Colin Cowherd (0:00)

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Doug Gottlieb (0:25)

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Colin Cowherd (0:53)

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Colin Cowherd (2:50)

What is going on everybody? How are we doing? Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, great week and spend some time with our loved ones, our families and do a couple podcasts. So I did a big podcast yesterday on Saturday night reacting to the Saturday night games as well as the playoff games in college football. I recorded a podcast with Colin after the afternoon games and I'm recording this podcast right now after the Sunday night game. Cowboys get a big win 26 to 24. What a, what a entertaining football game that that was. That was a lot of fun. Sign me up for the violence of that game every day of the week. That was, that was sweet. So we'll dive into that game from McCarthy to Baker. Very, very enjoyable Sunday night that I'll be honest, didn't see coming. We will also hit on some other things from around the NFL. Bryce Young, we got to tip our hat to him. Jalen and a concussion in the game that they ended up losing to the commies, which with Jaden through for a bunch of touchdowns, five I think to be exact. And Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers I think got more questions than answers right now, that's for damn sure. But uh, other than that, the game plan will be I'll probably do a little podcast for Tuesday and then obviously nothing. Christmas might react to the Wednesday games. That'll probably be it for a couple days. So yeah, got, got, gotta, gotta hang out. The loved ones gotta spend some quality time, some QT as they call it with, with my people. My mom, haven't seen her in a while. So other than that, you guys know the drill. Subscribe to the podcast 3Now podcast and if you listen on Collins also YouTube page, we got a bunch of content up there as well. But before we dive into some football, listen, I'm not a great gift giver. I'm not good at it at all. I'm not an outside the box thinker. I struggle. Kids are relatively easy, especially little kids. But for older family members, if you want to do something nice for, you know, maybe your dad, a loved one, significant other, a brother, a sister that you want to take care of, what is better than under the tree? Like hey, here are two tickets to, you name it, whatever they want to go to a game, a concert, take care of them in 2025. The official ticketing app of this podcast, Gametime is the best been Using them for a long time. Make someone's week. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem the code Johan for $20 off down the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. That was awesome. That was, that was fantastic football and for anyone, and I'm included in this, that sometimes gets nostalgic about the day and age, which, listen, I don't want anyone to get CTE or have a shitty life that played in the NFL when they're 50, 60, 70 years old or any of that. But there was something special about watching people just get destroyed and knowing, like, I can't imagine playing this game at that level. And then like any young kid, if you play high school football, you realize how you get nervous the first day you ever put on pads, like when you're on JV and you know, you get to varsity football and you start hitting some guys that are going division one, maybe some people listen to this. If you played Division 1, let alone in the NFL, there's something about the physicality of the sport that brings out kind of your manhood and separates, you know, the boys from the men. And there was something special about that game that I just witnessed. People were getting destroyed. That felt like a game that I would have watched, you know, my parents 30 inch TV in 1996, where you just watch guys, every other hit get absolutely ran over and every other big hit, you're like, is that guy going to get up? Is that guy okay? Sometimes defenders, you know, hurt themselves on the hits and the level of play and effort in that game I just thought was awesome. And I'll be honest, like, when I saw, you know, looking at the schedule like I do, getting ready for the podcast, either at the start of the morning or as the week's going on, you're like, this is Sunday night game. Not that I thought like the Bucks were just going to roll and the Cowboys were playing well, but it's like, I don't know if this game's going to be that great. I thought that was honestly one of the more entertaining games, you know, of the year. And starting with the Cowboys, I don't know what Collinsworth and Tariko said because I, I had the TV on mute. We're getting ready to leave tomorrow, back home. So we were talking about some stuff, had the game on, but had to, had to mute it. And then they showed the visual of this is as the Cowboys, when I finished with Coward and I went out to the living room, it was ten to nothing Cowboys. And then I get out there and Cooper Rush is continuing just to throw bombs. It's like, they look fantastic. I'm like, they can't look any better. And then they show, which they always show Jerry on a Cowboys game, especially in Dallas. And you got Steven and I think that was his other brother, one of the other Jones family sitting next to him. And they're just wearing Jerry out. And I, I don't think it's hard to put two and two together if you're guessing on what they were talking about, like how good Mike is doing or what are we going to do in this situation with him coaching this well, because at 82 years old and Jerry mentioned this and I think we all thought he was crazy and partly because he is kind of crazy and he talks a lot and it's, it's hard to ever know how much what he says, there's substance behind it. They said we're going all in, and then clearly it didn't feel like they were going all in. But when he said on his radio show that Mike could get extended, Mike could be the coach here next year, most of us just assumed, and I was guilty of this, like Mike McCarthy's done, especially when Dak goes out for the year, when Dak goes out for the year with the hamstring injury and you see him every game sitting in the, you know, sitting in the box, you go, wait, listen, Cooper Rush, their defense had been putrid. The first half of the season, like, this seems screwed. How are they going to win games? And then Cooper Rush and the offense has looked pretty good. Like, Cooper Rush has made a lot of plays. And especially tonight in that first half when he is just throwing bombs to CD Lamb and those two guys were eviscerating the Tampa Bay secondary. Like, I don't know, Jerry. I mean, I don't know what else you could ask from a coach in this situation. One big difference on defense. And I was, I was thinking about this, watching the game, even if you don't have great defensive personnel on your, you know, front four, you know, depending on if you run a three, four, four, four, three. When you have a special pass rusher or just a special player on your front, that takes all the energy of an offensive coordinator. The offensive line and the blocking scheme, it takes so much energy to focus on that guy that it, it's kind of like a domino effect for the Other guys get to play better than sometimes they actually are because of the guy they're playing next to. And on the Saturday game with Chris Jones, they talked about it with him. He's like, I'm not having my best statistical year, but I feel like I'm playing my best football and everyone next to me is eating. And you see it with all the great players, whether it's Myles Garrett, when Nick Bose is playing well, obviously T.J. watt, even if you have other good players, they play even better because all the energy goes to you. And their defense, since Micah has come back, just looks dramatically faster up front. Obviously he's a big part of that as a great pass rusher, but the other guys were flying around and crushing Baker early in that game and since he's come back, they just look a lot better on defense. And tonight the secondary, Al Harris, who I'm pretty sure is the guy when Matt Hasselback in the, in the playoff game against the packers when they won the coin toss and Hasselback goes, we want the ball and we're going to score. Pretty sure that's the guy that he threw the pick six to. And clearly that's the connection with McCarthy and he's the DB coach, that defensive backfield, you know, obviously Bland's back from his injury last year, made a game winning play, the play Lewis made on the interception. But their physicality, their hitting, you know, Diggs is out for the season with a knee injury. Look like Ronnie Lott meets Cam Chancellor back there. So if you're Jerry and you're Stephen and you're trying to figure out what to do, you look around the landscape, you go, mike's really good with offense and quarterbacks, like it's not really debatable. Dax played his best football with him calling plays. And then tonight, Cooper rush is 26 of 35 for basically 300 yards. Now, he could have thrown a pick there late in the game. Got pretty lucky, the dude dropped it. But overall, to have a backup quarterback look that competent is a reflection of the coaching staff and is a reflection of just overall coaching in general. So I think that visual showed. I would be stunned, honestly, if they weren't talking about that. Like, this is going pretty well. What are we going to do? Go on a interview? Who are we going to hire that's going to be better than the situation we're in? Plus, the reason that we struggled this year was more of a personnel issue than coaching. Now, is McCarthy perfect? Of course not, but I've been pretty impressed this Last month because I think universally Cowboy fans, just football fans would have said six, seven games ago, they are completely screwed. Like this thing could just fall off and become derailed. You look around the NFL, you look at some of these teams that are dealing with injuries, they just don't look the Niners good example. I mean the Giants are the worst case scenario. It's like, what is going on there? This team is the opposite. It's like, damn, they are playing, they are a muff punt screw up by the dude that they elevated from the practice squad from winning five straight games. And currently they would be, instead of seven, eight, they'd be eight and seven and they would be right in position like, God, could they make a playoff run? You know, could they? Do they have an opportunity to get in? So I think that I, I've been blown away. I mean the defense clearly under Zimmer with Micah back has become much better and I think McCarthy has just done a really, really good job. I that's as hard of an effort just in terms of guys playing start to finish in a game is I remember in a while from a team that, I mean the season's over, they're not going like what are we doing? Sunday Night Football lights are on and we approach that game like it was win or get into the playoffs. So that was awesome. That really was right down to the final play when Bland stripped that ball away from Irving. So congrats to the Cowboys because it would have been pretty easy to wave the white flag. And I think this is a separating factor in the NFL that so many teams, the Panthers are a good example. We'll dive into them. Like every team worth their salt battles their ass off till the bitter end. Whether you're going to win four games, whether you're going to win nine games, whether you're trying to get the number one overall seed. It's what truly makes the sport special. And partly because if you don't give full effort in this sport at that level, you will get injured, you will get hurt. And just fantastic win by the Cowboys. I actually think it was a pretty impressive effort by the Buccaneers as well. One thing that at this point in time we just have to acknowledge, Baker Mayfield's a top 10 quarterback. Baker Mayfield is a big time player now. And you look at that 2018 draft, obviously Lamar Jackson's won multiple MVPs and became one of the best players, I mean in the history of the league as an all around quarterback, running and passing. Josh Allen might be the most talented player we've ever seen at the position. Those guys are everything you could possibly dream of as first round picks in franchise quarterbacks this 2018. Obviously Josh Rosen's long gone out of the league. Sam Darnold's career was crazy. Not only is he having a career year, he is leading the Minnesota Vikings to the opportunity to get the number one seed and is going to end up throwing for somewhere between 35 and 38 touchdowns. Baker Mayfield, we didn't know if last year was, I don't know, I don't want to say a one year wonder, but like, could it get that much better? I just looked. Only Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow have more touchdown passes than him. And clearly since, you know, I think he's talked about it. He lost a little weight. He moves early on in his career. He reminded me of Johnny Manziel, that he thought like what he could do in college. And Johnny was much more of a runner. But Baker scrambled around a lot at Oklahoma as a playmaker. It's like you got to be really careful. The random defensive lineman will run your ass down. And I remember it might have been Johnny's first start or one of his first games. They were playing the Panthers and he thought it was like, you know, playing some team in college and it was Luke Keakley and he thought he could outrun him to the corner. And Luke Keakley caught him like he was a lion on the Serengeti in like three steps like Johnny. This is a different world. And that used to happen to Baker a lot. He looks dramatically faster. I don't know if it's his confidence, but his running ability is a legit weapon. And then as a pastor, like he's always had an explosive arm. He just now is just a really good player, right? I mean deep balls, intermediate balls, play making, obviously running and listening. They now have the same record as the Atlanta Falcons. The Atlanta Falcons hold the tiebreaker. But do you think Michael Penix, who I thought looked pretty good today, it's one thing playing at home against the worst team in the NFL. I mean there is no one more gutless and just who looks shittier right now than the day Ball led New York Giants, like they are currently in terms of the effort and execution and just overall production. They play with an embarrassment to the NFL. I mean, it's, it's really, really bad. But listen, I can't. It was your first start like I thought. Regardless of the statistics, he looks solid going on the road to Washington. Coming off one of their biggest wins. I Mean, it's got to be like a top five win for the Commanders in the last decade. Now I know a large portion of it was against their backup quarterback, but still Jaden throwing five touchdowns against Fangio in that defense, a lot of momentum. That place is going to be going fucking bananas. It's going to be a tough spot for Pennix and like coaching advantage. I'm going Commanders over the Raheem Morris led operation. But, and I'm a Michael Penix guy, I just think it's going to be challenging. They could easily lose that game. I haven't seen the line yet. They're going to be an underdog in that game. So they control their own destiny. But I think they lose that game. And the Bucks are still very much alive playing the Panthers, which is no easy out the way they're playing and the Saints both at home. So I think if they win those two games, they're still in the playoffs and that'd be back to back playoffs for this guy that replaced Tom Brady. And listen, like, I think the Bucks are solid. It's hard to overcome. They've had a bunch of injuries, obviously losing God win a long time ago. You know, they're playing with some randoms. It's basically they feel a little like the Cowboys. It's like if you can just somehow neutralize Mike Evans, you can at least slow them down. But Baker's throwing fucking balls to. I was like, who's this tight end? What's this guy's name? And I was just really, really impressed. And that play Vita Vea made to stop Ferguson from a first down at the end of the game to force a punt and give the Bucks an opportunity was just fantastic. I mean, what a special player. And was there anybody that once the Bucks got the ball back that didn't believe that Baker at minimum was going to get them in field goal range? Honestly, I thought he was going to lead him down to score a touchdown. And not because the Cowboys defense was playing bad, just because I had that much belief in Baker Mayfield. But you look back at the 2018 draft, you know Allen and Lamar, like hall of Famers. What, Baker and Darnold. Which is kind of ironic just because a couple years ago their careers were in shambles playing together, right? They, they traded for Darnold on the Panthers and a year later they trade for Baker and it was like, this is a disaster. And both those guys left that place and now look at them. It's just, it's just awesome. As a football fan, I loved Watching Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma, I would say, over the last decade plus, he's easily one of my favorite college players to watch. And I remember battling with Coward, who thought you didn't like him coming out because there were a lot of, you know, immaturity questions about him. But I was like, I don't know, man. I think he's so good. He will overcome it. And clearly some maturity stuff. I think his life changed, and I think they've kind of alluded to it and even talked about it. You know, once he got married, had a child, he feels like a different human being. And if you look at Jason Kelsey, when Jason Kelsey became a star player, and he's definitely talked about this, his career was not going that well. There were rumors that he might get traded right around 2016, met his wife, started having kids. Look, when Jason Kelsey started making Pro Bowls in all pro teams, and he never looked back. And I feel like whatever happened once Baker got to Tampa, his life calmed down. He's become a top 10 quarterback. And honestly, he has moments where it's like, that's a top five quarterback on some of these drives, avoiding players, hitting guys, getting hit and still making the throw. He's not just a fun player to watch. Like, he's a really, really good player. And I think Tampa, that situation last year just. They kind of took a flyer on him and he earned it. And this year he's doubled down because he. He was good last year. He's way better this year. And now they just. They got to win the next two games and be the biggest commander fan Sunday night. Which I think, listen, if Atlanta wins that game, they deserve to go to the playoffs. And I think if Atlanta loses that game, what they'll be asking themselves, would we have won this division if we would have spent Cousins a month ago in. My answer is yes. And Colin and I talked about this briefly, but you guys know, I did not like the sequence of events, because having been with these, you know, with a team and knowing the way the buildup is, you have a real. If you're a good gm, you really, really know the draft pool after the combine, who you like, who you don't like. Now, when you're. When you're a good team, like if you're Andy Reed and Veach, you don't have a great idea after the combine, like, who's going to be where, but you got a pretty good idea. The group of 12 to 13 guys that are going to be top 10 picks, but you don't have a Great idea. When you're drafting 31st or 30 seconds, who's going to be there when you pick. But when you leave the combine, if you are decent at your job, you have a really good idea who you like in the top 10, if you have a top 10 pick and who you would want. And when the combine ended, most people knew for a fact like Michael Penix was available in the top 10, like you didn't have to trade up to get him. If you were drafting 8th, he 1000% was going to be there. So for them to do the Cousins move and then do the Penix thing, they did not know they liked Penix when they signed Cousins at that level because if they had, they would not have signed Cousins and they just would have drafted Penix and done what the Bucs did last year. Signed a guy like Baker for 5 million bucks. Sign Sam Darnold for Gardner Minshew and have that guy be Penix's backup. Why? Because Penix is a 24 year old ready made pro prospect. Doesn't mean he was going to be good. But he was not a guy that needed to sit. And I heard Schrager mention it this week that he wasn't getting any reps in practice. Of course not, because the starter gets them all. So when you're the backup you just service the scout team defense. So the Atlanta Falcons, if they do miss the playoffs and the Bucks win these last two games and they lose to the Washington Commanders, that's on the front office because you can't convince me that they would not have been better off with Penix playing this whole time. I don't believe it. His arms much more lively, he's way bigger threat to throw the ball downfield. He's just, he's just a better player today. There is not one coach or GM in the NFL for the next three games that would take Kirk Cousins over Michael Penix. And that was the case five weeks ago. So I just, I think the Bucks got a little lucky because they've had a million injuries. This year has been hard. Baker's played out of his ass obviously throwing all these touchdowns and keeping them in games that like even tonight, like they were getting outplayed and he just kind of willed them to that game. But because the Atlanta Falcons stuck with Cousins for so long that that will be a big reason if this plays out the way that I think it will play out. But just, just a fantastic game that I, that, that was awesome. It's the most wonderful time of year for getting in on all the hoops, football and hockey action at the DraftKings sportsbook. It's the season of giving and we're being gifted. College football and basketball, pro football and basketball and pro hockey too. Almost 24 7. So many games every day. So many opportunities. To blace your first bet, try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to DraftKings sportsbook app and place your bet. And here's a gift for all new customers. Bet 5 bucks to get 150 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the Code John. That's Code Johan for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets. If your first bet wins when you bet just five bucks. Happy holidays from DraftKings. The crown is yours.