(17:57):
illusion of complexity. It's a lot of person and l
a lot of formations to get to basic concepts. And
I think cars getting more comfortable. He's not eternal loose guy.
You have to define it for him. And I think
he's feeling much more comfortable within that system. And you know,
we can get to our big play of the week
now because it was from last week against the Chiefs

(18:19):
and it was a great example. They got a blitz.
So let's go to the play and show it. And
by the way, it's a rejuvenation here of Nelson Aglar,
But here you see a blitz with Damian Wilson Ben Nieman.
They're gonna blitz. So now what happens here is in
blitz coverage. You see the two safeties, Thornhill and Matthew.
They're going to match up. It's kind of a zone

(18:39):
match situation, and Aglar is going to run the deep post.
So what happens here is Matthew does not have him
man to man the way you think of man to man,
but it's a zone match based on their routes. So
what happens is is Matthew matches up to Aglar and
you can see on the other side you're going to
get Thornhill. He's going to match up to Darren Waller

(19:02):
running the crosser. Again, it's his zone match. He's not
in a pure man situation, but you have to match
up to routes, and Aglar just beats Matthew vertically and
it's a great throw. But here's a defined throw, and
that's a great example of how you set it up.
You know what you're going to get defensively, and you
know how Spagnola, Steve Spagnola plays it, and you get

(19:25):
a big play. Yeah. Nelson Agilar have had some drop
issues in Philadelphia, but he's certainly bunch, yeah, but he's
certainly talented. He can run, he's got a catch radius.
He can make plays. There's no question. Greg Coo sell
absolute pleasure. We all got smarter. Good seeing you, Thanks, Colin,
appreciate it. You bet. Mark Sanchez, former Jet and Ego,
will be joining us today. Cam Jordan of the Saint

(19:46):
stopping by as well. One more Herd. The Herd streams
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within
the iHeart Radio app, Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. Tonight it's a pivotal game
four of the NLCS as the Dodgers looked to even
the series against Ronald Acuna and the Braves. It all
starts at seven thirty Eastern for thirty Pacific on Fox

(20:09):
and simulcast on FS one. Yeah, that'll be the game
I'm watching tonight, Dodgers Braves. A big one because if
Atlanta wins, what do they lead three to one in
the series, it could be over. Um. So this is
this is the big game in America. That night we
have no Thursday night football. Yes, we schedule to Monday.
By the way, I like Tuesday night football. I'm not
gonna lie. That's fun. I thought it was early too.
It was nice little afternoon football So what time is

(20:30):
this on again? This is on tonight at seven thirty,
So four thirties the first cocktail. Yeah, I guess so
early necessarily for us. You know, West Coast is way
better that way. We function as if we are the
only people that exist in the oh I go. It's early, mean, well,
it's not early on the East Coast at all, but
it's fine. Rectech more than a grill to lifestyle built
by grillers for grillers. Rectech with Q dot com arecteq

(20:53):
dot com. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. Turn on
the news. This is the herd Line news. Talk about
that game. So, the Dodgers offense came alive against the
Braves in Game three of the NLCS. They scored eleven
runs in the first inning, which are the most any
team has ever scored in a single inning of posts season,
any postseason game, and they said a Dodgers franchise record

(21:15):
for the most home runs in a postseason game with five.
LA avoided the dreaded OZ three hole with a fifteen
to three win. And we'll look to even the series
at two tonight. Coverage four. Game four, as I said,
begins at seven thirty Eastern for thirty Pacific on Fox
and FS one. Clayton Kershaw will get the start for
the Dodgers tonight. Will Yes, he missed Game two with

(21:37):
back spasms. We'll be starting tonight and the Braves will
start Bryce Wilson. Yeah. You know, it's weird, like when
you're down to nothing in a baseball series, it doesn't
feel definitive. In the NBA, if you're down to nothing,
it just feels like the better team one. But baseball
is so much about pitching. If Kershaw comes out and
give you six and a third tonight, deals, it's like,
all right, we're tied up, and the momentum's all with

(21:58):
a Dodgers, Like there's more men him in baseball is
it's the old cliche. It's just who's starting tomorrow on
the mount? Right? I mean, really, we shouldn't look at
MBA series that way either, because the home team should
win the two games at home. You'd think in the
bubble it was, but in basketball it's like I always
go back to the YMCA. In basketball, if you put
ten guys out there, the better guys usually win. They

(22:20):
just usually win. There's just there's matchup issues in baseball
if you just you got a guy's throwing ninety seven
and it's got movement and you can't hit it, it
doesn't matter how many you could have, seven superior players
to their nine, and if he's dealing, the catcher's calling
a good game, game over. Well, I'm looking forward to
that tonight and I'm sure La is going to be
locked in on that. So Dak Prescott is on the

(22:42):
road's recovery following ankle surgery. He took to Instagram today
to give an update on his health and to thank
everyone for their support for him during this difficult time.
I can't think good enough for all your love, your support,
your prayers. I'm over the last few days. They've been
more than overwhelming. I'm in great spirits. I'm gonna stay
that way. UM. Looking forward to to this football season,

(23:05):
seeing a game in a different perspective, excited for for
God's purpose, in God's plans. I know it's bigger than
anything that I see, UM or that could have imagined.
Ready to get this, this journey of the comeback started.
So God, bless you all. Thank you. He's incredibly likable.
There's he is one of those guys I've told you
this before. I have this discussion all the time with friends.

(23:25):
These are twenty five year old kids. And but by
the way, most have been great athletes when they were
like twelve, and so you know, school's a little easier
and life's a little groove. Then you get a little
extra this and extra that we have. We are so
lucky right now in the NFL. Our star quarterbacks are
so humble. Do you know what a jerk Patrick Mahomes

(23:46):
could be and why and why shouldn't he be? I
mean people who have accomplished far less are complete jerks. Yes,
I mean I sometimes I think about, you know how
young some of these guys are kids. I mean, like
I'm significantly older than than most of these star athletes.
And I'm like, if I was like I would you

(24:07):
couldn't tell me nothing at twenty one. You could tell
me nothing, No ask anyone in my family. I mean
you what if I gave thirty million a year, I
would be in the worst, like the absolute worst. It's
just like he said, God has a planned for everyone.
There's a reason things went for me the way they
did and for you, like some some people, we just

(24:28):
we just gotta we can't handle it. I couldn't handle it.
Are prepared for that. The face of a billion dollars organization,
the National Football League should just knock on wood and
think it's lucky stars. The stars of this league are
the best kids. They're like. The draft this year was amazing.
When they held the draft and they went live to

(24:49):
everybody's house and the tears and the family and the love.
It's like they all had great support systems. And it
may not have been the structure that your family has,
but it was like, oh my god, this is I
thought it was one of my favorite drafts. It was.
It was so I mean, it was very memorable, obviously
because on the situation, but I liked it. I thought
it was much more intimate. Now, look, I know the

(25:10):
fans have an amazing time at the draft, and I
get it, but I've seen a million times. Yeah, I
thought it was I thought it was really special. But
I mean, he's so he's so easy to root for.
Oh my god, this is like he just has this
He has a very contagious spirit. Right to have to
go through a devastating injury like that where he's going
to be out for six months. He also said in
the video that he was going to the doctor to
see his angle for the first time since the surgery.

(25:31):
So he's like, this is the first step in recovery today.
But you know, he's just he's just so likable. Recovery
time for this is reportedly four to six months, so
he'll be back at the beginning of next season. So
Lebron is finally out of the NBA bubble as we know,
but he's still at work. After getting his fourth ring,
he posted a series of stories to Instagram while he

(25:52):
watched the last Dance, and he captured the first one
back at it doing my homework. Uh. We were kind
of talking off air, like how how fast and nothing
this year has gone fast, but it just does kind
of feel like a blur a little bit, and we
felt like it's amazing how so much as happens, Like

(26:13):
we were watching the last Dance together as if it
was live, like something that's happened twenty years ago. We're
all locked in, like we don't know the story and
it's live. And then how many over months later we're
watching Lebron win his fourth title and it's like after
the last dance, we felt like there's nothing that could
happen to change the narrative about MJ again, like we
forgot but an all times superstar he was with a

(26:34):
different world it was and now we're watching Lebron and
it's like, up, maybe we can reopen that conversation now
it should it should open. I mean I was talking
about this last night. Is that The one thing I'll
say that Lebron does is Lebron elevates everybody. Every teammates
a little better. Michael elevated the team, but Michael took
shots away from really good players, and Mike could be

(26:55):
a I mean Mike punch teammates might could be a
tough teammate. I think for me, Look, Michael will always
be the greatest yeah basketball player. Lebron is the greatest
all time superstar in all sports. Like he's just the
great superstar we've ever seen in the history of the world.
He's incredible. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well that's the news,

(27:17):
and thanks for stopping by the herd line. Mark Sanchez
is a former USC football star. NFL has got great
football knowledge. He's a terrific college football really has great depth.
We're gonna talk to some NFL and some college Nick
Saban will not coach this weekend. And I'm interested because
Mark would know this. If Pete Carroll would have stepped
out for a game at USC Sark was the offensive coordinator,

(27:40):
would it have really been a field goal difference? Like?
How much does the head coach impact on game day?
You would think it's kind of all set out right.
Saban was on Zoom meetings and we were all set.
And he's had this system for ten years and the
defensive calls the same for ten years. And Steve Sark
is the coordinator and he's coached at two programs. He
has a winning record, he's won bowl games and literally

(28:02):
savings like I can't coach Saturday because of COVID boom,
the line changes, they go a field goals like what
I'll ask Mark Sanchez that coming up? Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Noon Easter
not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app. Okay, and sometimes in life you
just your jaw drops. I had no idea Mark Sanchez,

(28:25):
USC football star decade in the NFL could sing. Last night,
Mark Sanchez was revealed as the baby Alien on the
Mass Singer that airs Wednesday on FAR it's a big
hit show and Mark Sanchez can sing. And when they
awarded it, we'll show the video as we as we
bring Mark Sanchez on, So Mark talk under the video.

(28:46):
So I'm just gonna ask you. So you were in
choir in high school. You knew you could, you could,
But well, how come I you didn't sing? How come
I never seen you before? So I try to keep
those karaoke performances private. But that song, It's Time by
Imagine Dragons. I probably performed it at least twenty times

(29:07):
at Chipriani Downtown in New York in twenty ten and
twenty eleven. So that restaurant after games on Sundays, when
we'd have a home game in the afternoon, I'd go there,
sometimes with guys on the team, sometimes with just friends
in the city. But the restaurant closes kind of early,
like at nine thirty, and they let down this ladder

(29:27):
outside like on the street, like a fire escape ladder,
and you go upstairs and there's this club and you
get a table. It's you know, fifteen twenty tables. They
have a DJ, they have a professional male singer and
female singer. They give every table microphones, and you sign
up to do karaoke from where you're at at your table.

(29:47):
You don't have to go on stage, and if you
suck or you're really drunk, then they just turned down
your mic and add the mic from the professional singers
that they hire to be there for four or five hours,
and you know, they kind of drowned it out, so
everybody sounds good. Well, I would always request, you know,
mister Jones by the County Crows, uh, some Sam Cooke

(30:09):
songs that I really loved and imagine Dragons It's Time,
and me, being the competitive jerk that I am, after
the performance that after the night's over, I go and
ask the singers and the DJ's like, hey, so was
that like mostly my mic or you guys a little
bit and then most of me? Or how what was
the ratio? You know I was. I was always very curious,

(30:32):
and so they were They're like, hey, you know, you're
not bad, and so I feel like they would just
be nice. But I felt comfortable with the song and
felt comfortable in the environment, and it was. It was
a great experience, absolutely wonderful. It's just one of life's surprises.
Mark Sanchez can only carry it to him, but he's
a performer. It's great, So it's it's it's very interesting.
So Nick Saban, because of COVID, can't coach the line.

(30:53):
The line change two and a half three points, and
I'm thinking to myself, well, search the assistant. Sarks's been
a head coach. And I think it go back to
when you were in college. If Pete would have missed
a game, wouldn't it have affected you? At mean, he
had the system in you had very capable he had
great players. NFL guys, what was Pete worth? Do you like?

(31:15):
What would Pete do that maybe an assistant couldn't. At
USC That's a really good question. I feel like he would.
He was such a good delegator of authority and wanted
to let his coaches coach, right. He didn't want to micromanage.
But he did have this way of you know, maybe
he didn't know every single offensive play call and couldn't

(31:37):
you know, install the offense, but he knew it so well.
And then it's like understanding the themes of a game. Okay,
we're backed up. Yeah, we're gonna do a hardcount. We're
gonna try and draw him off sides. Okay, that's that's
pretty easy. Uh, you know, third third and long, you know,
backed up in our own territory. We're gonna be conservative
on this play. And he would get on the headset
and kind of say stuff like that, like, hey, we're

(31:58):
gonna take care of the football here, right know, just
making sure everybody's kind of on the shape page, or
you know this, here's our three two minute or two
point plays are crucial fourth down play, gotta have it play,
you know, game on the line type plays. These are
our three boys. What do we like? You know, And
so he's constantly in dialogue or hey, we're gonna take
a shot here, right defense, we might get a turnover.

(32:18):
If we get a turnover, offense, go for it, take
a shot, man, blow the top off. Little things like that, right,
So he would keep everybody on track, which is which
sounds like the way coach Saban when he did that
interview yesterday in his press conference, is exactly the same way.
And so I don't think they're gonna miss I don't
want to. I don't want to minimize his um you know,

(32:39):
coaching ability, or his presence on the sideline. But he's
trained them so well, and this is a credit to
coach Saban, not a criticism that these guys are ready
to coach, especially somebody like Steve Sarkisian. He's had that experience.
He knows how to win. He's played in big games,
coach in big games, so this is this is second
nature to him. I have no doubt that Alabama's going
to look just fine. I mean, they put up, you know,

(33:01):
seven hundred some yards of offense last week. I have
no worries about that. The only thing that I'm not
worried about sark I'm worried about the defense man. They're
given a point. They can't stop at those bleeds, so
they gotta figure it out on defense. First, I want
to talk about like most of us knew, you know,
we can tell like Andrew Luck, most of us knew
that kid's kind of unique, John Elway kind of level.
And Trevor Lawrence has that kind of feel to him

(33:23):
that it'd be hard for him to miss. He's just
some kids are just the genetics, whatever it is. They're
just kind of built. And then you get guys like
Justin Herbert, who we nitpicked to death. You know you're
sitting here, Well, he's a little mechanical, and we forget
that the Oregon offense was kind of conservative. I was
I thought he was going to succeed, but I have
been shocked how good Justin Herbert has been. He's just

(33:43):
very much a let it rip, let it go. Are
you surprised you saw him play at Oregon a lot mark?
Are you kind of surprised how effective he's been this quickly?
So a little bit surprised, no doubt. I can't lie
and say I knew this exactly was going to play
out this way. But he he was never challenged at Oregon, right,

(34:04):
it was like, Okay, what's he good at? He can
run around, he's big, he can throw the ball down
the field, and then we're gonna do some of these
little Mickey Mouse screens and you know, easy RPOs and
stuff like that. And they kind of kept him in
that box. They didn't develop him, right like some of
the quarterbacks back at USC with the pro style system,
these quarterbacks that coach Sarkasian's putting out like, they didn't

(34:26):
develop his potential. Right, He's got the sky's the limit
for a kid like this. He's big, he's fast, he's strong,
he's totally smart. I mean he could play, and so
now he's in a system where they're challenging him to
throw the ball downfield, to make throws in tight windows,
to get to a second, third, fourth read, and he's

(34:46):
doing it, and he's only getting more and more consistent
doing it. So I'm thoroughly impressed with them. And I
think this is just a result of understanding the kind
of talent you have and then stretching him, getting him
an uncomfortable situation, seeing how he responds to it. Much
like the Mass singer Colin. I mean, I had to
get uncomfortable, I had to stretch, I had to grow,

(35:08):
and you go out there and you give it your
best shot. I love your analogy. I always say about
Russell Wilson. My sister doesn't care about sports, and then
Russell Wilson happened. I grew up in the Northwest, and
she's like, all Sunday she's texting me, and there there
is a certain magic. Maybe it's his religious conviction that

(35:28):
he can literally play poorly, and then against the Vikings
in a rainstorm in the most crucial moment, he's flawless,
and I want you to take We got about three
minutes that is very hard to do. That is very
hard for a quarterback and crappy weather to say, you
haven't had the stroke today, you haven't had the now's
the biggest drive and you're great. What do you think

(35:48):
that secret sauce is with Russell? Because he does this
a lot. He't Carol, I guarantee you so Russ. Russ
has that innatability. Don't get me wrong. That's there's a
lot of this. That's that's Russ. A lot of this
is coach Schottenheimer putting him in good positions. It's a

(36:09):
lot of the same. I'm texting Shotty the other day
when they're playing against the Miami Dolphins, and I said,
did I just see you run ac for Cobra Dancer,
Like the second third play of the game, after you
got the interception up the sideline to DK Mecca and
he goes, it was actually hinged, but it converted versus cloud.
So same play, yeah, Dancer. I'm like, dude, you guys
are running the same stuff. It's not like something crazy.

(36:29):
But Shaddy has understood and credit to him that when
he gives Russ a play that's not necessarily what's going
to happen. That's just like an essay prompt. Russ is
going to take this thing wherever he wants, and they
trust him to do that because he's been in these
situations now before with Coach Carroll understanding rule number one,
the ball is most important. So he's really molded and

(36:53):
adapted himself to be a lot like Pete Carroll, and
he had a lot of those qualities anyway, So Coach
Carroll hard on us that you can't win the game
in the first three quarters. You can win it in overtime,
and in the fourth quarter that's it. That's the only
time the game's over. So I don't care what happens
before that. We can win this game and we will
win this game or we're just going to run out

(37:14):
of time, so you never lose, right, That's Pete's mentality,
and he has this incredible ability to convince you of that,
and now Russell is just living out that conviction. Right.
So Coach Carroll would also say, like before he knew
enough about coaching and understood who he really was, what
he really wanted, what it was supposed to look like.

(37:34):
When someone came to his practice and saw his team play,
he went and saw Rick Berry speak and he spoke
for an hour whatever, took questions, whatever, and Pete ran
up to him and grabbing on him at the end
of the talk, and he says, you know, how did
he come back? When you have a bad start, you know,
you mersed, you miss your first ten shots or something.

(37:56):
How do you reset? What's your mindset? You know? And
Rick said, I don't know. I'm a you know, thirty
or forty whatever percent shooter. So if I missed my
first ten shots, you better look out because the numbers
even out and then I'll be on fire. So Pete
took that, internalized that, inculcated that, and now he's living
that out and preaching that to his players. He preached

(38:18):
that to us that no matter what something good is
around the corner, quarterback you're throw an interception, something good
is right around the corner if you're tough enough to
hang in there and let it play out the right way.
So that's what we're seeing from Ross And credit to
him and Pete Carroll for that perfect marriage. So great
having Mark Sanchez around. Look at that what a life singer, singer,
football analystic. I want to know what Joy said? What

(38:41):
did Joy say? Well? I saw it on your Instagram
stories and I was in shock, like what do you mean?
I mean, I don't know, Like I just you're on
the mass singer. That's like, what do you what do
you mean? What do we mean? Shot? She said it
like I didn't know. I didn't know you could sing. No,
you could sing. But that's like that's very intense. Yeah,

(39:02):
it would be very nervous. I can sing, not in
front of people. They're not asking me to do that.
We all sing, just not like that on a show.
I appreciate it. Mark, It's great seeing you, buddy, Mark Sanchez,
good dude, former NFL quarterback. Yeah, I mean that's that's
like performance, Like you stand singing in front of people.
You gotta be. That's vulnerable. You are talking about like

(39:24):
not doing Dancing with the Stars. That's like crazy too.
When Jason did that and I saw it in person,
I'm like, oh my god, a note, it's crazy, Like
it's those shows are so big in the production and
like the it's wild. It really is. Performer. Yeah, upgrade
of the wiper blades trusted by those in bad weather.
Michelin and Endurance XT Silicon wiper blades. Walmart has him

(39:44):
last two times longer than other blades. Cam Jordan of
the Saints one of the great pass rushers in the
NFL and the last ten years. Smart dude. He's gonna
be joining us as we moved to our three in
the her next