Greg Cosell (7:03)

There wasn't a feeling prior to this trade that the Lakers were headed to the Western Conference finals. And now you can make that case. I think there's a lane there. I still wouldn't call them the favorite in the west, but I definitely think it's going to be interesting. And just that idea that if they wanted to, the Lakers could play either Luka or LeBron for 48 straight minutes often. Both of them is crazy.

Colin Cowherd (7:26)

Yeah, it's more than that. Lakers, LeBron, Luca again, game two together, this time in Salt Lake. So, you know, Super Bowls always resonate. One thing we do know, in the last decade, if you lose a Super bowl, no matter how good your quarterback is, there's only one exception, and that was the Patriots once that you go back and you crush again. Everybody pulls back. If they lose a Super bowl, they get to the Super Bowl. They lose, they don't get back. It's just the way it is. And Travis Kelsey was on his podcast with his brother and, you know, he kind of disappeared. Last couple of games. He has been their number One target, last three, four years and or longer. And he's just a very important person. He blocks, he's tough. The physicality, the temperament. But it may be time to quit, retire.

Travis Kelce (8:18)

I know everybody wants to know whether or not I'm playing next year. And right now I'm just kicking everything down the road. I'm kicking every can I can down the road. And I'm not making any crazy decisions. The fact that we keep going to these AFC championships and these Super Bowls, and that means I'm playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the, in the entire league. And that's a lot of wear and tear on your body. And it's a lot, It's a lot of time spent in the building.

Colin Cowherd (8:44)

Yeah, we've said this about LeBron. LeBron's played over three full seasons of just playoff games. You start looking at Travis Kelce. In the last seven years, he's played another season of NFL football for playoff games. And we ask our tight ends to block. Often the best athlete on the other side of the field. So let's be honest about Kansas City's offense. Remember when Tom Brady got to the end of New England and there was that piece of video, him screaming. It was a maybe I've been a Thursday night game or a Sunday night game. He's screaming at his wide receivers, somebody get open. But New England was unable because they were paying other players, including Brady, and they didn't draft wide receivers well. So if you, if you really are honest about Kansas City in the last three years, they've kind of been patchwork on offense. I mean, all five super bowl trips have had five different left tackles. They've never had a great left tackle. Patchwork. The wide receivers in the last three Super Bowls, Richie, James, McColl, Hardman, Sky Moore, Kadarius, Tony Marquis, Valdon Scanling. They're kind of bounce around the NFL guys. That's all they are. They don't have a ton of stability at running back. I mean, we're doing Kareem Hunt again. Isaiah Pacheco is a great story. Is he a great player? Clyde Edwards, Allaire was a bust. There are warning signs here. Now, some of it is Mahomes is super expensive. Travis Kelsey super expensive. Chris Jones super expensive. They have a very good GM and they draft well. But if you remember, in the end, Tom Brady in New England, Tom Brady was sort of holding that offense up with duct tape. And after I'm watching that game against Philadelphia and the game against Houston, it's only Buffalo, they always score 35 points or more. You start, look, in Buffalo's defense, the top corner was out. We don't consider it an elite defense. We don't, we consider the offense with Josh Allen and James Cook and Kincaid. That's the, that's the part of the Bills that is elite. You just start looking at this team when they played good defenses like Houston and Philadelphia, they got a bunch of B dudes. It's the Brady Patriots at the end. They're just holding it together. It's patchwork, guys everywhere. And again, I'll go to the super bowl runner up since 2014, patriots won the super bowl. You got, you got four different teams missed the playoffs, you got teams losing wild card and divisional round stuff. So I think it's pretty clear. And when you draft 31st in a very, very weak draft where draft people who I lean on say there are 12, maybe 13 max elite first round players. Kansas City's getting none of them. And they need one at left tackle, they need another one at tight end, they need another one at running back. And by the way, they need another interior offensive lineman. They gotta, they gotta spend some time and capital on that offensive line that got pushed around for four hours against Philadelphia. So my take on Travis Kelce has been this is the perfect time for a clean break. He's got tons of money, lots of options, and I think one of the mistakes basketball football teams do is they cling to the end. You could say, well, what about LeBron? LeBron's still elite. LeBron's still top seven player in the league. There are nights he's a top three player in the league. There's nights that he's the best player in the NBA still, depending on the schedule. So to me, this feels like it's time for a clean break. He's expensive, he's a tight end. This is a good tight end draft, if they were going to move up and be aggressive outside of left tackle, it'd be for tight end. But J. Mac, when you lose those Super Bowls and you lose the way they did, it is interesting. It does change your opinion on stuff. Now you called it. You said it was going to be a D line rolling over Kansas City. I did not. But it's funny, two or three days later, you know, it sounds like, oh, it's, it's kind of a recency bias. But when you lose like that, it does change your opinion on a lot of things.

J. Mac (12:40)

You know, there's a clip of Travis Kelsey right, right around the 48 yard line. Near midfield and he runs a little bit of the pass pattern and then just sits at the 48 yard line because he saw a flag like, does not engage in the rest of the play. And Chiefs fans are kind of ticked off online. Patrick Mahomes is scrambling for his life and Travis Kelsey's literally just standing there. And Colin, I know this isn't right to say, but do you think the Chiefs quit a little bit in the super bowl when they were down 24? Nothing.

Colin Cowherd (13:06)

Oh, I, the body language wasn't good. They started making really dumb mistakes, lining up off sides. Yeah, I think, you know, this is something else that the pressure of being number one. I remember listening to a baseball general manager 15 years ago and he said, what you don't realize. He was talking about the Yankees. This was like 15 when I lived on the East Coast. He said, what people don't realize about the Yankees because they're good. Every year in the playoffs, every year, you are taxing your bullpen, you're taxing your starters. It's an unnatural act to throw a ball 95 miles an hour. He goes, these pitchers go into spring and you got to ramp it up again. He's like, we're playing 25 more games than everybody else. And they're intense national TV, high leverage situations. Now, in football, you don't have an unnatural act, but you have to remember when you're going to Super Bowls year after year after year like the Patriots are doing, it beats up on your team. That's a, that's a tight end. Over the course of six years, being tackled another hundred times.

J. Mac (14:17)

Okay, but hold on, Colin. Remember, they didn't play their starters week 18. Then they had the buy. It was like three weeks for Travis Kelce and he had a good game against the Texans, but then played that, had to play the next week, did nothing against the Bills. Got the bye week before the super bowl and did nothing in the Super Bowl.

Colin Cowherd (14:33)

It looked like all the energy they had, you know, we, we, we always think Buffalo never beats Kansas City. They actually did two weeks earlier. Is that all the Chiefs energy went to beat Buffalo?

Steve Covino (14:46)

That's fair.

Colin Cowherd (14:47)

They played a great game. They emptied the tank and they had nothing left.

J. Mac (14:51)

So let me ask Cooper cup and the Rams are going to be parting ways.

Colin Cowherd (14:54)

Cooper Cup.

J. Mac (14:54)

You know, injuries, wear and tear, not really delivering expensive. The Chiefs go that route with Travis Kelsey.

Colin Cowherd (15:01)

If you're, if you're moving off Kelsey, you're saving money. Why would you bring in an older injury?

J. Mac (15:09)

I don't mean bring in Cooper cup. I just meant the way the Rams are moving off of him. Do the Chiefs say, hey, Travis, thank you for your service? Oh, yeah, but that's. It's a wrap.

Colin Cowherd (15:17)

Yeah, I think it is a wrap. And that's okay. I think it's a wrap. This is not the NBA where players control all those personnel decisions. I think it's a wrap. By the way. It's, it's folks, we've all got eyes. We're all watching it. We're watching what's happening. It's. The reality with Travis is it's been a remarkable career, but tight ends don't last forever. They're not quarterbacks, they're not kickers. This stuff ends quickly. I mean, Travis Kelce last year acknowledged he'd had 10 surgeries. Yeah.

J. Mac (15:45)

So they could look a lot different next year with no Travis Kelsey.

Colin Cowherd (15:48)

Holy cow. So I saw something yesterday that is, I don't understand. I got an Aaron Rodgers story, I got a Kevin Durant story, but man, I saw a quote yesterday. Do we all understand what is happening to the biggest brand in America? And we'll talk about that next. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio Apple.

Mark Sanchez (16:18)

Some might say homes.com is the best home shopping site. But why is it their sleek ad free user interface enjoy search experience without distraction. Maybe it's their unmatched school insight featuring district detail and reviews from expert sources like Niche, Every parent's dream. Or is it their super comprehensive agent directory? Or how they always connect you directly to the listing agent on every listing. Homes.com even offers a comprehensive search experience with 22 data visualization layers, 7 environmental layers and an option to search by commute and architectural style. Homes.com is bringing you all the in depth info you need. Homes.com We've done your homework.

Colin Cowherd (17:00)

Greg Cosell, Top of our number two I was thinking about something the other day we you get into these moments, it never feels like what I'm about to say is true is half the biggest brands in sports are hitting, half the biggest brands in America are hitting and then half are reeling or rebuilding or remodeling or rebooting. And I was just thinking about the biggest brands in sports and let's just take a second to think about. So like if you go to Major League Baseball, you know the biggest brands, Yankees and Dodgers. So I mean the Yankees just bringing in Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Max Freed, they just got to a World series for the first since 2009. They didn't get Soto but they upgraded their pitching Dodgers. Meanwhile I just, I was looking at Jim Bowden article this morning. He thinks the Dodgers are the most improved team in the league and they just won a World Series. They have added all throughout their pitching staff. So the two biggest brands, the Yankees and the Dodgers are humming in major league baseball. Let's go to the NBA. Listen, the Luca trade is an unbelievable reboot for the Lakers. And the Celtics are the best team in basketball. Go ask the Knicks that have been run over, steamrolled by them twice this year. But I would also put the Knicks as the third biggest brand. Forbes says it's the most valuable and this is the best knicks team since 1997. And I like the team. I don't think they can beat Boston. I think they can beat everybody else in the league. So Boston Lakers, Knicks, very, very strong. Let's go to college football. Very popular sport. Ohio State just won a natty. Michigan won the year before. Notre Dame and Texas are exceptional. To me those are the four biggest brands in college football. Bam is big in the south, not as big nationally. It's Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas. They are all humming. Michigan pulled back last year, landed the number one quarterback in the country. They'll be good again. And this year I think. Are they hosting Ohio State this year instead of going on the road? I don't know but they'll be very, very good. Let's go to college basketball. Last 15 years, UConn and Duke. Duke's got the number one player, UConn back to back titles. I mean even non sports, if you look at stock prices, the three biggest brands to me in the, in the nation, you can argue just the biggest brands in the country. Apple, Amazon, Coca Cola up year over year. And those are about as big a brands as you have in America. Coke, Apple and Amazon. I mean the only thing that appears to be missing. Let me think about this. Oh, the Dallas Cowboys are awful. They are the only big huge, massive brand in America that is awful. And they just had, they just hired a coach and they dumped it on a Friday news dump. And Dak Prescott said this yesterday and what do they say? The, the best problem, best way to correct a problem is to acknowledge you have a problem. So Stephen Jones about a month ago said drought. Remember he put it in quotes. Drought. Like we're having a drought. It's been 29 years. Yeah, it's a drought. Jerry Jones said over the weekend, hey we could have been here and Dak Prescott talking about the Eagles in the super bowl going forward.

Steve Covino (20:10)

I mean I feel like we compete with Eagles and beat them for the most part now we've played them. I, I don't want to say check the record when the other guy's holding the trophy right now. So credit to them they've earned and they deserved it by all means. But yeah, very close.

Colin Cowherd (20:25)

Okay. Not quite acknowledging the issue. We could, we, we think we can stack up with Philadelphia. You got two guys who could play CD Lam and Micah. I'm not sure anybody else gets on the field and I'm dead. Zach Martin maybe, but I'm not sure. The Cowboys have two starters, two that start for Philadelphia and Phillies players. Many of the best ones are like rookies in second year guys, they're getting better. So I was thinking about this for the record, it also shows you how powerful the NFL is. They just got 127 million people to watch the game of record and Dallas is in the toilet. But I told this, I told the staff this morning if you just went to the nfc, forget the Ravens, forget Harbaugh and the Chargers, forget the Chiefs, forget Buffalo, forget those teams. Houston, let's just go to the NFC. If you told me next year the top 10 teams in the NFC, I don't have Dallas in it. I think Philadelphia easily the best roster. Detroit second best roster. Aiden Hutchinson coming back. Rams aren't missing on draft picks of Stafford stays they Green Bay and Washington with Jaden Daniels are a handful. The Niners will figure it out when Christian McCaffrey gets healthy. I don't think they're a top three or four team but they'll get better. Minnesota and Seattle have too many good players and I think, I think Baker's better than Dak. I'll put them nine. And I do think Ben Johnson and Chicago's roster will make noise. I don't know if they're a playoff team. Dallas is not in the same class as Philadelphia and from what I've seen with Jaden Daniels, they're not close to Washington. So if Shador Sanders landed with the Giants, I'm not so sure. Dallas isn't a fourth place team. So yesterday as sort of a joke I said the dynasty was dead. In Kansas City I had a little tombstone. Let's be honest. We have a real tombstone. Go ahead. We can show the real tombstone. It's over. It's the last brand in American sports. I mean huge brand that is in the toilet and it's not Close Dak second surgery. Dak is going to be the biggest salary cap hit in league history next year unless Jerry, who from what we can tell is tapped, figures out a way to pay some of it early. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.

Rich Davis (22:47)

Hey, it's Steve Covino and I'm Rich Davis and together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course, the iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich? We talk about everything, life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world. We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture, stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved too. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports radio and the iHeartradio app from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast. And of course on social media, that's Covino and Rich.

Mark Sanchez (23:44)

Some might say homes.com is the best home shopping site, but why is it their sleek ad free user interface enjoy search experience without distraction. Maybe it's their unmatched school insight featuring district detail and reviews from expert sources like Niche, Every parent's dream. Or is it their super comprehensive agent directory? Or how they always connect you directly to the listing agent on every listing. Homes.com even offers a comprehensive search experience with 22 data visualization layers, 7 environmental layers and an option to search by commute and architectural style. Homes.com is bringing you all the in depth info you need. Homes.com We've done your homework.

Colin Cowherd (24:25)

Mark Sanchez, Fox Sports what a gift for us all year calling NFL games all year on Fox now. But we're going to go to a break eventually and get to the Jalen Hurt stuff. But here I'm thinking about this because I knew you're going to be on today. So listen, this happens all the time. You go to a game as a quarterback and you're like, well, protections not ideal. Okay, You Bring in a second tight end. You roll stuff out. And it was very obvious by the second series, wow, we're getting beat on the O line. Man to man. In the, in the games in your life where you felt your O line was outclassed, do you have a lot of options or do you just come to terms very early? I'm gonna get hit today. I mean, what's, what is, what are you thinking emotionally as a quarterback? Because Patrick pretty early realized this is going to be one, two trouble.

Steve Covino (25:20)

And he had to move quite a bit. Even when he hit his back foot on number one. There's guys in his lap, there's guys affecting his vision, his stance in the pocket. He's getting hit all the time. You see the pick right here to bond people, like, wow, what a bad throw. Well, he gets hit literally when he gets rid of the ball. And as soon as he hit his back foot, he was under duress. And you gotta credit Clint Hurt and this defensive line, their defensive line coach. And those players up front, they pushed the interior of the pocket. The ends just went off. I mean, sweat those guys rushing off the Ed. It was incredible. And when we talk about guys rushing, rush lane integrity, not chasing the cheese and going for the sack. The sacks happen when you rush together, when you keep your rush lanes, you know, true. And they were in lockstep together up front. And, and you could say that about them this last, really half of the season. And you know, when you have. Toonie's an all pro left guard, he's not a tackle.

Colin Cowherd (26:27)

Right.

Steve Covino (26:27)

That's, you know, he won two championships with the Patriots. He's won two Super Bowls with the cheat. Like, he's an excellent player, but he's out of position. That's a really tough job, especially when those two big guys, Davis and Carter, are getting pressure on the interior where they're normally solid, so he doesn't have anywhere to step up to. They're coming over the walls on the edge. I mean, it's, it's a lose. Lose and very uncharacteristic of. Of the Chiefs. They, you know, their first three third downs before it got to third and nine plus for the rest of the game, their first three third downs were third and three, I believe. Incomplete. Incomplete interception. Whoa. What sequence is that? That doesn't, that doesn't equate to the Chiefs. So, yeah, they had a rough night. It was a really rough night for them. But credit to the Eagles because they exploited him.

Colin Cowherd (27:14)

Yeah, the. When you watch the game, I said, this is that Philadelphia is a very aggressive franchise. And I had said. I think I'd said this with you. They do things that often, bad franchises do. They replace winning coaches, they move off good quarterbacks, but it works for them. And Sirianni, his methodology for a lot of towns, you'd be like, dude, you're yelling with the fans. Philadelphia is a very unique. The really important players like Saquon and Jalen hurts. They're. They're mature, they're understated. It's a fat. We talked about this last time. It's a fascinating organization that you have unique insight to. It is a combustible, intense, loud. And as I. As I watch them, I wonder if teams around the league watch them and think we're not aggressive enough.

Steve Covino (28:11)

Sure. Well, you got to credit Howie Roseman and some of these draft picks. The guys that have fallen in the draft and landed in their lap, whether it's Nicoby, Dean or Carter or whatever, for whatever reasons, they end up on this team. And Howie Roseman isn't afraid to go sign A.J. brown. He wasn't afraid to go sign Alshon Jeffries. Sometimes I'm like, how does he even get the. How do they come available? Like, who's taking that phone call but Howie Roseman? I mean, that guy's working his tail off. And it's, you know, every other year, they have one of the best rosters in the league, and it's been impressive. But you look at the coordinators he's hired, you know, they've hit, they've missed.

Colin Cowherd (28:52)

But they go right back.

Steve Covino (28:53)

But they get right back at it. And they keep the same core nucleus of guys with a couple of veterans, whether it's a Brandon Graham, Darius Slay on defense, that kind of keep the. The emotions in check. They're. They're your locker room leaders.

Colin Cowherd (29:07)

Yes.

Steve Covino (29:08)

And when you talked about this being like a combustible kind of environment, like, it matches the identity of the city. It completely matches.

Colin Cowherd (29:17)

Yeah.

Steve Covino (29:18)

Where they play, their fan base. It's very Philly, and it's. It's exciting to watch. Just think about the. The two coordinators who got this team going. Right. Right. They're two and two to start the year. Right. And, you know, you see the videos after the game of Philadelphia just like, exploding. There's fires everywhere and people going nuts. Well, it was ready to be like that. During their bye week, Week five, people were ready to fire everybody.

Colin Cowherd (29:42)

Couldn't score in the first round.

Steve Covino (29:44)

Sucks. You know, how he can't put a team together. It's like dude, you guys have just been in the super bowl. Like, relax, okay? We're going to be fine. Yeah, well, they change up some stuff on defense. Change. They. They played a lot more single high. They insert Cooper Dean. They have two rookies playing in the secondary. Quin Mitchell is not supposed to start the year. Starts the year because Bradbury gets hurt.

Colin Cowherd (30:04)

That's right.

Steve Covino (30:04)

And they get incredible production from two rookies in the secondary. So that in itself tells me Vic Fangio's got these guys dialed and he coached them hard. Yeah, but look at their last two games, the most important games of their season. The championship game and the Super Bowl. The defense generated seven turnovers. The offense scored 95 points. You can't beat that. You cannot beat that. You talk about running into a buzzsaw and you talk about. Everybody said, oh, complimentary football. Complimentary football. That is complimentary football. Jalen Hurts threw a really bad interception in the game. Mahomes did it last year against San Francisco. The defense got his back.

Colin Cowherd (30:44)

Yeah.

Steve Covino (30:44)

The defense just erased it. And that is complimentary football. Give the ball back to the offense and God forbid the offense gives it away. We got your back. Let's not make a habit of it, but we got your back. And it was impressive.

Colin Cowherd (30:57)

Yeah. I want. Let me ask you, the Travis Kelsey, he had a bite earlier. We played on the show on his podcast where he's like, listen, man, been playing three extra games for several years. And like LeBron, that's. LeBron's played three years in the playoffs. His playoff games equal a season of playing.

Steve Covino (31:15)

That's right.

Colin Cowherd (31:16)

It's insane. Those are intense.

Steve Covino (31:18)

A lot of wear and tear.

Colin Cowherd (31:19)

And so I look at Travis Kelce and you play a position where you're blocking often the best athlete in the other team in all these three games. Three games. Three games. When. And forget the production part. When did you know physically and emotionally for you, man, I don't want to go to camp. And I asked that respectfully because, first of all, season ends. Give yourselves three weeks off to be with whoever. But was there an epiphany for you driving around with something and thinking, I don't want to do this?

Steve Covino (31:48)

Well, the last couple years, you know, you have this epiphany when you realize the warm up and cool down for practice almost takes longer than practice. You know, the warmup takes longer than the workout. You're like, dang, okay, well, let's see how many more we can squeeze out of this thing.

Colin Cowherd (32:04)

And.

Steve Covino (32:04)

And, you know, like Draymond Green said, you got to ride it till the wheels fall off, because at some point you're going to be older and wishing you could still play. So I think he's still got another year in him. I think they'll take a little bit off of his plate, especially when it comes to blocking. I think they need a true blocking tight end because him and Noah Gray are similar skill set.

Colin Cowherd (32:21)

Yeah.

Steve Covino (32:22)

So I think that would help them. But, I mean, Kansas City's not going anywhere. You got 15 at quarterback. He laid an egg in one Super Bowl. Okay, fine. Like, I'm fine with that. Like, whatever. You know, LeBron's lost six championships or something. Like, we're okay. They're going to be just fine. They'll retool. I think Kelsey's got. Got one more season the.

Colin Cowherd (32:44)

The NFL now we have another game. They're probably at another game. There's much more international travel, off seasons for us. It's free agency. It's the draft. You start looking at Philadelphia's roster, Kansas City, there's some great older players. What does an off season look like? Win or lose? This game? Is it. Is it different When. I mean, you. You tell me, what is an off season for Patrick Mahomes look like? How long do you shut it down?

Steve Covino (33:10)

Yeah, I think you're never like, completely shut down, but, like, you're going for a bike ride, you're swimming, you're doing some other stuff just to stay active. But I don't think he's just going to take like two months off. He can't totally do that. He's probably not going to start throwing right away, but, you know, he's. He's gonna take a little time, let the emotions settle down, get to the truth of the game. Where was I good? Where was I bad? What. What reads. Did I miss? How was my footwork? You know, grade yourself, tell the truth, and then move on and go play again. And he's gonna be. Once again, he's gonna be just fine. These Chiefs are going to be just fine. It's. They ran into an incredible team that was playing really well, has superstars all over the place, and the guys that needed to fill in some holes for him. I mean, you lose Nakobe Dean and Oren Burks comes in and generates turnovers for your offense, like for your defense. Gives the ball back to the offense. I mean, the two rookies who had to step in and play Avante. Maddox doesn't play as much. Then when he does get in later in the year in the super bowl, he bats away A crucial third down. I mean, that's a guy who could have easily tanked. Right. Cooper DeJean took his spot after the bye week early in the year and doesn't play as much. I mean, he could have packed it in. But that's a testament to their locker room, to Howie Roseman, to the head coach, to all the guys getting these guys ready to play, keeping them a part of it. And, you know, that's how you build a championship roster. You could tell they were. They were together. And once again, Chief Slate an egg. They'll be back.

Colin Cowherd (34:44)

All right, we're going to come back. You have some film, some tape on Jalen Hurt.

Steve Covino (34:48)

He's an eraser. He's an eraser. He just. He just does stuff different than other quarterbacks. He can get away with a lot. It's pretty fun to watch.

Colin Cowherd (34:54)

We'll show that and talk about that Next in the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. So many of the things Mark Sanchez talks about we can't talk about yet on the air. That's a bummer. But you know what? It fortifies us to pursue what he's talking about and make calls. You're like the whisperer.

Steve Covino (35:15)

You're in a little nugget.

Colin Cowherd (35:16)

You're the personnel whisperer. And we just have to do it from there. Okay, so Jalen hurts. You know, Greg Cosell came on earlier and he said, you know, one of the things they ask him to do and he does really well is that sideline route. Like, not all quarterbacks can make all throws, but some quarterbacks have throws. They're brilliant at the go ball.

Steve Covino (35:34)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's just go ball.

Colin Cowherd (35:36)

Beautiful at it. So let's give it. Let's go to the film room.

Steve Covino (35:38)

Yeah. I thought he did such an excellent job. And really, this is credit to Kellen Moore. I mean, the Saints fans, that fan base should be excited about what they're getting in him as a head coach. But he cut the field in half for Jalen Hurts and let him just kind of pick a side.

Colin Cowherd (35:53)

Why?

Steve Covino (35:54)

To make it easier on the quarterback and to eliminate a lot of the trash from that defense. You get a ton of exotic looks when you play Steve Spagnola. So he wants him to just be dialed in on a two or three man concept and keep his eyes there. And when it wasn't that, when it was essentially a full field read, we talked about a sprinkler going across the grass. Right. He just could start on one side and let everything else come to his vision. So there's like a two man combination and everything else is chasing that two man combination.

Colin Cowherd (36:24)

Great.

Steve Covino (36:24)

And it's a pure progression type idea. When you play exotic defenses, you're not going to know exactly where they're at till the ball snapped and you don't want to be racing looking, oh, do I pick this side or that side? No, we're going to start on this side. Everything else is going to come into your vision and then, oh, by the way, this guy can make up for a lot with his legs. Remember, his best throw is the go ball. The other best thing he does is run with the football. He was their leading rusher for a reason. So when you watch this third down, it makes a ton of sense. But he's gonna recognize it's man to man. McDuffie's gonna travel with Devonte Smith. And when McDuffie was playing either A.J. brown one on one, they took some shots up the field and they took their chances and A.J. brown won. Well, when they didn't have him on A.J. brown, they would bracket him and make sure he's not going to beat him. We got to take away Saquon and we got to find a way to double or, you know, get enough pressure so he can't throw it to AJ Brown. So this time they double him and then they're going to go one on one with the back. Bolton a lot of times would cover the back and keep him in the protection so he doesn't leak out and give Hertz easy completions. So these two man combos I was talking about, you cut the field in half start on the right side, high angle corner and that out route to Goddard, it's going to be man to man. He saw the motion, so he knows this is going to take a little longer. He gets to the top of his drop and you're going to see there goes the shallow chasing the two man combination. So that's going to come right into his vision. He can keep his eyes to the right but he has such good feel in the pocket knowing when it's man to man that if he sees a rush lane this dude is gone. And he gets to top speed fast. He's already looking away from Goddard before this ball, before he breaks on his route. Manning, Brady, Breeze, Goff, Stafford, all these guys. That ball goes to Goddard. It's a tight window throw, the ball goes to Goddard. Jalen hurts, he kills you on a third and five and scrambles for 19. I mean those were Some of his biggest plays in the game as he just erased those third downs with his legs. Yeah. And the defense is like, we're in position. We're forcing him to make tight window throws. And this guy just tucks the ball and takes off for 19 on a third. And I mean, get out of here. Like, I wish I could do that, right? I wish I could do that. Quarterbacks pray for that ability, and this guy has it in spades. And so I think that's where he really elevated his game all year long. And I think Kellen Moore had him in such a good headspace. Nussmeier had him in such a good frame of mind to get through those progressions. And whenever you want, if you feel that crease, you feel that lane, dude, do what you do, Go take off. And I mean, he really mastered it in that game. It was. It was pretty fun to watch.

Colin Cowherd (39:05)

It's interesting. So when he had Shane Steichen, he was an mvp. Then they went to a coordinator. Not as good. He goes back to Kellen Moore. I feel like Kellen's really cleaned him up now. That's not a knock on Steichen, but all young quarterbacks, you know, this is a fast game. What's great to me about Jalen is you get almost no mistakes anymore.

Steve Covino (39:26)

You're right. One key interception and the defense erased.

Colin Cowherd (39:30)

And it was kind of.

Steve Covino (39:31)

Well, they got pressure on. They had a couple free runners on him early, and he got rid of the ball, that one. He got fooled a little bit on.

Colin Cowherd (39:37)

The look, at least it was a.

Steve Covino (39:38)

Home run and just launched it. But the defense got on the ball right back. It almost worked out like a punt. They should have got three points out of it. Right. But, you know, once again, the complimentary football stuff, letting him just track his guy across the field, throw the one on one, go balls up the field, like that's what he does. Well, let's. Let's get them to do that. We know they're going to try and take away our fastball and Saquon Barkley, and they did. They. They're like one of the only teams to slow him down. So he was really essentially a non factor in the run game. But then you got to count. Count for the quarterback run. And that's where, you know, they went to the change up the curveball. They have some other pitches there. And credit to the Eagles attack. Man, that was. That was. That was incredible.

Colin Cowherd (40:21)

When you go back to your playoff runs, you're in New York, even though you may not win A Super Bowl. You're beating Manning, you're beating Brady. You're a young quarterback. It could be very distracting. Like Jalen Hurts is going to get commercials. He's a good looking guy. Like, go back to your early career. You're in New York, you're beaten Brady in Foxborough. It may not be a Super bowl, but man, the world gets big fast. Yeah, I mean, seriously, it's your good looking guy. The world of Jalen Hurts.

Steve Covino (40:55)

Oh, it's gonna explode. Explode and grow exponentially. It's, it's gonna be interesting to watch. You know, it's just another challenge for him, another hurdle. This, you know, he was, he, they had this revenge kind of, you know, rematch kind of chip on their shoulder and people counted us out early. Now you're the favorite and it's, you know, overcoming adversity and now it's dealing with success. And the Chiefs have shown a blueprint on kind of how to do that. But for him now it's, now it's kind of expected. Hey, this is who you are. You've proven on the biggest stage that you're going to play efficient football. You know, you're going to use your legs, you're going to beat these defenses and make great decisions. Well, okay, this is now your new normal. The bar has been raised. Let's. Let's keep seeing it. And you know, it's going to be a great challenge for him, but he's got a heck of a team coming back. They got to figure out the OC.

Colin Cowherd (41:48)

But you know, his entire group, his manager, all women.

Steve Covino (41:53)

That's true. That's true.

Colin Cowherd (41:54)

Fascinating.

Steve Covino (41:55)

Yeah.

Colin Cowherd (41:56)

He's got a, you know, his parents are both educators. I think dad was a football coach. This is a guy what I really, this really jumps out to me how secure he is in himself. He could be so bitter. Yeah, he could. You could. I mean, he got hit. He got SAT during a national championship game. A lot of doubters. Second round, second round pick.

Steve Covino (42:19)

Yep.

Colin Cowherd (42:19)

I mean, the offense this year, you got, you got A.J. brown reading on the sideline. Hey, the offense runs through Saquon.

Steve Covino (42:24)

Noisy. It's noisy.

Colin Cowherd (42:25)

It's noisy. He's a very secure kid to me.

Steve Covino (42:28)

It's, he's just so. I, I like watching his press conferences because he almost speaks in like, I don't know if you've ever seen the Avengers, but he speaks in like Thanos quotes. Like, he speaks in these, you know, he gives like, great cliches and, you know, like, and he's, and he's well spoken. You know, he's a real adult. He, he seems very mature and it's, it's fun to watch. I mean, when you can move the ball like that and go to your, you know, off speed pitch, when they take away your fastball, that's, that's not easy to do, especially against that team. Especially against, on the biggest stage in the world.

Colin Cowherd (43:03)

Let me ask you. There's kind of Stafford rumors. I mean, there's a lot of rumors now, let's be honest. We've had in the last four or five years, Russell moved, Kirk Cousins moved, Stafford moved. This is becoming the league. Like, there's big swings. So you're, let's say you're Aaron Rodgers. You have a very good career. You win a ring mvp, you go to New York a little choppy, and then you're thinking to yourself, you played pretty well. Aaron played pretty darn well.

Steve Covino (43:29)

Almost 4,000 yards. Well, 28 touchdowns, 11 picks.

Colin Cowherd (43:32)

I mean, I thought his last eight weeks is excellent.

Steve Covino (43:34)

There's 25 teams in the league that would sign up for those numbers right now.

Colin Cowherd (43:37)

I'm not asking you to get in his head, but you got the money, you have the ring, you've got the plot. It. You got all that stuff. When you get to the end, what stuff matters?

Steve Covino (43:49)

Well, it's got to be the right fit. I think it's totally fit. Okay. It's gotta match the, the puzzle piece has to match and, you know, somebody's gonna take a flyer on him. Somebody's, you know, even if it's after somebody gets hurt in August or something.

Colin Cowherd (44:03)

Like that, you know Chip Kelly?

Steve Covino (44:04)

Yeah, I don't, I'm.

Colin Cowherd (44:06)

Does that fit?

Steve Covino (44:08)

I don't know. With Pete and Chip.

Colin Cowherd (44:11)

How about Kyle Shanahan?

Steve Covino (44:14)

Why not?

Colin Cowherd (44:15)

That one's interesting.

Steve Covino (44:15)

That one doesn't. That, that makes a lot of sense to me.

Colin Cowherd (44:18)

So, so you think the fit, the schematic fit works in San Francisco?

Steve Covino (44:21)

Oh, absolutely, I think so. And, and they have the structure, right? This isn't like a rebuild and that's right, a new offensive coordinator, somebody who's never done. I mean, this guy's called thousands and thousands. They have played biggest moments, they have weapons. But I mean, that, that's assuming we're moving off of Brock Purdy. So I don't know.

Colin Cowherd (44:40)

Yeah, no, I'm saying if Purdy's agent said 60 million, it's like, okay, we're gonna go with Aaron.

Steve Covino (44:44)

Sure.

Colin Cowherd (44:45)

But, but when you say fit, that's an interesting word. Do you mean schematic fit?

Steve Covino (44:49)

I Think schematic fit. I think environment fit. I think supporting cast has to play a huge factor. It can't all be on the quarterback. Somebody with a run game would really help them out. Yeah, but you know, and they got to want him as well. Right. It's got to fit both ways. It's a two way street. And so I think that's going to be, you know, a hurdle for some of these teams figuring out is this the direction we're going to go. Because just like the jets did two years ago, if you bring in a guy like that, it's. We're all in and the expectations increase exponentially. So that's what I mean by fit.

Colin Cowherd (45:27)

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's interesting. As Aaron's aged, he's a little less mobile. I could argue that's better in the Shanahan offense.

Steve Covino (45:35)

Oh, no doubt. I mean, he doesn't want. He doesn't want the scrambling. Yeah. Like just execute the play.

Colin Cowherd (45:41)

Yes.

Steve Covino (45:41)

And when we're in trouble, throw the ball away, fall down, you know, take the sack, whatever. But this is what we're going to do and we're going to execute it at a higher level over a longer period of time and wear teams down. And that's generally their formula. When it's working. I mean, it's. It's tough to deal with. You got players moving all over the place. So satellite players that use Check and. And Kittle and all these guys. I mean, a great tight end like that. Kittle. I mean Kittle and Roger. Holy smokes. That'd be a heck of a. But we're also saying that they're going to move off Brock and I don't know if I. Yeah. Agree with that.

Colin Cowherd (46:12)

Well, no, you're the one that floated Aaron and I do think Aaron high IQ knows the league. He's not going to move out of plays humbled. Probably a little bit. I mean, whatever. All right, buddy. You did a great job this year.

Steve Covino (46:26)

Appreciate it, man.

Colin Cowherd (46:26)

Now, now he's going on vacation. He's going into the basement. Won't talk about it. I don't have a problem. Are you going? What do you do for the next couple months?

Steve Covino (46:35)

We got the twins on the way, baby twin girls, so. Oh, we're gonna have our hands full. But I'll be back a couple times, you know, break down some of these college QBs and free agencies.

Colin Cowherd (46:43)

You'll do that for us?

Steve Covino (46:43)

I'll be around.

Colin Cowherd (46:44)

All right. Keep your eye on Riley Leonard.

Steve Covino (46:47)

There you go. All right. I'll look him up.

Colin Cowherd (46:48)

All right, well, it's the national championship game. I know you'll be able to find the tape.

Steve Covino (46:55)

I know I'm not asking you for.

Colin Cowherd (46:57)

Dayton's backup here, Mark. All right, everybody. Thank you so much. Luca and LeBron. Tonight, Salt Lake City, round two.

Mark Sanchez (47:07)

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