Hour 2 – Dysfunctional Bears & Deion’s Impact

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd Episode: Hour 2 – Dysfunctional Bears & Deion’s Impact
Release Date: November 29, 2024
Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Introduction

In the second hour of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," hosts Colin Cowherd and John Middlekauff delve deep into the recent turmoil surrounding the Chicago Bears and explore the transformative impact of Deion Sanders on the Colorado Buffaloes football program. The discussion spans organizational dysfunction in the NFL, leadership changes, and the broader implications for team performance and culture.

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1. Dysfunctional Chicago Bears

The episode opens with breaking news about the Chicago Bears' drastic decision to fire head coach Matt Eberflusse following a disappointing game against the Detroit Lions.

• Matt Eberflusse's Firing:

  • John Middlekauff [04:09]: "The Bears are firing Matt Eberfusse less than an hour after a disastrous performance against the Lions—the first mid-season firing in franchise history."

• Organizational Dysfunction:

  • Colin Cowherd [05:14]: "You cannot outperform dysfunction. It’s like being in an abusive relationship where dysfunction is undefeated."
  • The hosts discuss how persistent dysfunction at the organizational level hampers any potential success, regardless of coaching changes or player acquisitions.

• Comparison with Other Teams:

  • Cowherd [10:45]: "Looking at the New York Jets, no matter who you bring in, the dysfunction ensures a miss. This isn't unique to the Bears—organizations like the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants face similar issues."
  • The conversation highlights that teams with entrenched dysfunction often cycle through coaches and players without achieving sustained success.

• Quotes Highlighting the Issue:

  • Cowherd [06:32]: "Dysfunction has always been undefeated. You cannot get positive results unless you address the root causes from the top."
  • Middlekauff [05:32]: "It's not just about Matt Eberflusse. The Bears have been dysfunctional for a long time, and this is another symptom of a deeper problem."

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2. Deion Sanders’ Impact on Colorado Buffaloes

Shifting focus, the hosts celebrate Deion Sanders' influential role in revitalizing the Colorado Buffaloes football program.

• Transformative Leadership:

  • Cowherd [11:22]: "Deion Sanders has brought something unprecedented to Colorado. His leadership has transformed the team's culture from the ground up."

• Building a Winning Culture:

  • Middlekauff [12:07]: "Considering Dan Campbell's success with the Detroit Lions, Sanders has similarly fostered a culture of resilience and excellence at Colorado."

• Sustained Success and Recruitment:

  • Cowherd [34:46]: "The fact that others are trying to replicate Sanders' approach speaks volumes about his effectiveness. His ability to connect with players and build a cohesive team is unmatched."

• Quotes Emphasizing Sanders' Unique Approach:

  • Cowherd [16:01]: "Organizations can't replicate what Deion has done. It's lightning in a bottle—unique and unmatched."
  • Middlekauff [35:03]: "Deion built his plan around his children, creating a staff that's been with him for over a decade. This stability is key to his success."

• Future Outlook:

  • Cowherd [35:36]: "With Sanders at the helm, Colorado is poised to compete in college playoffs within the next few years. His strategic vision and commitment are setting the stage for long-term success."

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3. Heisman Trophy Race: Travis Hunter vs. Ashton Gentee

The discussion transitions to the Heisman Trophy race, focusing on Travis Hunter from Colorado and Ashton Gentee from Boise State.

• Current Standings and Performances:

  • Middlekauff [26:23]: "Travis Hunter is leading the race with a significant margin, but Ashton Gentee is still in the conversation."
  • Cowherd [27:19]: "While Gentee has impressive stats, Hunter's overall performance and impact make him the frontrunner."

• Future Prospects:

  • Middlekauff [29:18]: "Despite Gentee's efforts, the odds heavily favor Hunter winning the Heisman."
  • Cowherd [27:46]: "Hunter is the best college football player in America. His trajectory aligns with historical Heisman winners who have dominated statistically."

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4. Tom Brady’s Criticism of Daniel Jones

In a lighter segment, the hosts discuss Tom Brady's recent comments criticizing Daniel Jones' handling of his release from the New York Giants.

• Brady’s Remarks:

  • Tom Brady [46:29]: "To think that you would ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than I would have handled that."

• Implications for Quarterbacks:

  • Cowherd [49:21]: "Players like Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith have shown that there is life after being labeled a bust, but not everyone can bounce back the way Brady has."

• Impact on Team Dynamics:

  • Middlekauff [50:03]: "Daniel Jones' public frustration highlights the pressures quarterbacks face and the instability within teams."

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Conclusion

Colin Cowherd and John Middlekauff provide a comprehensive analysis of the Chicago Bears' ongoing struggles, emphasizing the detrimental effects of organizational dysfunction. In contrast, Deion Sanders' successful overhaul of the Colorado Buffaloes serves as a beacon of hope and a case study in effective leadership and culture-building. The episode also touches on broader topics within the NFL, including the Heisman Trophy race and internal team dynamics influenced by high-profile players like Tom Brady.

Notable Quotes:

• Cowherd [05:14]: "You cannot outperform dysfunction. It’s like being in an abusive relationship where dysfunction is undefeated."
• Middlekauff [12:07]: "Considering Dan Campbell's success with the Detroit Lions, Sanders has similarly fostered a culture of resilience and excellence at Colorado."
• Cowherd [16:01]: "Organizations can't replicate what Deion has done. It's lightning in a bottle—unique and unmatched."
• Brady [46:29]: "To think that you would ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than I would have handled that."

This episode offers valuable insights into the critical role of leadership and organizational culture in sports, juxtaposing the Chicago Bears' internal challenges with the Colorado Buffaloes' rise under Deion Sanders.

Transcript

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[Colin Cowherd]

This is the Best of the Herd.

[John Middlekauff]

With Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. It's the Herd, Fox Sports Radio. Levar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin. You can listen to the show on the iHeartRadio app and you know, you can always find this show on hundreds of affiliates all across the country. As we embark to the second hour of this show here, we were wondering, all right here on a Black Friday.

[Colin Cowherd]

Dang, how'd you say it? What type of Friday?

[John Middlekauff]

Black Friday Tang.

[Colin Cowherd]

Or as Rob Parker would say, what would he say?

[John Middlekauff]

And by the way, this is Rob and I jokes, just everybody's clear.

[Colin Cowherd]

Oh, no. As Rob Parker would say, black Friday. Well, I don't know about you, but every Friday is Black Friday for me. Oh, my gosh.

[John Middlekauff]

Which I have to. I owe him a text later because that's, that's our yearly tradition. But we were waiting to see whether or not there was going to be any news out of the NFL following the games yesterday. We've got another one coming up later on that. We're going to get into the Raiders and the Chiefs at some point. And the news is not great for Matt Eberflusse. He was fired by the Chicago Bears less than an hour ago after that disaster of a performance by the Bears towards the end of that game against the Detroit Lions yesterday. So the first time in the history of the franchise the Bears are firing a head coach in season. And here's the best part about that whole story.

[Colin Cowherd]

What's the best part? Gee, the best part how about the.

[John Middlekauff]

Fact that they let Matt Eberf loose, do a zoom call with the media and then fired him after the zoom call with the media.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, we're in. We're in showbiz. We're in showbiz. They tell you let them finish the show before you let them go. They gonna fire you before the show. Cause even though you got one more.

[John Middlekauff]

Show to do, he shows up, they.

[Colin Cowherd]

Gonna hit you after you're done.

[John Middlekauff]

He shows up to talk to the media on the zoom call. And the media's like, are you planning on being the coach? And Matt Eberflu says, yeah, listen, I'm. I'm planning. Operations are normal. I'm going to be the head coach as we get ready for San Francisco. And then like an hour and a half later, the Bears like, hey, Matt, you got a second?

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

[John Middlekauff]

Riverside.

[Colin Cowherd]

Riverside. Look, you could get an early start on your. Your holiday gift shopping, your. Your vacation time. Like, you know, you. We're going to go in a different direction.

[John Middlekauff]

Heck, man. I mean, Keenan Allen, I thought, had the most telling statement following the game yesterday when he said the following. I felt like we as players put ourselves in a position to win as players. When you separate that fam.

[Colin Cowherd]

Not us as a team, like us as players.

[John Middlekauff]

Malik Neighbors probably saw that and went like, damn, that's pretty good. I should use that the next time I air out the organization or my head coach. But it's just not a great situation. It wasn't a great situation. And now the conversation becomes, where do you. Where do you turn to next? And. And look, Jim Harbaugh wanted the job last year. Like, that's. I mean, like, everybody's known that. Like, that's one of his. That was one of his spots. Yeah, because he. They drafted him, and so that was an opportunity. And now they're going to be looking to try and bring somebody else in, and they're going to go with Thomas Brown, the OC there. I just. You hope. And we talked a little bit with Albert Breer about this last hour. Like, you would hope that they don't do the whole. Well, last coach was a defensive coach. Now we're going to do an offensive coach, and now we're going to. But it just feels like with this organization, and you've talked about it with the jets, dysfunction is your MVP dysfunction. And there is dysfunction.

[Colin Cowherd]

You cannot outperform dysfunction. I would challenge anyone who's listening to us have a conversation. How many times have you seen in an organization, a business, a relationship, anything, anything that you want to take a look at, of real substance that you're looking for an ROI on it, whether it be love, whether it be revenue, you know, money, whatever it is. Where have you ever seen success and skill and talent and even love, whatever it may be? When have you ever seen it outperform dysfunction? And listen, I lived in it as a player, and you start to try to make sense of it. It's almost like an abusive relationship when you're in a place that is so dysfunctional, because there's two ways of looking at it. One is self preservation, so you don't subscribe to all of the elements that play a part in what that dysfunction is. And you stay to yourself. You do your job to the best of your ability, and you try to keep that healthy amount of distance and space between where the dysfunction is coming from. But that doesn't help to cure or solve the dysfunction. And you're not going to get that person's best foot forward in those situations. Just not going to happen. Then there's the other side of it, where it's like, and you may have heard this before, I can fix it. That's the biggest. The biggest one, right, is they need me. This job needs me. This team needs me. This, this relationship needs me. Whatever it is, I can fix it. And. And that, to me, is where it goes so wrong. And it has that, it has that abusive feel. It's like, why didn't you leave? Why, why didn't you say anything? Because I thought I could fix it. And you know what? It has always been undefeated. Dysfunction has always been undefeated. You cannot get positive results. You can't get positive outcomes. If there is dysfunction at the level that we see it at with some of these organizations, it's just not possible. So you can't sit there and say you're, you're confused or you're surprised that this is why what happened, or you already know. If you can look at an organization like the New York jets, it's a dysfunctional organization. I don't care who you have as a coach. I don't care who you draft as the players. I don't care who you get as free agencies, as the players. It's going to be a miss. Some way, somehow, there's going to be a miss. So my challenge, or what my sentiments would be, when you look at what the Bears have done and they've been dysfunctional for some time now, but now you have hope and Caleb Williams as a franchise guy, My challenge would be as an organization, as an owner of the organization, as the leads of the organization. You have to take a look at what your culture is. And at the top, you have to address what the dysfunctional aspects and components of what you bring to the table. The Dallas Cowboys, even right now, with an organization that's been so historically amazing, in the New York Giants, they got to take a look at what that dysfunction has become and the culture that is created on the way down, all the way to your players that are going on the field. I'm watching it take place in Washington right now where there is a collective idea and body and belief that from the top. If they can change the culture of what this organization is from ownership and bring excitement and bring hope and bring belief and buy in and a connection to not only your employees within the building and the players, but also with the community itself in a very real way. You can indeed change the culture of. It doesn't happen overnight, doesn't happen quickly, but you can change the culture. These teams, the biggest issues are at the top and they're not being addressed because, well, why would you address yourself? Sometimes that's the hardest thing to do, is to find yourself in a situation where you have to address yourself and you'll find out which one of these, you know, which teams are doing that. Seems like Detroit did that, like, hands off.

[John Middlekauff]

Yep.

[Colin Cowherd]

We let, we let Dan Campbell come in. He came in with a very, very defined vision of what he wanted the, the culture of this organization to be on down to its players. And it's changed here in la with the Chargers, it seems as though they brought in a guy in hardball. They trust what he's. His vision is they trust how he wants the culture to be and they've allowed him to do it. And you can see it in the players and how they play. You can see it in the results. And then that carries over. Look at the fan base and how it's growing for this Detroit Lions team. There's a overflow.

[John Middlekauff]

They travel.

[Colin Cowherd]

Come on, man.

[John Middlekauff]

They try. And by the way, you call, and I always reference this because I think it's important. You called a Lions Browns game when Dan Campbell was there his first year, and that ended up being Baker Mayfield's last year, I believe. So there's a lot in that conversation. But I always, I'm fascinated by that because that was really the beginning of. Listen, we're building something. Everybody laughed at Dan Campbell. Everybody said, oh, bite them kneecaps on the way back up racing helmets. And he does double venti red eyes. He does two a day. And like all these guys just like, oh, he's one of these other guys. And then you've just slowly seen they build, they build, they draft. Well, Jared Goff's completely, you know, rejuvenated his career. He's playing the best football potentially of his career. And this is the guy who went to a Super bowl once. Like this idea that if the Bears think that, all right, we got rid of Matt Eber fluff. All right, now, now everything's going to be good here, dude. They've. Since the 1985 Bears, they've won six playoff games. That was 40 years ago. Like, this is not just a Matt Eberflusse's problem. To your point, it rolls downhill a long ass time.

[Colin Cowherd]

At some point. When you look at these dysfunctional functional organizations, you see the long laundry list of major names that have been brought in, whether it's a coach or whether it's a player. You see this long list and the results generally may vary just a little bit. Maybe this coach did make the playoffs. This coach didn't make the playoffs. I mean, look at what's going on in Miami. Is that dysfunction or not? I don't really know. Which means that it probably is. Maybe the clock has struck Midnight on Mike McDaniel and now he's turning into a pumpkin because that was not the look of a. Like we said, this team is really good with tua. Tua goes out, they're not really a good team. But now we got two of back they go ours because it's cold. Can be because it's cold. A lot of them guys didn't have no sleeves on their arms. Didn't look like it was cold enough where you couldn't get out there and do what you needed to do. It just didn't look good. When you look at these teams and they bring in a different coach, different coach, different coach, different coach, different players, different players. But you're seeing the same results, like they hit the same ceilings. Like whether it be the record, whether it be the amount of accomplishment. Did they make it to the playoffs? Did they not? Did they win a divisional title? What are they? When you look at these teams, it'd be the same exact ones. Changing coaches, changing players and getting the same results. They get the same exact results. So you could get mad at media for calling it out, calling it what they think it is, calling it what it may be. The bottom line is if you are paying attention to your organization and your organization is giving you. It's like, it's like meeting a person, right? If a person shows you who they are, you should believe them. If an organization shows you who they are, you should believe them. There's no reason as a fan to sit there and say, because I'm a fan of this team, I can look at it and it comes out and it plays out differently. That's not, that's not correct. If they've proven to you that this is how they do things, this is the way things go. You know, you guys are acting like, oh, when I was talking about the jets, like the jets won't win 10 games. I said the jets will not do double digit wins because the dysfunction is so high in New York that they will not make it to 10 wins. Not because they don't have the talent.

[John Middlekauff]

I meant 10 wins over the span of two seasons. So like just to be clear, that.

[Colin Cowherd]

Might be a stretch too. That might not be. That might, I don't know, that might be a stretch too.

[John Middlekauff]

All I'm saying is the preseason games.

[Colin Cowherd]

Cap, why expect, why expect that Aaron Rodgers is going to be the catalyst of change in a dysfunctional organization? And now you found out, now you figured out that that is not the case.

[John Middlekauff]

The Bears fired Lovey Smith after he went 10, 6. Like they fired him after he went 10 and 6. Remember how everybody and I know this. People in Chicago couldn't wait to get rid of Matt Nagy. They couldn't. He had to go. He had no idea what he was doing. He's ruining this organization. I don't know, man. He finished with a winning record and he took him to the playoffs twice.

[Colin Cowherd]

You know, we've done, we've done a lot of media and a lot of radio. The one thing that is funny to me is being, being successful. There's, there's levels to it and there's degrees of it. And a lot of times people aren't happy with real success. They're not happy with real success. They have this delusion or this, this just maybe not, not living in reality of what a 10 win season represents, what a winning season represents. Like you look at, you know, the conversations that we've had historically on two pros and a cup of Joe that you could catch. By the way, Eastern standard time at 6am to 9am we are filling in for Colin Cowherd. That's Jonas Knox. I'm Levar Arrington.

[John Middlekauff]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

The one thing that we have, have discussed and have really talked about is in the college ranks, right? And I know it's different than the league, but in the college rank Juice, you'll have day at Ohio State and he's under fire and he's undefeated. It's like, wait, hold on, what happened? Loses to Oregon. Ah, he's gotta go. He's gotta go. You lose one game, you lose the Michigan. Now he's gotta go. Oh, to Ohio State fans, this means that he's got to go because that's the game that counts. Yeah, but what about all the other games that he's winning? You know, when those games count, Jonas, when he starts losing them, they don't matter now because, oh, he's he's 11. 0. He's 12 and 0. He gets to 12 and 1. Gotta fire him. Franklin and Penn State, first season and, like, who knows how long that they went undefeated on the road. They have no. No road losses. They have one loss at home and not one loss because it's to Ohio State. It's like he can't win the big game. It's the Big Ten, their strength of schedule. They don't play anybody. Da, da, da. This, that. It's the Big Ten. They're playing against the same teams that are in the conference that everybody else is playing against. And people have a problem with it when he loses one game while it is the one big game. It still is delusional to think that you should just expect a coach and a team to win that much. So sometimes you get what you want, but then you don't get what you really like in your mind. I wanted us to be undefeated. I wanted us to go to the Super Bowl. I wanted us to go to the championship. I wanted us to win it. There's only one team that can do it. And in the league, if you ain't cheering for Kansas City, you haven't really had enough. Imagine being a Ravens fan. How close are you? Imagine being a Bills fan. How close are you? But yet how far away are you?

[John Middlekauff]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

So I don't know. Dysfunction. They'll get rid of you. Functional. You start to find it, you get better. So to me, it says that the Buffalo Bills is a functional organization. You know why? Because they're very close, and yet they continue. I thought they hit their ceiling. They didn't hit their ceiling. They look like they're getting better. So that's a functional organization.

[John Middlekauff]

I always defended when, you know, the Bengals, you know, were, you know, looking around and they're looking at coaches and. And they're, you know, trying to decide whether or not they want to keep Marvin Lewis. And I always defended Marvin Lewis for this, because they're like, oh, he can't win a playoff game. Yeah, but they're there every year. Every year.

[Colin Cowherd]

I mean, that's what's going on in Pittsburgh right now. People be wanting Mike Tomlin out of there.

[John Middlekauff]

Every year, you got a shot.

[Colin Cowherd]

It's a functional organization. They're competitive every year. Whether you thought they were frauds or not. They are in every single year in the conversation for the. For the AFC north, and they're in the conversation for what can they do in the playoffs every single year, but yet it's not good enough. Yeah, you gotta, you gotta be realistic on what you want your ROI to be as a fan, and I think that's what it ultimately comes down to.

[John Middlekauff]

So it is the Herd here on Fox Sports Radio. Levar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin. Just to catch you up to speed again, the breaking news in the NFL from earlier the Bears firing Matt Eberflusse's head coach. The offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will take over on interim basis for the remainder of the season. Coming up next here though, we are going to tell you how somebody finally decided, you know what? I've had enough. I've had enough playing nice. I'm going to go ahead and let it fly a little bit during an NFL game. You'll hear from them right here on fsr.

[Colin Cowherd]

Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am.

[John Middlekauff]

Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. FS1 and the iHeartRadio app Apple Card.

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[Colin Cowherd]

Should be, not outkast. Don't do it like that.

[John Middlekauff]

Fixes something to eat.

[Colin Cowherd]

Come on to that song though. To that beat. Check them up.

[John Middlekauff]

Oh my God.

[Colin Cowherd]

Pick them up.

[John Middlekauff]

It is the herd here on Fox Sports radio. Levar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin. So coming up in we'll call it about 20 minutes from now we are going to have another edition of the herd line news starring the great Lee de Lap. Who you know it's special occasion. Lee's got a button up shirt. He's got his. He's got his j's on like Lee's all ready to go, man. Looks good.

[Colin Cowherd]

Oh yeah. Not the, not the oyster.

[John Middlekauff]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

Not the blue Oyster bar.

[John Middlekauff]

Lee, you look great man.

[Colin Cowherd]

Thanks guys. Spruce it up. When we're about that one right there. Yeah, that's how y'all feeling? That's where you head. Nothing from here.

[John Middlekauff]

So we'll hear more from Lee during the Herdline news. Coming up here and about.

[Colin Cowherd]

Will you shed them jeans for some some backless chaps?

[John Middlekauff]

Hey, by the way, we got a. We got. We Got Heisman, Heisman watch going on. We got Travis Hunter and Colorado taking on Oklahoma State. They've got a 21 nothing lead and you've got Ashton Gentee in Boise State up 147 over Oregon State right now.

[Colin Cowherd]

Hunter almost came down with a crazy one hand catch. They flipped him up a little bit. Genty, I believe, has one touchdown so far. I think he went in, took one in short but. And I don't know what his, what his rushing yards are right now, his stats are, but it's interesting because I know Coach prime is aware of how close the race is and the fact that Travis Hunter was not a finalist for the Thorpe War Award.

[John Middlekauff]

Sorry, Ashton Gentee, 21 carries, 106 yards and a touchdown not quite at halftime.

[Colin Cowherd]

That's not good for Travis Hunter or Colorado fans. A hundred and it's not even half time yet.

[John Middlekauff]

Do you think there's still a chance? I know Travis Hunter is a touchdown catch in this game against Oklahoma State right now, but do you think, you actually think there's a chance that Ashton Gentee could beat him out for the. I don't think there's any chance at all. I think it's over.

[Colin Cowherd]

I think Gentee can. I think Gentee can get it because I think you can't hide stats for a running back. It's not a hideable, a hideable stat. If he continues to run at the pace, like if he's at 100 yards right now, what does he end up with? Like 150, 160.

[John Middlekauff]

The odds on DraftKings right now, Travis Hunter is a minus 3,500.

[Colin Cowherd]

I mean, I think he's the best college football player in America. I've made that very clear. I made it abundantly clear that if I were a voter, I would vote for Travis Hunter. But with that being said, you gotta keep in mind, I go back to a time where, okay, I thought Peter Warke was the best football player I've ever seen in my life. Like, that's like pre Reggie Bush. It was like Peter Warwick and then came Reggie Bush. He wasn't up for any awards. And now, granted, it's a different situation because he got in a little bit of trouble. But with that being said, if you're looking at Heisman best player, Ron Dang got it that year and Ron Dang got it because stats, stats are stats. That man broke the NCAA rushing title with the amount of yards that he end up running for that year. And it automatically made him a shoe in to win the Heisman I feel like Genty is like, when have we heard a player get compared to Barry Sanders? Since Barry Sanders played in college? Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard it. I don't think I've ever heard anybody get compared. Maybe Lenian. LT that might be the only one that I heard in terms of what they were doing statistically that would lead to them being discussed in the same breath as Barry Sanders. And Ashton J. Ashenti is that player this year for college football. So to me, I think that it's a, it's a great conversation. I'll say this. I don't know definitively who's going to walk in there and walk away with the trophy. Oh, I think it, I think it's between those two.

[John Middlekauff]

I think Travis, I don't even. And I don't think the voting will be close. Like if Ashton Gentee, like if you were to bet on Ashton Gentee to win the Heisman right now, $10 would win you a solar system. Like, there's no chance anybody other than Travis Hunter wins the, the Heisman. But, you know, I mean, he does also have, you know, platform. I mean, Colorado. That's why my point on Colorado is this. I really, we've talked about on the show before. I just hope people know how much fun the last two seasons have been and how good they've been for college football with, because of Deion Sanders and Colorado, the other storylines in college football. But the fact that Colorado's back on the map is awesome.

[Colin Cowherd]

He put, he put a video up on his, on his social yesterday. It was a throwback Thursday. And it was when him and Shador and Bossy, his daughter, when they ended up, you know, they came to visit Boulder, they came to the stadium and was visiting it and they were showing what it looked like their hair like, just arrived this, that and the other. And it just showed the looks on their faces, on Shador's faces, on Coach Prime's faces while they were on the field. I thought it was interesting, man, because you take a subtle, you know, calm, you know, solitary moment where it's just the family that's there on the field and they're looking at this place that has been dormant. You know, you haven't talked about Colorado and the way that they've talked about Colorado well and ever, actually. But this was a team that was once a storied story team. I mean, from the Darien Hagen days to Rashawn Salaam and Cordell Stewart and Charles Johnson and Michael Westbrook. I mean, There was a standard that was created and generated. Chad Brown on defense, I mean, Deion figures. I mean, there was a lot of really, really talented guys that played for this Colorado team that made Colorado a destinational place not only to play, but it was a destination to make sure that you watched them play. They lost that. And whether you like Deion Sanders as a person or not, the one thing that you cannot deny is that he brought something. He brought a value to Colorado as a coach that they've never seen before, and I would venture to say possibly has never been seen before at the college level. Now, that doesn't mean that equates to it being a national title, but it could. That doesn't mean that it's like, oh, well, what about. What about, you know, Nick Saban or, you know, your coach? What about Joe Paterno? What about Bobby Bowden? Absolutely. Iconic figures, Coach Robinson, I. Grambling? Absolutely. Some of the most historical names you can throw out there and say in those generations, what they represented, no one else could match what they were. Is Deion Sanders as a coach on that trajectory, I don't know. But out the gate, you have a quarterback that happens to be your son that will most likely be the number one overall pick in the draft. You have most likely the next Heisman winner on your team as well. And it's not even your player that's going to go number one in the draft. You sell out. You're sold out. You have generated countless amounts of revenue for the state and the university tuition. It's all paid, increased it a little bit. Everybody has been benefiting from the Deion Sanders effect. As blenders. Ask kfc. Yeah, everybody. He just launched the show. He's got a show on. Was it to be. What is it? Dude is out here and he is. Totally. And what's interesting is it's not. It's not a framework that can be. It can. It can be repeated. It's not. It's a. This is a. A caught the tiger by the tail. It's a. It's lightning in a bottle, whatever you want to call it. Eddie George just got named coach coach of the year. Where he's coaching right, doesn't even begin to come close to what the tidal wave effect that Deion Sanders had. They're talking about hiring Ray Lewis down in Florida. It will not come close. Not even close to what Deion Sanders has done. Won't even come close. For one, Deion Sanders understands the entertainment value of what goes into what he's doing. For one no one has ever really been as good as him. No one's been that good at doing it and he's able to recreate it. And two, he's actually a good coach and he went through the process. I don't know Ray Lewis's coaching, coaching history back in Florida. I don't think that, I don't think that he's coached that much. I think he's done a lot and he mean, he means a lot to the game. I don't know how much he coached Eddie George. I don't know. I don't know how much he coached. How many names are we going to throw out there and that we're going to say this is a former player that has the brand name.

[John Middlekauff]

I mean, the fact that it's even attempting to be copied is such a compliment to Deon San. It's like all the Sean McVay guys like, oh, well, he worked with Sean McVeigh. You must. That's such a compliment to Sean McVeigh.

[Colin Cowherd]

100%. 100%. And it's not going to be replicated.

[John Middlekauff]

And there were so many people who wanted to see them fail when they got off to that hot start last year and I was like, oh, who are they playing? Oh, and then they started to struggle down the stretch and they struggled against Colorado State and like people just couldn't wait to see them fail. And that was the expectation. And then you saw how the game played out against Nebraska and you're like, oh, it looks like typical Colorado, Dion and they've just gotten better and better and better. And yeah, last week was not a great look and not a great performance, but they lost.

[Colin Cowherd]

It's college football and he's still building. They lost.

[John Middlekauff]

And Also the Big 12, who the hell can figure out the Big 12? Kansas is clipping people left and right like, Bro, five wins.

[Colin Cowherd]

That team won one game when Dion took it over. They were a one win team. They won how many more games? They won like three or four last year. I believe something to that effect wasn't that many. They won. They won games last year, but it wasn't. They were nowhere near.500. And where they are today, where Colorado football is today, with their record, with the amount of clout that their players are receiving and the recognition, the way the offensive front is playing, they, they established a running attack this year. Their defense line is totally transformed. You bring in a great football mind. And Warren Sapp. Nobody else would have took a shot on Warren Sapp. You keep saying Terrell Owens on Terrell on the sideline with him. I would not be shocked or surprised if you end up seeing Terrell Owens being a coach on this coaching staff. I want to see that warrant they just brought in. They brought in George Hagama who is. If you know who George Hegeman is, an offensive lineman, played for the Dallas Cowboys. Look him up. One of the dopest dudes that you'll ever meet and has been a, a major, major, major piece to the success that IMG Academy was, is, is and were having in Florida while he was there. So the people that, that Dion has brought in, first and foremost, you gotta be in this world to know who they are. If you're l has met so many people from the time he did Truth from the youth level. Dion didn't did Truth the high school and met a ton of people on that level. Not to mention all the while he's in media and he's building his brand and he's showing you his, he's building his credit credibility in terms of what he understands of the game, how he views the game by giving you insight and commentary and you know, analyzing the games and, and what's going on and what's taking place. So, you know, Dion understands the game. But what a lot of people fail to realize is Dion went through the process, he executed the process perfectly. And he'll tell you, I built my plan for my life around my children. So I don't care what his motivation was. His motivation was that he wanted to be there for his kids and be there with them growing up. Great. Great. The bottom line is that trusting him, building the process of being there with his kids the whole entire way has led to him being a hell of a coach. He's got a hell of a staff that's been with him since they were at the youth level. So you're talking about a, a, a 12, 13, 14, 15 plus years that the, the bulk of his coaching staff has been together. It's not a surprise that he's getting the results that he's getting and he will continue to get them. He's connected to a SCH scouting service. You don't even want to get into all of that. He's connected to directly to a scouting service that, that helps choose the All Americans for the Under Armour game. He's got a great relationship with them. Look him up three step. He has done it the right way. He knows how to get to the, to the athletes. He knows what they want, his cachet and, and what he brings to the table. Is is good enough and now he's winning. So you take all that, you have a perfect storm. You will not be able to replicate or recreate that. If you're trying to do that, you are going to come grossly, grossly short of what it is that Colorado has been able to create. And I think that that's why he's going to stay at Colorado, because he has the keys to the kingdom. He can continue to build that kingdom. And I would not be surprised if this is a college playoff team that in the next three to five years will actually be able to compete and contend in the playo to possibly win a championship for Colorado.

[John Middlekauff]

It's the Herd here on Fox Sports Radio. Levar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin. Coming up next here in the Herdline news, you're going to hear somebody in the NFL who just said, you know what? I'm sick of this. Tired of playing it nice, tired of playing it safe. I'm going to go ahead and air somebody out. And they did it just yesterday. You'll hear the sound, you'll hear the proof, and it's yours here next on fsr.

[Colin Cowherd]

Be sure to catch live editions of.

[John Middlekauff]

The Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.

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[Colin Cowherd]

We're right here. We ain't going anywhere. Yeah. Dang it. What? We're right here.

[John Middlekauff]

It's the Herd on FOX Sports Radio. Levar Arrington, Jonas Knox in for Colin.

[Colin Cowherd]

You like that? Like my dmx?

[John Middlekauff]

Uh huh.

[Colin Cowherd]

Bring it. What? We're right here.

[John Middlekauff]

Coming up top of next hour. A little over 10 minutes from now, we are going to get into more conversation. The details still coming out on the breaking news from the NFL. Last hour we talked here on the show. Matt Eberflu fired by the Chicago Bears. Thomas Brown, the offensive coordinator, will be the interim head coach. Coach, you know, good for him. He just got the job as OC about, you know, 15 minutes ago. So now he's the head coach all of a sudden.

[Colin Cowherd]

About 15, 20 minutes ago.

[John Middlekauff]

Boy, that's a quick climb.

[Colin Cowherd]

Let me look at my watch.

[John Middlekauff]

That's a quick climb up the coaching ranks. Hey, Jesus. But we'll have more on that coming up next hour here. Right now it is time for another edition of this.

[Colin Cowherd]

No, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline news.

[John Middlekauff]

All right, lead to last, what do we got? All right, guys, if you were watching.

[Colin Cowherd]

That Cowboys Giants game on FOX yesterday, you might have heard Tom Brady having.

[John Middlekauff]

A little criticism for what went down between Daniel Jones and the Giants.

[Colin Cowherd]

Take a listen.

[Tom Brady]

I, I don't know how the whole situation went down, but to think that you would ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than I would have handled that. I always felt I wanted to get the trust and respect of my teammates regardless situation, knowing that I was trying to do the best I could for the team because that was the most important thing. There's just some different things that happen in the NFL and everyone makes individual choices. And I think we're all at points in our career face different challenges. I faced them in college and some things didn't go the way I wanted. But the people that mattered most to me were the guys in the locker room. I showed up every day. I don't care if they asked me to be scout team safety, be scout team quarterback. I was going to do whatever I could to help the team win.

[Colin Cowherd]

How about that?

[John Middlekauff]

You know, Tom Brady's too nice. He's not being critical enough of players and he basically just calls out Daniel Jones and says, I don't know if I would have made that move. I mean, I would have Been loyal to my teammates.

[Colin Cowherd]

I don't know, man. Like, I have my opinions on. I, Like, I love Tom as a player. Do I love him in the booth? I don't know that I might love him in the booth. Is he okay? Does he have potential?

[John Middlekauff]

What about. What about the criticism of Daniel Jones wanting. Wanting his release?

[Colin Cowherd]

I just think sometimes it's the messenger that matters in moments like those. When did Tom Brady really struggle in the league?

[John Middlekauff]

When he struggled last year in New England.

[Colin Cowherd]

Okay, the end.

[John Middlekauff]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

And what happened?

[John Middlekauff]

They moved on.

[Colin Cowherd]

So he went on and so did he. Yeah, they moved on.

[John Middlekauff]

So I don't.

[Colin Cowherd]

I don't. I don't think, like, you look at the beginning, you know, to the end. Like, sure, if you're winning Super Bowls and your team is winning and you're having success and they've invested in you, like, I could see his. His. His theory and his, you know, his thought process, I don't have a problem with that. But I think when you're losing and when things go a certain way and behind the closed doors of what those conversations look like, I don't know. I don't know that it's a. It's a. It's that cut and dry.

[John Middlekauff]

They clowned Daniel Jones on television, on Hard Knocks, like, multiple times. So he probably got to a point where he's like, man, I don't want. I don't want to be here. I'll go be a backup in Minnesota. Like, I'll go elsewhere. Like, let me get elsewhere if you guys don't want me so bad that you're going to make these comments to where everybody can see on Hard Knocks. And we're going to continue to have these discussions and rumors are going to be out there about benchings and quarterbacks they want to draft and all that. It's like, I just got to get. And he just decided I need to go. And I think. I wonder also, too, if guys like Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith have given players like Daniel Jones hope to where it used to be. If you were a quarterback that was drafted to be the franchise quarterback and it didn't work out with the team that you were drafted by, that the thought was that you were going to. The thought you are a class act. The thought was that your career was basically on borrowed time, that you were going to have to go be a backup somewhere, and that's just the way that your career is going to go because the book was written on you. And then all of a sudden, guys like Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith are like, no, no, no. There's life after this if you find the right spot. Baker Mayfield's one of the better quarterbacks in the nfc, if not the NFL, playing this year. Sam Darnold and Gino Smith got paid.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yes.

[John Middlekauff]

Sam Darnold in Minnesota.

[Colin Cowherd]

It can happen. It can happen. But then you also could have the Tom Brady effect as we were talking about and end up being an Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers thought that he was going to do what what Tom Brady did. Russell Wilson thought that he was going to do what Tom Brady did. Neither one of those, those guys, as good as they had been in brilliant, as brilliant as they were, where they came from, they weren't able to recapture that anywhere else. So, I mean, Russ is doing okay right now, but by no means is he like that guy. Like, he's like, o gosh, what a resurgence or reemergence of Russell Wilson. It's like, it's okay.

[John Middlekauff]

What do you need?

[Colin Cowherd]

What do you mean? What do I mean?

[John Middlekauff]

They got a Russell Wilson sandwich at penance.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. That's probably getting more, more yardage than he is.

[John Middlekauff]

Damn.

[Colin Cowherd]

Shouts out to the pen.

[John Middlekauff]

By the way, you go to permanies when you go to state college.

[Colin Cowherd]

I don't know that I'll have enough time. I would like to get me a big fish, though. I'll probably give me a big fish.

[John Middlekauff]

You know, Lee and I shared one at at pen.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, you guys shared a sandwich or sub? Yeah, yeah.

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You?

[John Middlekauff]

I got boneless wings while I was at pb. Yeah, you did. By the way. What a douche move. I realized the more I think about that, the more embarrassed I am.

[Colin Cowherd]

Oh, my gosh.

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[Colin Cowherd]

Let's go.

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