← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd Podcast - Belichick Hall of Fame Snub? Super Bowl Preview, Sam Darnold’s Redemption Arc, LeBron Still Dominates At 41
00:59:53
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human new year.
- [00:05]
Jared Smith
Same extra value meals at McDonald's now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery, the volume. Sam Darnold slinging. Sammy D. Is the Louisiana hot sauce player of the week. You name him player of the year. He finished with 346 passing yards, three touchdowns. Seattle's win over the Rams. My guy Sam Darnold becomes the first quarterback from the 2018 draft class to make a Super Bowl. Yeah, the original Louisiana hot sauce stuff is so good. Peppers, vinegar, salt. I put it on chips, eggs, nachos, burger. I put it on everything. I'm having a cocktail. I knock some in there too. Hit any tailgate food with a bold handcrafted flavor of the original Louisiana hot sauce that is Louisiana hot bayou sub. All right. I'm not sure where it's going to go. We never do. It's Danny Parkins. So I'm going to throw this out. So when I used to take phone calls on my show, which was mostly ESPN days, then when I started doing it as a TV show and a radio show, I was like, TV shows don't take phone calls. But I for years. So I stopped taking them for a while on the Patriots because every single caller was, they're cheaters. So what has happened in America, Danny, is collective amnesia. So during the Patriots run, and I think I was the biggest pro Patriot supporter or defender during their run on national radio, obviously the Boston radio guys were mostly in support of it. There was Spygate one. They lost a first round draft pick and the coach was fined half a million dollars. That's pretty serious. That's like Houston Astros level. You're losing top picks. There was Spygate 2, which people forget about where they were fined and lost. And that was by the way, in like the 2021. It was a Bengals Browns game. They lost a third round pick. There was deflate gate where they were fined a million dollars and lost another first round pick. When you have three gates on your resume, it is reasonable. I said this today on the show. If you have three asterisks, I think it's reasonable to ask should we pause or collectively. Yet today it is viewed as outrageous. If we go, you know, how about a little punishment? Just wait for a year since, you know, Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs had to wait five years to be Eligible and still didn't get in in their first. So it's funny how the pendulum has swung American sports fans. Danny. They want a happy ending. We know that movies do tests. People don't like negative endings. They get furious with the Patriots when they get in the way of Super Bowls and great seasons and get in the way of their team. Spygate 2, Deflategate. But they also don't like when you get in the way of Belichick's hall of Fame voting. It's a sad ending because they don't want the turbulence. But it is as if there's a collective amnesia. Is that I literally. The whole dynasty, Kansas City, it was rigged. Their dynasty, because everybody loved Mahomes, so it's rigged. New England's dynasty is. They're just cheaters. And today, when you suggest one year, punishment's not the end of the world, people are outraged. It feels like collective amnesia to me.
- [03:59]
Colin Cowherd
So there's obviously a ton of wrinkles to this story. And there's no doubt collective amnesia. Like the same people who were outraged at the cheating are now outraged at the exclusion from the hall of Fame. That is obviously logically inconsistent. But I do think it was ridiculous that he didn't get into the Pro Football hall of Fame on the first ballot. And I will tell you why. In baseball, there is a morality clause. Yes, it is. Written into it, there are, like, instructions, impact on the game, accomplishments, morality, integrity of the game. The Pro Football hall of Fame, it just tells you who you can vote for. There is no guiding principle, by the way.
- [04:46]
Jared Smith
It's basically only fans with cleats and a helmet. You could do anything you want or not. There's no guidelines.
- [04:54]
Colin Cowherd
And I'm sure you voted for things in your career. Do you have a Heisman vote?
- [04:59]
Jared Smith
I used to. And I thought it was so provincial and tribal, it was ridiculous. I just said this is stupid.
- [05:06]
Colin Cowherd
Okay. But the Heisman Trophy vote, there's like, literally over a thousand people who vote for it.
- [05:11]
Jared Smith
Yeah.
- [05:11]
Colin Cowherd
So one vote is not that significant. Baseball, hall of Fame, a lot of people vote for it. Pro Football hall of fame, it's 50 people who vote.
- [05:21]
Jared Smith
I know.
- [05:22]
Colin Cowherd
So one vote is 2% of the electorate. Right.
- [05:26]
Jared Smith
That is crazy.
- [05:28]
Colin Cowherd
So. Exactly. So if you need 80%, that means you need 40 out of 50 people to agree. And I don't know if you've looked around the world recently, but we can't get 80% of people to agree on anything. So. So expecting anything to be unanimous is probably unreasonable in 2026. But the Pro Football hall of Fame. I think what has been cool about it is that it is the hardest hall of Fame to get into because of that. Like, it's, you know, guys have to wait years. There's a long jam at positions, there's coaches and contributors and then the first ballot guys and then the senior committee. But it all comes down to this, like five person off. It's very difficult hall of Fame to get in. But there is still some guys that just pass the test of. Since it is a meritocracy because there is no voting guidelines. Oh, Randy Moss's first ballot. He just. You say Randy Moss, he's first ballot. And I think Bill Belichick, for all of us, reached that threshold. Bill Belichick, most Super Bowls, most playoff wins, second most regular season wins. If he can't be first ballot, who is? And then you get the Bill Poley and nonsense of great journalists, say he was leading a campaign against them. And then he gets contacted and he's like, I honestly don't even remember who I voted for. And it's like, well, wait, you're 2% of the electorate and you claim you don't know who you voted for. That is obviously problematic. And then I don't know if you saw, he's a buddy of mine, Valhei Gregorian. He's the only person. And if I've missed it in the last hour, I apologize. But if you. It broke just before I went on the air at 5 Eastern. VAHE Gregorian posted his column in the Kansas City Star. He used to work for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Then he moved and worked for the Kansas City Star. So he's been a Midwest reporter and columnist his whole career. My friend Therese Paler, who wrote for the Star and Yahoo. Tragically passed away a few years ago at way too young of age. He had a Hall of Fame vote. When Therese passed, Vahe, Gregorian took the Kansas City vote and he posted a column I would vote. I forget what the headline was. Exactly. I want to get it. Want to get it. Exactly. I just want to have it correct. I remember the argument. I want to get the headline, Bill Belichick belongs in the hall of Fame, but here's why I didn't vote for him. And he said it didn't have anything to do with cheating. And his argument, which I do not agree with and he acknowledges in the column most people will not, was basically a procedural issue that now the coaching candidate, Belichick, the contribution candidate, Kraft, and the senior committee people, Elsie Greenwood, Roger Craig, Ken Anderson were all in the same pool, and you could only vote for three of the five. And Vaje's deductive reasoning was, well, these guys, he thought that Craig, Greenwood and Anderson all deserved to be hall of Famers and on the senior committee, it would be their last chance of being up because other people would come in behind him. So he wanted to take like a last stand for these guys. Now, I personally think that's ridiculous and not how I personally would vote. Because if they, if they made it to the senior committee, maybe they're not hall of Famers. Like, maybe they're right because they had to go through the whole normal process, the Eli Manning process that he just didn't get in all that. Vaje disagrees. I don't have a vote. He does. It's worth 2%. But so, but so. And he. So he argues in the column. He's like, you basically had Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick with the same accomplishments competing against each other. So I went with the senior committee guys and I at least respect that he came out and said why he did it, because everybody else seems to be running from the heat. And so if 11 people came out and said steroids were my issue, I want 11 people to stand on it. Instead we have one person saying, I voted for the senior committee guys because of a procedural issue and one person saying, I don't remember who I voted for. So that's just. It's not. You and I are logic guys. Your argument of collective amnesia is logical. My argument of, hey, this thing's a meritocracy. He's the best to ever do it. He has the most accomplishments, there's no morality clause. Put his ass in the hall of Fame. Like a one year punishment feels trivial or whatever. Like, I think both of our arguments are logical. And I just don't, I don't like that. No one is. No one has come out and said, yeah, he cheated, so I didn't vote for him. Still, that's ridiculous. We're just assuming, like on his behalf and with some reporting from Seth Wickersham and Van Nada, we're just assuming it's because of cheating. No one has said it's because of cheating yet.
- [10:43]
Jared Smith
Yeah, and I've said, I said today I would vote him in. I would have slept on it. If you have multiple asterisks, I think it deserves sleeping on it because I would take my vote very seriously. But I would have voted him in. But I get somebody who said, Spygate, Spygate, two deflategate, multiple draft picks, three different Times multiple. Like, I get it. Here's the other thing. Have we undervalued Kraft? There is this sense. Well, owners, it's just they're whimsy, they're impulsive. I don't know. Parcell's under. Kraft got to a Super bowl with Bledsoe, Belichick, Brady got to several. Vrabel, Drake, May. Okay, so Robert Kraft is responsible for a lot of Super Bowls. Jerry Jones, ego, Cleveland's, Jimmy Haslam's dysfunction. It seems to me lost in all of this is, you know, Kraft is the one owner that negotiates for the league with the TV networks. Meaning Roger Goodell selects one owner he trusts to call. Fox, cbs, Amazon, Netflix. It's Robert Kraft. Robert Kraft has now been to more Super Bowls than, like, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Lost in this is a sense of, well, it was a Brady Belichick, Super Bowl. Robert Kraft's probably. Probably the best owner in the league.
- [12:17]
Colin Cowherd
And I listen. I think that he deserves to get into the hall of Fame. I do, too, as well. And you mentioned other places that are dysfunctional. I don't know if he is excellent or if the billionaire class is just full of weirdos. Because the guy in Buffalo, Pegula. Yeah. He speaks at that press conference to justify the firing of Sean McDermott, and he's like, well, I didn't even consider firing him. And then we had a playoff game where we turned the ball over a bunch. I thought we won because of the catch. No catch call. And then I saw my guys crying in the locker room, so I fired the coach. Like, wait, you thought you won? Your quarterback was crying because he felt he let the team down. Yeah, your defense gave up a lot of points, but you also turned the.
- [13:14]
Jared Smith
Ball over a lot.
- [13:15]
Colin Cowherd
That led to quite a few of those points. Like, that's why you fired the coach. And it's weird because I actually think that what they did was totally reasonable. Like, in terms of the actions, promoting Joe Brady, young offensive guy, young play caller, familiarity with the quarterback, hiring a young defensive coordinator from the Broncos, younger minds, all that. I felt like that was. If Pula had never spoken, I'd be like, oh, yeah, good moves by Buffalo. But because he did, I'm like, well, there was no rhyme or reason to any of this. And we just. I do think that there are exceptions to the rule. Like, Robert Kraft is the exception. He seems to be exceptionally competent. Biscotti. When he spoke about the firing of John Harbaugh in Baltimore, he's. He seemed. Here's how I communicated it. Here's why I did it. Here's my plan. Here's why I was disappointed. And it was just like, oh, I get it. I get why that guy is great at what he does. But it seems like that's fewer and further between because you've met more billionaires than I have. They seem to be odd ducks.
- [14:22]
Jared Smith
Yeah, the.
- [14:22]
Colin Cowherd
I don't know that I. You know, like, if you're a tech billionaire, I don't know that that means that you are terribly qualified to run a basketball team or I don't know that the skills necessarily translate in all of these walks of life.
- [14:38]
Jared Smith
Well, it always feels to me if you own a local sports team, it's a public good. It's a public trust. It's different than owning a tech company. There is a responsibility to do well by your local citizenry. They're paying often some of the, you know, the bond payments. They're paying for some of the stadiums. They're paying enormous amounts to support your franchise. You know, very rarely does the owner, the billionaire owner, pick up the entire tab on a stadium. So, I mean, it's a public trust, a public good. So I think there's some really good owners, and I think there's a lot of egos. And, you know, we've discussed that before, is they're all billionaires now. They used to be hundred millionaires. And it's just different now. They're more impulsive and more willing to just blow stuff up. I mean, we had 10 coaching openings this year, and I think four of them came as a massive shock. It's like, what? So usually those, like one you're kind of surprised by. It's like almost half. You're like, what in the hell is going on? It really is interesting about when you look at the Patriots dynasty, and I've said this before, is men are great at starting things. Every guy's got a great pickup line, but we won't pick up the phone when we break up. We're terrible at endings. And Kraft, I mean, there was some bumps before this. Belichick has been really choppy. But you know who's ended really well? Brady. And my takeaway on all of this is, you know, I mean, you remember the. Where Kraft got caught up in a situation where massage parlor. You know, it was really, really bad. Tawdry. And then Belichick's been a bit of a mess in his personal life. Whatever. I'm not judgy on that. But lost in all of this is how effing great Tom Brady is. So Nobody would dispute that. Every great coach, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Walsh, Chuck Noel, they've all had a great quarterback. But if you take away that quarterback from their resume, they still win about 50% of their games. Bill Belichick's winning percentage is below Jerry Glanville. If you take out Brady, and I think the greatness of Brady is that it's almost how I consider my wife. She just takes care of everything in the house. She corrects things and solves things. They don't even get to me. That Brady, during that 20 year run, you never credit the president who avoids the disaster because you don't know about it. Right. I always said this. One of the things about Obama, when we went into that recession, it could have been a depression, but we somehow wiggled out of it. And you don't get credit for avoiding the depression because it never happened. Right.
- [17:36]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
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Jared Smith
And my wife, the household would be in disarray once a week if I ran it. She doesn't get credit for the disaster she avoids. Brady was so fundamentally sound, so detail oriented. There were almost no bumps. I mean, you go 20 years and did they have a three game losing streak? It was like it just never happened. That in all of this, Kraft, Belichick, Josh McDaniel, Brady, Charlie Weiss, you can take everybody. The one guy that comes out and you're like, man, he's doing better than ever. Is Tom Brady.
- [18:17]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, he seems to have his stuff together. Pretty, pretty, pretty accomplished guy. Pretty, pretty successful. The is it more Brady or is it more Belichick? Debate ended with Tom and Tampa. Yeah, right. Obviously it, it ended, but also.
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Jared Smith
We.
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Colin Cowherd
Should have just known a little better. Like, like Peyton Manning went to four Super Bowls with four different coaches.
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Jared Smith
Right?
- [18:49]
Colin Cowherd
Right. Because. Because he's Peyton Manning. You know what I mean? Like, there's a, there's a stratosphere of guys that like Mahomes obviously landed in a great situation. Got to sit for a year behind a very smart, very talented former number one overall pick in Alex Smith, who had been winning 10 or 11 games each year he got there. He has Andy Reid, great offensive mind, Travis Kelsey, Tyreek Hill. Everyone knows that he landed in a great situation. If Mahomes landed with the Bears, he wouldn't be Mahomes, but he'd be awesome. You know what I mean? Because he's that guy. Aaron Rodgers looked like he was kind of stalling out at the end with Mike McCarthy. Gets a little bit of new blood with, with Matt LaFleur. Two MVPs immediately because he's awesome. He's that guy. And so there's. Those guys are just in a different stratosphere of people. And we've talked about this before. Like, to me, the Andy Reid argument of why he is a better coach than Belichick, it's. He's never going to catch him in Super Bowls. But the number of different quarterbacks he.
- [19:59]
Jared Smith
Won with everybody that. Right.
- [20:01]
Colin Cowherd
That have had the best season of their career with Andy Reid, it's literally more than a handful. It's like Jeff Garcia's best year, Kevin Cobb's best year. Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith, Don Shula.
- [20:13]
Jared Smith
Got to a Super bowl with Marino, David Woodley and Earl Morrell.
- [20:18]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [20:18]
Jared Smith
Great coach. Great, like.
- [20:20]
Colin Cowherd
And so like the belt, like Belichick. It is a classic. When people talk about greatest of all time, I honestly hate the conversation because I think that they are talking about greatest trophy case of all time.
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Jared Smith
Right.
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Colin Cowherd
Like, I am much more interested personally in the. Who the best of all time. Who is the most talented of all time? Because great Brady is the goat in the common nomenclature. The best winner, the most trophies. But, like, is he actually more talented than Aaron Rodgers? I actually don't think that he is.
- [21:00]
Jared Smith
Like, so I.
- [21:01]
Colin Cowherd
The scouting talent of it. I don't think that he is.
- [21:05]
Jared Smith
Yeah. So remember, Tom was drafted in Major League Baseball. Tom's bigger athlete. He's six five, Aaron six, one and a half. He's a more committed athlete, like LeBron James. That matters, too. I've always argued that Tom, because of the combine, no shirt on picture, and because Tom's athletic gifts were not necessarily speed and twitchiness, that he gets knocked, it's. It's like I grew up with Johnny Bench. Johnny Bench was the best catcher for 15 years.
- [21:38]
Colin Cowherd
Yep.
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Jared Smith
Watching him lumber to second on a double was comedy. Like, I mean, it was. It was. You know, he'd been wearing the gear on an Astroturf field for years. It was a hard watch, but he was unbelievable. The best arm, the best catcher, incredibly twitchy. Hit for power, hit for clutch. They were different kinds of athletes. Like Michael Jordan, to me, does things because of his hand size and vertical. LeBron can't do. Nor Kobe. LeBron, because of his physicality, can do things. He's like a tight end in the NFL that Michael couldn't do. There's different levels of athleticism. Ja Morant has hops, but there's quickness, then there's speed. And so when I look at Brady, it's always like, he did get drafted by a Major League baseball team, and it should be noted in the pocket. Brady was one of the great movers of all time. He threw the best because of his torque. He's incredibly strong. Pound for pound, he threw the best snowball I've ever seen in my life. I mean, his ball cut through Foxborough wind and snow like no quarterback, including Josh Allen. I've never seen anybody throw a ball in snow and wind like Brady. So I always think his athleticism and so I always defend Brady. It can't all be who's got the biggest arm because Brady had a top six or seven arm, but he didn't have like Mahomes or Allen or, you know, Terry Bradshaw on his prime. He had a very good arm. He was drafted as a catcher in Major league Baseball. So, you know, I all these conversations like we were talking about today on the show, which I think is interesting, what do you do with Drake May now? It's like, oh wait, Drake May, like is like the most accurate and was number one on deep ball efficiency. And you're like. And he's really athletic. And what do I. Drake May is now a top. He's won 16 of 17 games. He's had like three bad halves in 17 games. So I think a lot of the drafting, if you've noticed this by the way, is that Drake May's got a stacked roster. Actually Bo Nix has a stacked roster. Caleb Williams has a stacked roster. Isn't it remarkable how good you look when you've got like eight offensive players who are good? And by the way, Josh Allen doesn't have a Pro Bowler on defense. He's off. He played from behind like multiple weeks played from behind. And I'm just rambling here, but I guess I'm defending Brady on that. There's this picture of the combine that he's not athletic. It's like, no, Jared, Jared Goff isn't that athletic.
- [24:11]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I think and listen that that is true and there are different kinds of athleticism and I am definitely guilty of it. The whatever Brady lacks in the mobility off schedule, like the play breaks down, but I can still make a play that Mahomes, Allen, you know, Rogers, that those guys that I'm talking about Caleb, that they can make he between the ears. You know, it's him and Peyton right as the greatest ever do it and that matters shitload at that position. It's just like, oh, well, that actually might be more valuable than everything. And it's like I do tend to underrate like or be late to come around on a guy like Brock Purdy. Who's like, okay, well, you were limited where you were drafted and physical and like, I don't think he's spectacular in the situation that he's in and all that. But it's like, well, damn, okay, he keeps putting up these numbers. There's something to he's pretty smart. He knows where to put the ball. And I'm not saying that Brock Purdy and Tom Brady are the same guy, but I do think that it's just like, it's a tougher trait to scout than 644-44-40 Rocket Arm who can throw it over a mountain. Like, those things are easier to scout than those guys. But I want to I agree with you, Tom Brady. Pretty successful guy.
- [25:43]
Jared Smith
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- [27:49]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, we just watched it.
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Jared Smith
Yeah, it was 90 minutes.
- [27:52]
Colin Cowherd
Entertaining.
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Jared Smith
It was good fun.
- [27:54]
Colin Cowherd
It was fine.
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Jared Smith
It's fine. And the critics came out and went, well. It did not elevate the genre. And I'm like, critics panned it. It wasn't an inspired effort. And I'm like, listen, not every hire is Sean McVeigh. Not every movie is Goodfellas. Like, if you're an artist and you can line up a streaming venture called RIP with your buddy Matt Damon, you do it and you get like a writer. You're like, not every. You know, there's, you know, wasn't it Van Gogh died poor and broke? We realized his talent later. Right. Like, we're late to a lot of things. And similarly, artists, sometimes they do stuff to just do stuff. They want to create movies. Not everything is a six year. Not everything is goodwill hunting, where you write it and rewrite it and rewrite it. And so my takeaway is defending the Steelers was, well, if you're not going to get John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski, he was with the Browns. He's not of you. Could it not be argued McCarthy's a B. I mean, you're not taking a risk. He. He had the number four offense with Cooper Rush starting five games and one receiver in CD Lamb at one point in Dallas. Is that in the media? I'm guilty of this. I'm looking for flashy fun and inspiring. So when it comes in a little flat, my soda is a little flat. I'm like, do you got a bottle? The gun, the club soda in the gun. It's not bubbly enough for me. And I kind of feel like it's actually probably a B plus higher and I'm being too hard on it.
- [29:37]
Colin Cowherd
So I listen. I haven't liked Mike McCarthy since the 242014 NFC Championship game. It's the worst coach game I've ever seen. And so I've held. I've held it against them. And kicking field goals from the one yard line, giving the ball to Eddie Lacy instead of Aaron Rodgers blowing it blown a 16 point lead in the fourth quarter.
- [29:59]
Jared Smith
It's just bad.
- [30:00]
Colin Cowherd
It's one of the, it's one I, I, it's like I think it's the worst coached managed game ever. I'm open to the possibility that I'm a little harsh on it. I do think only one ring with Rogers for the vast majority of his prime is underachieving. I do think that, you know the 6 and 9 record since the super bowl in the playoffs is uninspiring. Some losses as a big favorite in the playoffs are uninspiring. The game Dallas Green Bay a couple of years ago against Jordan Love notably comes to mind. I thought I, and I just, it felt like offensive Mike Tomlin high floor, low ceiling, underachieves in the playoffs.
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Jared Smith
That's what I said. The offensive version of Tomlin.
- [30:42]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. Okay. And like so we're, we were completely aligned and I just don't get why in this exact moment for them that's what they would want. The last time the Steelers had a losing record, they drafted Ben Roethlisberger. The next year they won 15 games. Two years later they won the Super Bowl. 1969 famous they're 1 in 13 tied with the Bears for the worst record in the NFL. Win a coin flip for the rights to draft Terry Bradshaw. Five years later they start the greatest run arguably in football history. Win four of six Super Bowls. Like what is the possible value with an old roster? That's expensive, that's defensive. Weighed in to try to entice 42 year old Aaron Rodgers to get the bands back together with a guy he underachieved with in his prime to grind out another nine or ten win season and a first round playoff exit. When to me you know better than I do. Everyone's saying next year's quarterback class is the quarterback class you want a lottery ticket in. I would be very interested in young coach with upside trading Jaylen Ramsey, trading T.J. watt, being playing Will Howard like being bad by design and bottoming out for like taking some draft capital so that you can move around with whatever you get for Watt and Ramsey and other guys being bad this year and taking your shot on a young quarterback next year. And Mike McCarthy's just not going to do that. It's just like because he is to your point, a B, he's too good, he's going to grind out depending on what you do at quarterback. Seven to 11 wins. And I just, there is value in being bad. No one wants to hear it, no one likes it. And in Pittsburgh. It's apparently like the worst thing you could possibly utter. But there is real value in being bad for a year. And I know you can miss out on a top five quarterback, but it's the only way to get a elite prospect at the position. And I just think now is so clearly the time for them to do it.
- [32:59]
Jared Smith
Can I throw this? It's not a theory. I love geography. I love maps. I study cities. I'm weird that way. I like that stuff.
- [33:08]
Colin Cowherd
Great.
- [33:09]
Jared Smith
So Pittsburgh is very unique in that it doesn't really have a region. So out. If I say west, you're like Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles. If I say the Rocky Mountains, you're like Denver. If I say the Midwest, you're like Chicago. If I say the east, you're like Philly, Boston, D.C. new York, Pittsburgh. Stuck. They don't really have a region. And there is a certain low self esteem that never being bad because they're overlooked. They're overlooked. Cleveland has a little bit of. This is Cleveland. I mean, if you ask some people in this country, what time zone is Pittsburgh in? People are like, if you go to the south, Nashville's the cool city, Atlanta's the big city. In the plains, it's Dallas. In the desert, Southwest, Scottsdale, it's Phoenix, Vegas. They don't really own anything. And so they suffer from a little bit of that sort of. They've been overlooked. They're not. I mean, Philadelphia still can say we win more than New York and Boston, as we have greater history. And New York, we're richer and D.C. we're more powerful. And Pittsburgh, we put French fries on our sandwiches. And so I do feel there's this thing like we don't want to bow them out because our ceiling's limited. We don't want to bottom out. And they've always sort of had this. We don't want to be terrible. Like that's just something that you could just talk anybody in. I don't know. I've always felt like Pittsburgh and I don't know, I've been to Pittsburgh twice. I've always felt it's one of those cities that kind of feels overlooked. That's why it's almost absurdly prideful that they would hire a Pittsburgh guy. Because nobody loves Pittsburgh like Pittsburgh. And they're incredibly prideful. And that's a wonderful thing. Does that make any sense?
- [35:11]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, listen. Some of it, like the low self esteem part, I think Pittsburgh people would push back on. Sure. Because they would see it as just civic pride.
- [35:21]
Jared Smith
They love it.
- [35:21]
Colin Cowherd
They're so. They're so proud. Right? They're yinzers. And, and listen, I mean, I have a dear friend who. Andrew Filip, who crushes it and his afternoons there and has had opportunities to move to bigger cities.
- [35:32]
Jared Smith
No, he's great.
- [35:34]
Colin Cowherd
And he says, you know, he's like, you know, he's a New York area, upstate guy. But he, he's like, I moved here, I met a girl, fell in love, Big fish, small pound, crushes it. Go and visit him. Good cost of living, improving food scene, wild about their sports. He's wildly happy, has a great time. There's. He was just in town this weekend for his 40th in New York, but it's just there. They love their sports so much. But what's weird about the football team is they say, I mean, I watched the whole Mike McCarthy press conference. They. We got to get that seventh trophy. You know, Mike Tomlin, the standard is the standard. They talk about excellence and they talk about this and they talk about the seventh trophy. But their actions are what you're talking about. Their actions. Like I, Willie Cologne, I sit next to him every day on First Things first in the ot and I run this theory by him. I'm like, they should be bad this year. Like, by design. He's like, they'll. No one will go for it. Like we had. He booked Ben Roethlisberger for us today. He's like, rebuild is a. It's a swear word amongst dealers. He's like, he's like, I talk about build. You can't even say rebuild and that. I think part of it is Mike Tomlin's identity came into that. I mean, right. He's there for 19 years, never has a losing season. It's the first thing that people say about him. So it becomes kind of the identity of the fan base. But, like, it's. That's not that valuable if you don't win in the playoffs.
- [37:05]
Jared Smith
It's not valuable at all. It's quicksand.
- [37:07]
Colin Cowherd
Right. Because, like, it's there. Well, because. Well, some people would say the goal is get into the tournament and then take your chances. But that's more of a baseball argument because of, you know, 162 games and then you play a best of five. The worst team can beat the better team. Football's all single elimination, so if you get in as a wild card team with the worst quarterback and have to play on the road, you're probably going to lose. Yeah. And so badly. Yeah. And then like, turn around and be like, ah, I Guess we got to draft Kenny Pickett, like, you know, and they. And he was from. From Pittsburgh, like, went to pit. And so I think that that part, like, yeah, I could not care less that Mike. That Mike McCarthy is a Yinzer like that. That. That would disqualify him. Like, if. Like, if that's one of the first things people say about. Is, like, yeah, he grew up a Steelers fan. Like, that doesn't mean anything like that. Just it's. That is not. That's not going to help you win games. So I personally hated the hire, but like you, it is partly media buys, partly easier to say, but I would be fine risking the strikeout to take the swing on the home run. And I just think Mike McCarthy is such a safe single, and especially at this, like, exact moment in time with the draft, with no quarterback option in house with Aaron Rodgers At 42 years old, the Steelers should try to be the worst team in football next year. Like, that's. That's what they should try to do. Can't say it publicly, just do it, but do it through your actions. Try to be the worst team in football, and there's no way you will be with Mike McCarthy.
- [38:39]
Jared Smith
So as I'm watching the Bulls, and LeBron's the best player on the floor for the first quarter and then the second best player for the rest of it, and he's in his 40s, and I sat there and I thought it reminded me of Brady.
- [38:54]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, yeah.
- [38:54]
Jared Smith
When Brady quit, retired, it's not because he wasn't great. He was still a top five or six quarterback. In fact, I would argue until maybe a year or two ago, he still would have been a top 10 quarterback. He quit because of some personal stuff. Otherwise, I think Tom would have just kept playing. And I'm watching LeBron, who physically can still bully his way to 18 points easily. He's just. I mean, if you've ever been next to LeBron, I have multiple times. He is so big and so strong, and this league is young and skinny and European, and he can just literally, because he's such a great ball handler, he's a 1980s power forward who dribbles like a point guard.
- [39:34]
Colin Cowherd
So he's a freak of nature. He's. He's arguably the greatest athlete ever produced. It's just ridiculous. Yeah.
- [39:39]
Jared Smith
So he could play for another five years and average at least 16 a game. And I. And I've said this before to my wife, I can talk until I'm 80 and make really good money. I. At some point, vanity Takes over and I will want to protect. I don't. I don't want to be on the air and literally, I mean, I need cue cards. My teeth are falling out. My prostate comes right down my right leg onto the floor. Like, I don't want that to happen.
- [40:06]
Colin Cowherd
Graphic.
- [40:07]
Jared Smith
Yeah. So my point being is you do start protecting your legacy. But I think it's harder than people think that. I'm watching LeBron and I'm like, he's in the arena. He's the most popular player in the arena. I mean, like, flashbulbs.
- [40:24]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, yeah. He's everywhere. He goes.
- [40:26]
Jared Smith
He's the best player on the floor for portions of the game in the first half. LeBron, I love you. Throw this, throw that. I think it's a lot harder to retire for the Brady's and the LeBron. It's. It's easy for me to say, bro, hang it up. I'm at that game. I'm watching it. These are pro athletes. They're young and twitchy. He's better than all of them, except Luca. Yeah, yeah.
- [40:57]
Colin Cowherd
And I mean, and this is, like, very reductive. And I have stood next to LeBron a couple times, but I do not know him at all. He loves basketball. Like, he's like, oh, man, I am now the. Whatever. Let's call him the 17th best player in the league just to pick a random number. That.
- [41:20]
Jared Smith
That's probably close.
- [41:21]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. But, like, but maybe he would hear that and think that that's insulting. I have no idea. Last year he was 6th in MVP voting. So he's 6th and 25th. Right. Whatever. He. I mean, he was still. I don't know if Team USA wins the gold medal without LeBron James at the 2024 Olympics. Like, he is still awesome. And you love basketball and you get paid $50 million to play the game. Plus, it is a springboard for everything else in your life. I don't know why. Why, why, why quit? Like, why, why quit? I don't really see any reason to do it. Like, people are like, I wonder if Matt Stafford is going to come back. And I know he talked about retirement. Last year. He just led the league in touchdowns and yards.
- [42:08]
Jared Smith
Well, at least with him, he gets tackled.
- [42:11]
Colin Cowherd
Sure. Yeah, that I could. Sure, absolutely. By the way, it's reasonable to say uncle and stop at any point. You don't want to do the travel, you don't want to do the media. You don't want to do the ice baths. You don't want to, you know, Dave McManaman who covers LeBron pretty closely. I heard that he was like, lebron James stopped drinking during his rehab. I haven't LeBron. He has a tequila company. He likes expensive wine. Like maybe he just decides he doesn't want to quit drinking to rehab injuries anymore. Like it would be a totally reasonable stance for a billionaire to be like, I want to just be a billionaire. But he's still awesome. So he continues to do it and like that. To stop playing a game that you love that's giving you everything when you're still one of the best at it, you know it'd be hard.
- [43:00]
Jared Smith
With a big game coming up. We're all about enjoying the moment without paying for it the next day. Whether I'm hosting, friends, jamming, cheering from the couch, heading to a watch party, I want to be fully present and still feel good in the morning. For me, that means planning ahead, especially if I want to have a few drinks. My simple trick Start the night with ZBiotics Pre alcohol ZBiotics Pre alcohol Probiotic drink the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's a buildup of this byproduct, not dehydration, that's actually to blame for rough days after drinking. So pre alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to make pre alcohol your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly. You'll feel your best tomorrow if you're planning to enjoy the big game without sacrificing your productivity the next day. ZBiotics pre alcohol as you cover, start your night with pre Alcohol. Wake up ready to show up for work the next day? Go to ZBiotics.com preoccupied Colin 15% off your first order if you use Colin at checkout. Backed by 100% money back guarantee, no risk. Subscriptions are also available for maximum consistency. Go to zbiotics.com Colin use my name at checkout 15% off. The Seahawks are the second youngest team. They'll be a little tight for the Super Bowl. They'll be a little bit tight. My guess is whereas The Patriots spent 250 million-plus in free agency, they're older in some spots. Defensive line, they're a little older. You know, Stefan Diggs is a little older. They're a little old. Variables Been here before. Josh McDaniels has been here multiple times that I think if there was a team that would be a little tight. It would be the younger first time for Darnold Mike McDonald. It would be the, it would be the Seahawks.
- [44:56]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [44:57]
Jared Smith
The other thing that I think is absolutely true and you saw this with Miami and Indiana in the natty. When you tell young athletes you may get blown out. Miami's first two series against Indiana, they literally bloodied the lip of Mendoza. They were like late hits after the it was so clear Mario Cristobal had said nobody respects you. They played angry for about a half hour and eventually kind of won the war in the trenches. But Mendoza made the plays. And I look at this and I think, I think I may pick New England to win. Less pressure won 16 of 17 older team really get. You're really playing the underdog is such. Remember the dynasty started with Brady being a 14 point dog to the team that everybody love. Everybody wants Seattle to win. So there's that kind of, there's a little bit of a pressure on Seattle. You're the favorite and you're the popular team and you look like not only a favorite, you're really more, you are more athletic. If you put in the tape of both, one is just wow and one is well, they're really efficient. I really think, I really think New England's going to be trouble for Seattle.
- [46:19]
Colin Cowherd
Listen, I there you know it opened at three and a half and you know it went up to four and a half and maybe it'll hit five by game time. I bet Seattle immediately. I bet it as soon as championship Sunday ended at three and a half. And so I got, I got the good number. I think that they are better top to bottom and I think yes, I think they're better top to bottom and I think that they are more tested. Like they came through the NFC west. They, New England came through this crazy easy schedule in the AFC east. And I think New England loses if Bo Nicks doesn't break his ankle. And I think New England maybe loses to Houston if CJ Stroud doesn't play the worst football game anyone's played in town. Like I, I so I, I personally that is not to say that I think that they are a fluke. I would buy all this. I love Drake May coming out of North Carolina. When I first saw him play a game against D, I argued on Chicago radio. I was like Caleb's the guy. But the debate should be Caleb or Drake, not Caleb or Jaden. Like I love Drake May think he'll be a star. This is not an anti him thing at all. I just Personally think that they, A lot of things have happened where they are. Like the team that is a year too early, that woke up in the.
- [47:38]
Jared Smith
Super bowl just they do feel like they're a draft away from being final. Seattle is ready to go in New England. Their offensive line is a still a major work in progress.
- [47:50]
Colin Cowherd
Correct. And so I just, I think that this is, which is like a, it's a very unfair. If I'm a Patriot fan listening to this, I'm like, well, screw you, man. Like, that's like an unfair thing to say because we are in the Super Bowl. But again, it just A lot of things broke your way. That happens. It's single elimination football. It's pro sports. But like, you played the easiest schedule. You had a path to the super bowl that was difficult in terms of the caliber of defenses you played. And by the way, your quarterback did struggle against those defenses. He kept fumbling a lot. He's got six fumbles in the playoffs, three loss, three recovered. I think it's just, hey, you're a little fortunate to be here. Whereas I think Seattle all year number one in blowouts, number one in point differential. Only team that finished top three offense and top three defense blew out San Francisco in the first playoff game. Like they have just been, you know, go wire to wire with the Rams again in another like week 16, 38, 37 heavyweight fight classic. The championship game against the Rams. 3127 championship fight classic. They are more battle tested and they have more impressive blowout margin of victory. Oh, we are in a different class of you games than New England has had this year. So I, I, I'm with the favorites and it looks like I'm with the public. The concern for me, like when you're talking about like soft factors and confidence is Sam Darnold went from we don't trust you at all in any big games to oh, wow, good for you. You just had the best game of your life and the biggest game of your life and now for two weeks, that's all any he's like, well, say we, you can't doubt Sam Darnold, can't doubt Sam Donald anymore. Sam Darnold and like throw a first quarter interception and you know, all of a sudden like I'd be a little concerned about, about that again. But I do think Seattle is the better team and I think a lot of stars have aligned. Like New England to me feels like they should have made it to the divisional round of the playoffs.
- [50:07]
Jared Smith
Yeah.
- [50:07]
Colin Cowherd
This year. And they're in the Super Bowl. So, hey, they can win it, no doubt. But I still think Seattle is like, you play this game 10 times, I think Seattle wins seven of them.
- [50:16]
Jared Smith
Yeah, I do too. I, I, I, I do too. I'm just, I'm, you know, again, it's really early, but if the number goes to five, I'm like, that's a lot of points. That, that's a lot.
- [50:26]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, it's a, yeah, it is. Is a lot of points.
- [50:31]
Jared Smith
I asked Albert Brer today. I said Tom Brady was available on the market in 2020. Was it 2020? Yeah, it was 2020, wasn't it?
- [50:43]
Colin Cowherd
You mean before Tampa?
- [50:45]
Jared Smith
Right before Tampa. He was on the market for the, for the league.
- [50:48]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [50:49]
Jared Smith
And two teams, Chargers, Bucks, were aggressively after him. Four year later, four years later, he was the fifth best quarterback still in the league. Darnold was available to the market, and Breer's like, yeah, Minnesota and Seattle were it. And I'm like, the hell? Trust your eyes, Brady Darnold. You're trying to make inexperienced small quarterbacks franchise guys. And he said, early evaluations die hard in this league. And so here's my question. Darnold wins the Super bowl, where do you put him in the league? What the hell do I do with Darnold since his benching in Carolina, if you go back to that year, 2022, he gets benched in Carolina for the first time in his career. November 27, he gets his job back. From that moment until today, he is the winningest quarterback in the league, percentage wise, and the most 100 passing outings, percentage wise. Like, okay, we've got now four teams, four years, he wins the Super Bowl. What the hell do we do with Sam Darnold?
- [52:05]
Colin Cowherd
I think so. A couple things. I think you, it'd be very difficult to put him in, like, tier one. Like, if you're going to, if it's going to be Mahomes Allen, Lamar Stafford, like, if that is your, like your top five that I think most people agree on, between talent and accomplishments and all that, I think it's very, very, very difficult to say with one ring. Stafford gets in there, even though obviously Lamar Burrow and Josh have no rings. But again, this goes back to our earlier conversation. It's not just about who won the ring. It's got to be, there's got to be a blend of all of it. But then I think that, like, it can be a personal preference game between 6 and 12. When you talk about Drake May, Dak Prescott, Caleb Williams. Yeah, Justin. Justin Herbert, you know, like, I think that, I think it's totally reasonable for if he, if he wins the super bowl and has a great game for you to put Sam Darnold into that conversation of player, which is a remarkable come up. Like from what you, like from what you crazy. And the other thing, because I did this on the show on the Monday after championship Sunday, we, You're right. First impressions die hard. It's a good way to say it, but if you actually do go back and look at it, it's like, man, we labeled this kid a bust because at 21, 22 and 23 years old with Todd Bowles and Adam Gase, he wasn't able to save the New York jets, right? And then it's like, oh, well, then he gets a, he gets, he gets to go to that really stable great quarterback factory of championship Carolina Panthers with Matt Rule. And he got a year before they brought in the one quarterback in his class, Baker, drafted in front of him. And so Baker, you know, he plays six games and then it's backup for Kyle Shanahan, backup for Kevin o', Connell, but fortuitous injury and first time he has, first time he gets to play for a real head coach with real weapons. With real weapons, he wins 14 games. Well, it's like, so I've been trying to think about who is that instructive for? I think Daniel Jones. It's instructive for. And while I am not the biggest fan, and I know you probably aren't either because of size, if I'm Kyler Murray's agent, I'm like, hey man, I, my guy's got talent. But like, can give, give him something? Don't bet, bet on the talent. Like, is the Sean Watson done? Like, I, I, I think so. Obviously that brings in a different whole host of issues, but like if Sam Donald, Sam Donald's 28 years old, if he wins his first Super bowl at 28 and he has back to back 14 win seasons with back to back 4,000 yards. Matt Stafford didn't win a Super bowl till he was 34. Like, we could be talking about top 10 quarterback Sam Darnold for the next decade.
- [55:35]
Jared Smith
Well, yeah, and Seattle, because they draft so well, they're not paying anybody. I mean, jsn, they're not paying any of these guys. I mean, Charles cost the left tackle, Gray Zabel's not getting paid. Most of their defense isn't getting paid. Witherspoon's not getting paid. I'm in worry. The safety's not getting paid. Like DeMarcus Lawrence has been a.
- [55:58]
Colin Cowherd
Like.
- [55:59]
Jared Smith
A wildly dynamic player for his age, but when you have a great general manager, the truth is you can pay the quarterback a little more and you don't have a regression on roster. Like that's the problem with the Bills. They haven't drafted well enough defensively.
- [56:13]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. Or period. Yeah, they. And like there's a big difference between paying a quarterback 65 million and 35 million. I can do the math. It's about $30 million. You know, that's, that's two real starters. Like so Sam Darnold is a bargain for because. Yeah, the best way to do it is if you could have. Drake may be a superstar on a rookie contract, but the next best way to do it is to do it this way, to have top 10 level production. But pay him the, the whatever. He is the 15th or 18th highest paid quarterback in football. So he set up for a long time and we just, we all do it, but we, oh, 22 year old kid goes to dysfunctional franchise, plays for three years. Two years didn't save him. You must stink. Like for some guys, I'm sure for some guys it's obviously true. But the guys to your point who are mobile, are big, have a big arm like that, have all of the traits and don't seem to be like complete knuckleheads should probably not sell all of our stock in those players. And so I think, again, I think Daniel Jones is a pretty good example of that.
- [57:26]
Jared Smith
Finally, my first winner in Chicago. Doesn't really bother me. I've come to the conclusion if it's like 25 or up, I'm fine. If it's in the teens and a little windy, it's brutal. But it's remarkable watching the reaction everybody in Chicago comes up to me and goes, how do you like your first winner here? And I'm like, I bought a coat. I'm okay.
- [57:49]
Colin Cowherd
Like it's not good for you. Yeah, good for you. I heard you though on tv. When, like the last weekend or whatever when it was getting.
- [57:55]
Jared Smith
It was a little cold.
- [58:00]
Colin Cowherd
Trust me. We got 18 inches of snow out here in New York and it was real cold. So like it builds character. But it's still cold. So you're still allowed to say it's cold. But that's the thing. Like when it's cold, there's football on. I want to be inside. Anyway. How did you watch football when you could be golfing on the beach? It's like I would, I would, I would just, I'd be Inside watching football anyway.
- [58:21]
Jared Smith
Well, I, I think I've, I've said this. The HUD levels are much higher in lousy weather. If you go to Seattle and Minneapolis and Chicago and Wisconsin and Philadelphia and Boston. Jerry Seinfeld always used to talk about the comedy jet stream.
- [58:37]
Colin Cowherd
It's.
- [58:37]
Jared Smith
People read more. They get the joke faster in those cold weather cities. Phoenix is not funny, it's obnoxious. Boston's funny, it's cranky. There is something to be said about the weather forces you indoors and you become more passionate fans. Buffalo, 100%. It's nothing against Phoenix and Houston, but you can go outside. I mean, it's just, why stay indoors and watch TV in the spring?
- [59:01]
Colin Cowherd
We've talked about this in sports talk radio markets, like the places that get the highest ratings, that have the. They're all cold weather cities. All of them. Yeah. Like, you know, the ticket in Dallas gets big numbers or whatever. The total outlier, like every other warm weather city. It's like, do you even care? Do you even care? You're, you're, you're out playing tennis, you're out golfing, you're out like living like a cultured, well rounded life. I have no time for that.
- [59:27]
Jared Smith
And also people that live in Chicago and Philly and Seattle choose to live here. That's right. Like a lot of people live in Florida. No state tax. And it's good for your arthritis. Like, not everybody loves it or the teams. Right?
- [59:40]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. No, no, no, no question. You, yeah, it's like you're in Phoenix and you're like, is that a Charlotte Hornets jersey? Like, what is going on? Yeah, no, we definitely, we're from these places and we choose to live in these places. So there's a tremendous amount of civic pride that comes with it. Kansas City, Milwaukee, Buffalo.
- [59:58]
Jared Smith
Oh, my God.
- [59:59]
Colin Cowherd
Like all those places, they're, they're crazy about their teams and that's why, that's why they're my people.
- [60:06]
Jared Smith
All right, buddy, that was fun.
- [60:09]
Colin Cowherd
The volume.
- [60:13]
Jared Smith
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- [60:43]
Colin Cowherd
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