Transcript
Colin Cowherd (0:00)
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But what about all the content you can listen to on Amazon? Music? Music to podcast fast shipping? What is not to love about this membership I'm in? Prime fuels your passions, makes everything easier. So whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime now. Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox sports radio and noon to 3 EAs, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome into the Crescent City live in New Orleans. A perfect setting for a Super bowl for the ages. J. Mac to my side, our guest list, Philip Up. We are in New Orleans and this is the hurdle. We have a great show and we're going to be here in New Orleans for a couple of days and we're going to make it and we're going to make it count. J. Mac Now, I was going to leave with the Lakers who made another move last night, but the last time I did a show that led with the Lakers, things got really fuzzy really fast. So I'm going to make that the second story. I'm a little superstitious on that. What I want to leave with is this. I thought about this last night. What is this super bowl going to look like? And you know what I think it is? And I think it's a pretty good comp. This is going to be the New England Seahawks Super Bowl. Remember that the Seahawks, like the Eagles, had the stacked roster. In fact, when people talk about Philadelphia's roster, they say it's the best since Seattle. You talk to Tom Brady about that Seahawk roster. I've talked to him on this show and he's like there were no weaknesses. Everybody was great. Safeties, corners, edge, rushers, defensive tackles. There were no weaknesses, there were no flaws. That's Philadelphia. But the quarterback, Russell Wilson, Jalen hurts little small, mobile. Is he an all timer? No. New England is Kansas City iconic coach, maybe the greatest quarterback of all time. Second best roster. But they always win close games. Anytime a game is close, anytime it can go either way, anytime it's a big third down. It was Brady and the Patriots. It's Mahomes in Kansas City to win that game. And I, and I want to talk about this because I think this is going to be a chess match and I think one of the chess matches is going to be between Mahomes and Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator for Philadelphia, who by the way, Mahomes is 8 and oh against every quarterback in the league struggles with Vic Fangio, except maybe Josh Allen and except maybe Patrick Mahomes. And I do think we have to consider this and I don't think this is hyperbolic. If Patrick Mahomes wins and the first team, now the packers did it, but the first team in what we consider modern football to win three in a row, he is the NFL's MJ and I think there are real similarities. MJ 6 for 6 in the finals six MVPs. But we saw his struggles and I'll get to that in a second. Mahomes is almost relentless. Like mj. He didn't look great in the regular season. Michael had off nights, but they both kind of shift gears. And what I've always noticed about Mahomes, much like Michael, they're not burdened with pressure. It's almost like they get bored in the regular season. And Michael would put his arms around these moments like, okay, this stuff counts. It was Tiger in his prime. Oh, we're finally to Sunday final nine holes. That's Mahomes. The way he shrinks. Lamar Jackson, an all time great. The way he shrinks. Josh Allen, maybe the most physically gifted quarterback since Marino or Elway, makes me think Mahomes sometimes like MJ is bored with a regular season. He's that gifted. And when I watched MJ and I remember this well, sitting on a couch watching the Suns Bulls final. And Barkley was amazing, but he made Barkley look okay. And MJ wasn't the best shooter, he wasn't the biggest player, he wasn't the strongest player, he wasn't the best ball handler. None of that stuff, none of it with Michael. But he was 6 foot 6 of relentless. Mahomes isn't as big as Alan. He doesn't move like Lamar Jackson. He doesn't have the best arm, although he throws kind of quirky sidearm. But there's just something about him. There's an it. And it's why remember now, Michael wasn't the number one pick. Mahomes wasn't the number one pick. That was LeBron. LeBron was on the COVID of Sports Illustrated at 16. LeBron was the prodigy. LeBron was the overwhelming number one pick. But that's not the way it was with Michael and Mahomes. Mahomes had a losing record in the Big 12. There's one year he led the conference in interceptions. I saw him play one college game that I remember. He was really skinny, wild. It was a shootout like all Big 12 games. And I thought that doesn't translate to the NFL. He's out of control. And people forget this about MJ. It's as if the archives of MJ losing have been lost. They went Bermuda Triangle. Where did they go? Nobody knows. Michael Jordan 1 is a freshman. You saw the movie Air. He hits the big shot. Remember that? Do you realize that Michael stayed in college for two more years, didn't win a title. In fact, there is a 10 year gap if you ever want to come down to the Bourbon street and win a free cocktail and oysters. Bet people this. From his title as a freshman at UNC to his first NBA championship, Michael Jordan had a Grand Canyon sized 10 year gap before he won a title. And it's like there's no footage of it. It's like the tape disappeared. So I watched Michael get beat up by the Celtics in the Pistons. I watched Mahomes be wild lead the Big 12 interceptions. And because of that, they're not prodigies. They weren't on the COVID they weren't Bryce Harper, they weren't Tiger Woods. Because of that, I've watched them stumble, get beaten up, get tackled by the Pistons and the Celtics get rolled by Oklahoma. And I think it makes them incredibly likable. But I do think this is going to look like New England. Brady with a little less talent around him though. Good with an iconic coach against the stacked roster and a very good coach, Pete Carroll. And a very good quarterback in his prime, Russell Wilson. And my, my guess is it ends the same way with the iconic all time quarterback on one play late winning the game. And here's Mahomes talking about the matchup with Vic Fangio. Every time I've played coach Fangio there's been different change ups and different things he's thrown at us. And I think that's what makes him so great is he's not going to just do exactly what you saw the last time. And so I'm sure there'll be blitzes in the game, I'm sure there'll be times they play coverage. It's going to be a chess match and you want to go up against the best and he's one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL and it'll be a great challenge for us as an offense and as a football team. Okay, now I'll talk Lakers. Take a deep breath. I'll be fine. So the Lakers made a couple of moves, but they made another one last night to get a really talented kid that I didn't watch him in the NBA, just highlights. But I saw him at Duke. Named Mark Williams, big, athletic shot blocker, more defense than offense, has a nice little soft touch around the rim. That's what the Lakers needed, that's what the Lakers acquired. 23 years old, great future. And the warriors got Jimmy Butler. Get to that in a second. But I don't know if the Laker or Warrior moves make them championship teams. Feels more possible with the Lakers, but the new CBA in 2023 put up this Wall of fear. And a lot of teams didn't want to make moves, but who, who did? Last year the Celtics drew Holiday and Porzingis and the Mavs with Gafford and they went out and got PJ Washington and who ended up in the Finals? The Mavs and the Celtics. So this year, trading deadline, if you're not making moves, you feel like you're not, you're not progressive, you're not competitive, you're asleep at the wheel. I mean, Rob Polinka, let's be honest about this, got himself a five year new deal getting Luka without giving up Austin Reaves or a second number one pick and getting Mark Williams and again, not giving up Austin Reaves. And I don't know long term what Austin Reaves is going to provide with Luka and LeBron James, but I know this. Dallas was 29 and 23 last year at the trading deadline and then went 219 and ended up in the finals. So everybody was really, really with a new cba, a little self conscious, a little rigid, a little fearful on making big moves. Mav Celtics did and were rewarded. And I think the Lakers and the warriors did and will be rewarded. I think between Luka, Austin Reaves, a rim protector. The Lakers and Luka, I think, I think they went from old to young, athletic, they're still not great as a perimeter defensive team. They probably need another three point shooter. But the Lakers have literally changed the feel and the reality of their roster. Old to young and more dynamic. And that's a real thing in Los Angeles. Now in terms of Jimmy Butler, the Warriors, I said this, I think a month ago on the air, I said they got to make a move. If Steph's not on the floor, they're boring. And the one thing with the warriors, you didn't have to love them. They were never boring. And it's like he needs a number two star and he got it. And yes, they gave up Andrew Wiggins. They've been looking to move him for years. Yeah, they move, but you know what? They keep cominga they got Draymond. It's Steph. It's Jimmy Butler. Now, I don't know if this takes him to a new level, but the NBA's television ratings for the last three years have had a interesting problem. And this solves the interesting problem for the warriors and the Lakers, who by the way, every time they play on Christmas, every time Steph and LeBron play, it's the highest rated game in the regular season and it was this year. So Far. And now they both got more interesting. And whereas, you know, the NBA is doing a lot of things right, but it's getting more European. It's less reliant on familiar college basketball players.