← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 1 - Bills are a great job, Seahawks are the best team in the NFL
00:41:15
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Jason McIntyre
Guaranteed Human Everything tastes better after your team wins. Similarly, everything also tastes better once you've baptized it with a simple handcrafted flavor of the original Louisiana brand hot sauce. So just imagine how truly tasty something would taste if it was doused in the original Louisiana hot sauce after your team wins. Pretty damn good, right? That's Louisiana hot bayou. Some remember when people were nice, when we could occasionally stop fighting and come together. Well, here's some good news. The Ripple Effect is here. Hosted by comedian Jenna Kim Jones. It's a show about how powerful it is when we reach out to one another. It's the perfect weekly proof that goodness isn't gone. The Ripple Effect is more than a podcast. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. Listen to the ripple effect on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or where you get your podcasts. Wasabi is purpose built to free your business from skyrocketing storage costs and fees from the big guys. Wasabi is the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams around the world. Check out Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cyber criminals. Wasabi driving innovation in data storage for up to 80% less than the other guys. Try for free@wasabi.com Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage proud partner of the Volume Podcast Network everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits.
- [01:53]
Colin Cowherd
Plan features in Texas and fees vary. Savings Savings with three plus lines include.
- [01:55]
Jason McIntyre
Third line free via monthly bill credits. Credits stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required. Thanks for listening to the Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports radio at noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to the Herd Podcast. Here we go on a busy Monday, the very busiest of Mondays. We are live. We're in Chicago. It is the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening or watching, whatever the platform. Thanks for making us part of your day. Sean McDermott A very good Football coach has been dismissed. The Buffalo Bills, 10th team, a third of the league, 10th team, looking for a head coach. And I think when you have Josh Allen, it's okay to demand greatness. Bill Walsh, Andy Reid, Jimmie Johnson, Bill Belichick. Josh Allen's the kind of quarterback that can win not one, not two, but three Super Bowls. McDermott's a good man and a good coach. But the Bills kept finding ways to lose the 13 second loss to Kansas City Saturday. There's five turnovers and Bo Nicks up and down the field, 300 plus yards. I mean, there was the tush push last year. They couldn't get that right. The last three years, Buffalo has lost fourth quarter leads in all games. All of their losses, they lost fourth quarter leads. It was time not quite buttoned up. The general manager, in my opinion, Brandon Bean, more of a cap guy than a personnel guy, hasn't done McDermott any favors. The wide receiver core is mostly anemic. There are no Pro Bowlers on the defensive side. Even James Cook, Josh Allen's best teammate, leads all running backs in fumbles. But Saturday wasn't a loss. It was a reckoning. It felt different. The locker room was 55 broken men. McDermott, man at the officiating, I get it. But when John Elway was in Denver, they moved off Dan Reeves 10. Reeves had been to three Super Bowls. Dan Reeves was a great coach, but not great enough for John Elway's talent. And Sean McDermott again, eight playoff wins. That is the most ever in league history by any coach that hasn't appeared in a Super Bowl. He's a coach. He's a good coach. I'll be honest. I think he would go to the Raiders and get that act figured out really quickly. I'd hire him in one second in Las Vegas. But each loss hurt more, each loss mounted 13 second loss, can't get the tush push right. Blowing fourth quarter leads Saturday. Bo Nix kind of did what he wanted. Five turnovers on offense. And it feels like Josh Allen so often is pressing to put on a cape, get in a phone booth, come out and make a play to overcome his lack of receiving help. Or a defense that can be good at times but isn't special. Not as good as the Rams, not even as good as the injury plague Niners. Certainly not Seattle or Houston. So this is a great job. I'm sitting here this morning thinking John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski are probably checking their contracts to make sure the ink is dry. But over the last starting in 2020 until today. They're second in the NFL and wins. First in points for game, first in point differential. A lot of it's Josh Allen, maybe most of it's Josh Allen. You can't go Mike McCarthy. His teams, like McDermott, feel like they're not quite buttoned up. They shrink in the playoffs. Can't go McCarthy. More of the same. Jeff Halfley, Jesse Mintor, great defensive coordinators, but we want to go with a defensive coach. How about somebody that's proven, in my opinion, Brian Dabel. One, a playoff game with Daniel Jones, former offensive coordinator, that really took Josh Allen to the next level. So Sean McDermott's got eight playoff wins. You can do a lot worse than Sean McDermott, but for Buffalo, it's different. Josh Allen changes the calculus here. Was Josh broken down after the loss Saturday?
- [06:41]
Sam Darnold
It's extremely difficult. I feel like, I feel like I.
- [06:48]
Jason McIntyre
Let my, let my teammates down tonight.
- [06:50]
Sam Darnold
It's been a long season.
- [06:52]
Jason McIntyre
I hate how it ended.
- [06:53]
Sam Darnold
And that's, that's gonna stick with me for a long time. Can't win with five turnovers. I fumbled twice, threw two picks. When you shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don't deserve to win football games.
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Jason McIntyre
The standard changes when you get an Elway, when you get a Peyton Manning, you gotta have a Belichick, a Walsh, an Andy Reid, a Jimmy Johnson. I don't know if Brian Dabel's that, but John Harbaugh's off the market, Jim Harbaugh's off the market. Sean Payton's taken. So is Mike Vrabel. To me, Brian Dabel, who's been in that room, who's worked with Josh, is an offensive guy. Will squeeze every ounce out of this star quarterback. And at this point, to me, that's the answer, okay? Under Sean McVeigh, the Rams prove once again, regardless of whether this warm weather indoor football team goes to Chicago, they don't have a single penalty, they don't have a single turnover, folks. They didn't have, we looked it up, a dropped pass. And that's why they beat the Bears in a windy snow game earlier in the day. There were eight turnovers. They didn't have a drop pass. Chicago was more spectacular. Chicago had more yards. Chicago won time of possession. Caleb Williams, in my opinion, had the throw of the decade, playoffs or regular season. But this LA team played more efficiently and played cleaner. I mean, again, I'm not saying Chicago's not more fun to watch. The Rams only had three drives all day. An opening drive, a fourth quarter drive, and an overtime drive. So much in football is about not losing games. And the team that lost the turnover battles yesterday and this weekend, they went 0 for 4. The Rams did not drop a pass in this weather. So I thought when all you needed to do was win the game in overtime, it was second. Nate. I thought the Bears should have been trying to get a first down and not a touchdown. I thought Caleb Williams, who has grown so much as a player, he is so much better than he was eight, nine weeks ago. I thought he bit off a little too much in overtime. They just needed a field goal, they just needed points, and he went uptown. And that's the very nature of Caleb Williams. The upside, the jet fuel, the horsepower. I mean, he is V8 plus, but he's not quite ready. He has improved so much from week three to now. I mean, again, this is. I think there's four quarterbacks in league history that can make this play. 4. The Rams weren't perfect. Beat on the back end, but you get all the upside. But I thought he took a little too big of a bite in overtime. And Chicago's not going anywhere. They're young, they're athletic, they're inexpensive at quarterback, star tight end, running back, receiver, slot perimeter. This is a really good Chicago team. Dennis Allen had a great Sunday night. They don't have nearly as much defensive talent, especially in the box, as the Rams do, and yet they were aggressive. They got the Matt Stafford multiple times while their offensive line did not surrender a sack. There were so many things to like about the Bears. Time of possession, big plays, more yards, more spectacular. Whereas the Rams defensive talent is young, explosive and inexpensive. That's the Bears primarily on offense. So the Rams came down on the opening drive, take a seven nothing lead. Bears don't buckle. You got the Rams taking that lead late in the game, and the Bears don't buckle. So they're good. They're not going anywhere. But the Bears, to me, feel like they're almost there, and the Rams feel like they are there again. And here's Sean McVeigh after the overtime win in Chicago. There were so many things that went on in that game that you could have said, oh, man, maybe tonight's not our night. I'm going to tell you this, though, for you guys to do what you did, man, I can't say enough about what you guys did. Snap in, snap out defensively. How about my mother, man, Camp. Cam curl at safety. Listen, I. You look over the course of the weekend, there's two or three things that are absolute and the team that had the most turnovers, you know, whether it's a Buffalo or it's a Houston or it's a Chicago, the reality is when you get to the best coaches and the best rosters and the best game plans, weather becomes less of a factor. And not letting a ball hit the ground for the weather to be that bad. McVeigh looked freezing. They didn't have a drop pass. That's insane. I mean, Kyron Williams, what do you have, 20 some carries. Bears were pulling on his arm and pulling on the ball for three and a half hours, and the ball never hit the ground. Puka Nakua hammered, pulling the ball never hit the ground. No penalties, no turnovers. More impressive is no drop passes. That is the Rams, who now go on the road with an extra quarter played and one day less rest than the Seahawks. They are and should be underdogs in the NFC Championship. J. Mac wow. It was. I'll tell you what, we'll talk about the Seahawks next. I mean, it is good. My takeaway all night, it was funny. We were in the fourth quarter, and I'm watching the game with friends, and I'm like, I'm looking up drop passes and I'm looking up penalties, and I'm like, for a warm weather team that plays indoors, to go into that weather. You and I talked all week. You get to a point in games like that, you can't feel your hands. So I went outside last night at halftime.
- [13:28]
Ben Johnson
I want.
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Jason McIntyre
I wanted to. I thought, I want to go out. I want to feel what it feels like in just normal clothes, no jacket. I'm like, I don't know how people are doing it.
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Colin Cowherd
How long did you last?
- [13:38]
Jason McIntyre
Oh, 90 seconds. The Rams, though, did you notice this? How many of their skill players did not wear sleeves? So a lot of it's psychological. Ram players went out there. We're not going to wear sleeves. We're just going to go out and play. We're not going to worry about it. Stafford's face is like, you know, it's bright red. I thought that was a really impressive outing. The Bears were more spectacular, but efficiency, playing clean, no drop passes is a real thing in those kind of games.
- [14:03]
Colin Cowherd
Did you feel like McVay called the game like he was freezing? Because, Colin, at one point in the third quarter, they had 34 passes and 11 runs. I did not understand. I love McVay. He's one of the best coaches in the league. I thought that was his worst effort of the season. He clearly changed it in the fourth Quarter.
- [14:18]
Jason McIntyre
Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Listen, it's a weird flow into the game. You know, you have things that are working. Nobody can cover Puka. You know, the tight ends were having success, so I think, I think it's hard to do that. I think you get into the elements. There are certain things you've game planned for you'll think will work. I think they should have run more. But listen, I. This would have been an easy game. After the Rams drove down the field and took a lead, you could say to yourself, well, I just, you know, we saw what happened to the Niners. It's like sometimes there's just, you know, when you get one of these explosive teams like the Rams or Seattle and they take a seven nothing lead, you're like, oh, oh, oh. The Rams did not matter. Bears came right back down the field. They never buckled. You know, it just came down to in overtime, you know, Caleb gets picked up and it. It looked like DJ Moore. There was miscommunication. I don't want to say somebody quit, but it, it had an odd look to it. They'll probably look at the tape and figure that out. I didn't think the Rams guy was going to make the field goal because his first kick was a line drive that it felt like the wind pushed it in. So I was like, no, I don't know this thing's going to continue.
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Colin Cowherd
But was your big takeaway that Caleb War. Sorry. Caleb Williams looks without a doubt like a top 10 quarterback in the league. He was believable. I know the accuracy, you know, 50% or whatever, wasn't there. But he can make so many plays. Colin, he's ascending at a pace I don't think anybody anticipated this fast with Ben Johnson. He's a superstar.
- [15:45]
Jason McIntyre
Yeah, it's. There's no question He's a top 10 quarterback. And for the record, everybody can beat up on him with the interceptions. One was on fourth down. Okay, yeah, you can beat up on the interceptions, but the truth is he doesn't really throw many interceptions. He's durable, he's mobile. He's got great strength. He doesn't have a lot of multiple interception games, but again, you're, you're. This Ram defense is good. They're not great at corner, but they're really good everywhere else. And they're fast and they close and we got a lot of good defenses left. New England's real defense, Seattle's incredible. Rams are very good and Denver can get after it. So football just keeps getting better. We're in Chicago. It's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio. Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for the show. Yup, that's right. You can now watch Covino and rich live on YouTube every day. All you gotta do Search COVINO and RICH FSR on YouTube again. Go to YouTube search COVINOENRICH FSR. Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. Everything tastes better after your team wins. Similarly, everything also tastes better once you've baptized it with a simple handcrafted flavor of the original Louisiana brand hot sauce. So just imagine how truly tasty something would taste if it was doused in the original Louisiana hot sauce after your team wins. Pretty damn good, right? That's Louisiana hot Bayou Some the Seattle Seahawks are indisputably the best team left. They had a stretch this year where they led a team 20 to nothing in the first quarter. Another team 28 nothing at half and another team 35 nothing at half. That's what Ohio State does to an FCS team. Sam Darnold got picked four times against the Rams and they still almost won. Kyle Shanahan 163 games as the San Francisco coach four times. He's been held under a touchdown twice in the last few weeks by Seattle. The roster has no holes. Even the special teams are really good. They get a pass rush without blitzing, huge up front, active linebackers, outstanding elite corners, playmaking safeties. On offense you get power and speed and efficiency. They are young, they're dynamic and there is one team left that is built to beat them in Seattle. One team only. The Rams. They might be able to do it because they play such a clean, smart, efficient style of football. They don't make as many mistakes as the Seahawks do. They're not as penalized as Seattle. They're not going to make the turnovers that Seattle does. They're a cleaner version. Are they as good a version? Well, look at these numbers. This is how crazy it is. The Rams and Seahawks have played twice each with a win. The rams have scored 58 points, the Seahawks 57. The Rams have 830 total yards. The Seahawks have 829. I mean folks, we all knew this, I mean about week seven or eight, didn't you? Look at yourself and think, okay, Green Bay is falling apart physically and so are the Niners. And Philadelphia couldn't get their offensive act together. And Chicago is really good, but it felt like maybe the defense was a year away. And then there's the Panthers. Child, please. This Seattle team in Seattle, cold and wet. I mean, they have made Christian McCaffrey disappear twice in the last few weeks. Disappear. The Rams are the number one scoring offense. The Seahawks are the number one scoring defense. It will be best against best and in my opinion, the two best young coaches in football at the helm. McVay is the best coach arguably in the league. Certainly the best young coach. Seattle said, you know what, McVay and Shanahan are in this division. We're not going to hire the third best offensive guy. We're going to go get a defensive guy, Mike McDonald. And he is the defensive version of McVay. Handsome, tough, culture builder, respected player, friendly, holds a players accountable while being that. So I've said this all year with Seattle. Turn the sound down and watch them play. Don't listen to the announcers or the crowd. Turn the sound down. They don't look like any other team. It's like you get the Texans defense with a more dynamic offense. Sam Darnold, after another win over the 49ers.
- [20:38]
Ben Johnson
Our defense has been amazing, you know, throughout the entire year. You know, they've had our back. You know, we've had their back in certain situations. Our special teams, you know, I can't say enough great things about them, but yeah, so it's really fun to play the defense like that behind, you know, that has your back. For us as an offense, like, we understand what we're capable of. You know, we've showed glimpses of it throughout the season and I think these last few games we've kind of proven our offensive line, our tight ends have proven kind of what we can do running the football. So we're just going to continue to, you know, watch the tape, we get better and see where we go from here.
- [21:13]
Jason McIntyre
You know, there was a moment early in the game when Kyle Shanahan kind of admitted we can't play Seattle straight up. They had some trick plays. It was like a fourth and one. They gave it to Kyle use check and they, they tried to kind of do a little clever trick play to the outside there. They knew, yeah, we on a 4th and 1. We like our offensive line. You can't play Seattle straight up. They're just different. They remind me a lot. It's so interesting in These playoffs, these Patriots remind me a lot of the Belichick Brady Patriots. Not sure if they're great anywhere except quarterback, but they're good everywhere. And this Seattle team reminds me a lot of the Legion of Boom where you have a very athletic quarterback, above average run game. And they look different, they are faster and younger. I mean, it's the opposite of the Steelers. You get a great defense, you don't have to pay for it. It's like 23rd most expensive defense. So, I mean, when they take the open and they've added at the trade deadline, they got this gm, John Snyder, maybe the best personnel guy in the league. They add a speed demon at the trade deadline. You're watching them there. So now their special teams are a nightmare. There's one team left built to potentially beat them in Seattle. Very big on potentially. And that's the Rams J. Mac with the news. No, no, no, turn on the news. This is the Herd line news.
- [22:45]
Colin Cowherd
All right, let's go back to Saturday and the rough ending for Bo Nix Collins, superhero quarterback, man. He was very good against Buffalo, but then suffered a terrifying injury to his ankle. Broken ankle, Colin. It appeared to happen on the third, third to last play of the game. He had like a design keeper, landed awkwardly, still was able to chuck it down the field to Mims and get that weak flag and then took a knee, popped up and you see it on the screen. It was like, oh, what's going on here? Yeah, Seemed to walk off the field okay. But afterwards, Sean Payton met with the media. They called the media back and this is what Peyton told the media. Oh, we don't have the sound. Here's Peyton. Not good news. On the second to last play of overtime, Bo fractured a bone in his right ankle. He's scheduled to have surgery Tuesday. That would be tomorrow, Colin. It will be the Jarrett Stidham show this weekend in the AFC Championship.
- [23:38]
Jason McIntyre
Yeah. And he's not taking first team snaps. So this is going to be a rough one. Now, now, Sean Payton, very good, coach. Stidham's been around. Remember when Sean took the job in Denver, he went out and paid 12 million for Stidham as a backup. And we went, that is a lot for a backup. So Stidham has been around. Stidham knows the system. Stidham is a good teammate. So this is about as good as you're going to do in a backup quarterback situation. You're going to be at home. That helps. It's Sean Payton. I mean, again, certainly capable. I would lean with Vrabel Josh McDaniel, Drake May and I don't know what the line is this morning. I would think New England's favored by a couple. That would be my guess. I know Seattle is favored by about a field goal.
- [24:23]
Colin Cowherd
Well, it was five and a half. I'm seeing four and a half now for the Patriots favorite on the road. It's interesting because this Bronco defense you mentioned early in the show, Bronco defense is good. I didn't see good against Buffalo. Buffalo moved the ball up and down the field, nearly had 500 yards of offense, kind of did what they want. Josh Allen had a couple.
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Jason McIntyre
Also. Also this Denver offense, Bo Nicks, a lot of it is Bo Nicks rolling running. Okay. That, that component's gone with Stidham. Stidham's a pocket guy now. So a lot of that offense this year has been about Bo Nixon moving the pocket. This off now, now Breeze went 50 with Teddy Bridgewater as a backup in New Orleans. So if you got to have a backup, Jared Stidham, who's been in the system for years, and Sean Payton, I mean they've got nice weapons, but you just have to go with a better quarterback, a very good coach. Regardless of where the game is played, there's a reason New England's favorite and should be.
- [25:16]
Colin Cowherd
Well, it's not totally the same as Nick Foles, but Carson Wentz was a mobile quarterback in Philly, Right. Nick Foles more of a statue. I joke. He's cement shoes, Foals in the pocket. You know, there's a world where this game is a lot closer than everybody's saying right now. I have not seen one person give Denver a chance.
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Jason McIntyre
Have you?
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Colin Cowherd
It's universally. Oh, Drake May's about a quarterback.
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Jason McIntyre
I honestly, I think it's going to be a close game. Yeah.
- [25:39]
Colin Cowherd
This playoffs, like every game is freaking close. It's a coin flip every game. So bummer for Bo Nicks. I'll say this though, Colin, I don't know if you saw this. Throws on 20 or more yards down the field against the bills. Bo Nix 4 of 6 for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
- [25:55]
Jason McIntyre
Jason, he hit two deep ball home runs. I mean, say what you want because Bo Nix, the knock is throwing the ball down the field has been the question with Bo Nix. We know 12 yards in, he moves well, he hit two bombs. Yeah. And I mean that to me was again, Sean McDermott's defense has struggled against the run. They actually were okay against the run.
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Commercial Announcer
Yeah.
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Jason McIntyre
But they got burned over the top twice. In a game like that, when you're on the road, you can't get burned deep for touchdowns twice in a game.
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Colin Cowherd
You know what happened? Colin White went out with an injury for he had to miss a couple plays. Bo Nicks either identified it or Peyton did and they picked on the backup both times. And it was just, golly, I mean I, I had, you know, the under in this game and all the big plays, I was like, what the heck? That was a thriller, man. Saturday was crazy. All right, let's move on to a coaching opening column. That's Pittsburgh State Steelers. Listen, I, I, I'm surprised by this, but Mike McCarthy is a name who's supposedly gonna interview with the Pittsburgh Steelers now.
- [26:56]
Jason McIntyre
I mean, at this point, I, I.
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Colin Cowherd
Don'T see how this job's attractive at all when you don't know. The quarterback. Aaron Rodgers apparently not gonna be back.
- [27:03]
Jason McIntyre
He's a Pittsburgh guy.
- [27:04]
Colin Cowherd
So, you know, right now you're gonna have to pivot McCarthy. Right. And say, I don't know, the Buffalo Bills. Can I get in there and talk to Josh Allen?
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Jason McIntyre
Sure.
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Colin Cowherd
Like this. This is a bizarre column. We talked about this, this, this Pittsburgh team is old.
- [27:18]
Jason McIntyre
First of all, the Steelers don't ever look for a new coach.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [27:22]
Jason McIntyre
So the Giants do. They move on it. And Atlanta does. And they move on it.
- [27:27]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
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Jason McIntyre
And so the two organizations identify Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski very quickly. I would say the Raiders hiring McDermott within 24 hours. I would you get Mendoza. I, I think to me sometimes you get lucky in life. I think the Raiders just got incredibly lucky. I would hire Sean McDermott in a second.
- [27:49]
Colin Cowherd
Well, McDermott's going to have options. Arizona, maybe Pittsburgh. Like a lot of teams, those don't.
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Jason McIntyre
Come with Fernando Mendoza. That's fair for four to five years you're not paying Fernando Mendoza.
- [28:00]
Colin Cowherd
Well, McDermott's been locked in on the playoffs. Let's maybe he'll watch the natty tonight. You know, he's got some time on his hands not game planning this week and maybe he'll make a decision. But this go back to Steelers for a second. Remember how it ended for McCarthy and Rogers in Green Bay?
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Jason McIntyre
Very ugly.
- [28:15]
Colin Cowherd
So this is all, this is very surprising to me that McCarthy would be interested in this. But we'll see. Final story. Colin, we want to go back to Ben Johnson and the Bears. They were really fun in that one against the Rams. But I want to go back to this two point conversion. You could talk about this play for an hour. The Caleb Williams dropped back fourth and four and he chucks it 40 yards to Cole commit. So when this hit, I was like, oh my gosh, are they going to go for two and beat the Rams? And then Ben Johnson kicked and that kind of sort of shocked me given his DNA. Colin, here's Johnson talking about that decision afterward.
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Jason McIntyre
Thought about it. Yeah, thought about it. Probably what played a little bit of a factor was, you know, our goal to go. So situations hadn't gone very clean, our.
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Ben Johnson
Inside the five plan hadn't worked out.
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Jason McIntyre
Quite like we had hoped and so just felt better about taking our chances there in overtime. Yeah, that's where I agreed. My takeaway watching it was this is where analytics doesn't tell you the truth. Analytics hadn't watched the earlier fourth downs. They had struggled in their fourth and short packages all night long and by the way, not only struggled but gotten so stuffed multiple times. So you just had the play of the decade. You're on 100% emotion. The chances of coming out after that and getting a two point conversion against a very, very good defensive front. I think it's the right call. Again, you have to contextualize the game. They had struggled on fourth and short. So let, let's not do a fourth and short to, to decide. I, I, again, I'm at home. Caleb has been spectacular. Rams have only had a couple of drives. Remember going into overtime, Rams had an opening drive and a fourth quarter drive. Didn't do anything, they didn't do anything for like two and a half hours. So I, I was okay with the decision.
- [30:08]
Colin Cowherd
So this is what separates Ben Johnson from a Dan Campbell for me. Colin, because Dan Campbell, it was a famous game where they faced Dallas and he just kept going and it was like, dude, what are you doing? It was like a guy doubling down in blackjack and keep just hemorrhaging money and, and Ben Johnson realized, hey man, it's not working for us inside the five. That's right, let's just kick. And I, I think, listen, I was lower than I should have been on Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. Colin, they go into next season with the right off season, right? You maybe you move off DJ Moore, you know, because he's expensive and you got other receivers.
- [30:37]
Jason McIntyre
They're one of the only teams in the league. It's a very good edge rusher draft. They need an edge rusher so they can take their first five picks, go all defense. They don't need a tackle, a running back, a tight end, a receiver, a quarterback, an interior lineman. They're literally one of the most this draft works out so favorably for Chicago. They need a corner, an edge rusher, get more athleticism in the linebacking core. All of them available in the first three rounds. Chicago goes into the draft. They could draft today. I mean, five defensive players.
- [31:11]
Colin Cowherd
There's a world where next year going in this offseason. The Bears are a top five team heading into next year. For me, I mean, I know people are going to sound, think I'm crazy. You look at the Bears roster and say the Ravens or the Chiefs, find me the way Caleb is improving.
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Jason McIntyre
Find me another team in the NFL that literally doesn't have a single need on offense. There isn't one. They're the only team in the league. They've got two backs.
- [31:37]
Colin Cowherd
By the way, they lose their left tackle for this game. They moved Joe Tuni over. He was phenomenal. I mean, obviously you want offensive line depth, but like every. The Bears are in amazing shape. They might be the favorites next year in the nfc, regardless of what happens with Seattle.
- [31:51]
Jason McIntyre
And it's once you get the quarterback and the coach right, it just, it's so clear. Like a lot of times you can get Drake May, but last year you had Gerard Mayo. So it's like, okay, we, we, we got to get the coach or you'll get the coach and you won't have the quarterback. Ben's the right guy. Caleb's the right guy. Offensive line is excellent skill everywhere. You could argue you could move an offensive piece at receiver to get another draft pick, but their drafts could should be all defensive players, first five picks.
- [32:19]
Ben Johnson
Totally agree.
- [32:20]
Jason McIntyre
J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the herd lie news. So listen, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Nothing drives me crazier than the NFL is rigged. So let me start with this. If the NFL was going to rig a Buffalo Bill Denver game, they would not rig it. So Bo Nixon Denver win. You would not say. I'll tell you what, league office just sent a memo. Let's get the beloved Buffalo Bills and superstar Josh Allen out of the playoffs. The country wants Bo Knicks. That's not what leagues do. So this play, the rule is actually really clear on this. You got to possess the ball through the process of a catch, and that includes hitting the ground. You can't bobble it. If it bounces out, it's not a catch. So the slow Mo replay usually clarifies stuff for all of us. In this case, slow Mo hurts the play because slow Mo makes you think Brandon Cook has possession more than he Actually does. His reaction after this play, he knew it. He bobbled it. So the rule is very clear. And usually replay is our friend. It clarifies. But slow mo doesn't clarify. It makes you think Cook has more control of the ball than he does. When I watched the real speed, real time, I know all you guys on Twitter, Twitter, Screenshot guy, I get it. And sometimes your angles are hard to argue, but this is not how football is played. It's played in real speed. It is fast in real time. And when I watch the one angle where there was clarity on it in real speed, then it's like, okay, now if you stop the frame on this multiple times, especially when Cook has his back to the Twitter shot of the TV freeze frame, you're like, this is inexplicable. How in the world did it happen? But Brandon Cook's reaction to it, you know, was one of dejection. You gotta keep the ball through the process. And there's just one real speed. I had two people in the league, and they're not big. Sean Payton, guys both text me and say, guys, it's the right call. Don't go crazy. So I don't like it. I'd never seen it before. It felt so much to me like a catch. But the rules pretty clear. It's not played in screenshots. I thought replay actually diluted this. Usually it clarifies it. The slow mo stuff, it makes it look like more of a true catch than it is. And so. And again, do you really think the league office sent a memo? Let's get the beloved Bills and Josh Allen out of here now. When you go on the road and you give up two deep balls to Bo Nix for touchdowns, when you turn it over five times at this point, the cleaner team won every game. This weekend, four for four. Sean McDermott, though, devastated now out of a job at the time, devastated.
- [35:40]
Sean McDermott
It's hard for me to. And I've had a chance to look at. It's hard for me to understand why it was ruled the way it was ruled. And if it is ruled that way, then why wasn't it slowed down? Just to make sure that we have this right. So I'll just leave it at that. But I'm doing. I'm saying it because I'm standing up for Buffalo, damn it. I'm standing up for us. Because what went on is not. That is not how it should go down in my estimation.
- [36:09]
Jason McIntyre
Now, I will totally agree with Sean McDermott. I felt it was unnecessarily rushed There are those speculating that the Seahawks niner game had already been pushed back and they didn't want to go into 12 minutes of replay. That's not a good enough answer. I thought it was rushed. There is no hurry. None of us are going anywhere. Denver's not going anywhere. Buffalo's not going anywhere. You and I are watching it. We're not going anywhere. The fans aren't going anywhere. And that speed, that impatience, that's what makes this play. That's where you think, okay, well what's going on here? What's the big rush here? That again. And slow mo just doesn't make it look good for the league. We've been arguing forever. Full time officials. It's a zillion dollar league. What is the league a year 15, 18, 20 billion dollar league. Get full time officials. But I will agree with McDermott. The whole thing felt rushed and that just adds a dimension to an already rare play. Again, if you take out Buffalo, I mean the fact that it's Buffalo that loses this way, that it's rushed, that it is rare, that I've never seen that before. You add all these things together and I get rigged. Guy. But that's not the case. Fits the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. Everything tastes better after your team wins. So just imagine how truly tasty something would taste if it was doused in the original Louisiana hot sauce after your team wins. That's Louisiana hot. Buy you some. Seahawks favorite at home over the Rams. And the Patriots go on the road to face Jarrett Stidima, backup quarterback favorite over Denver and Sean Payton. You know, with New England, you know, a lot of people are like, you can tell. Well, they're not, they're not quite special enough. Was Mike vrabel a top five coach? Is Josh McDaniel a top three coordinator? Is Drake May a top ten quarterback? Their defense is top five. I mean, I don't see what people aren't seeing. They're absolutely good enough to win a Super Bowl. I don't think they should be favored. Their cornerbacks are outstanding. They get consistent pressure, they run the ball effectively. And you know, K Shan booty made the catch of the year, so I mean, Diggs was valuable. Drake May made three straight big throws on that one touchdown drive. They remind me a lot of the Belichick Brady Patriots where I'm not sure outside of quarterback. Drake May and Tom Brady outside of quarterback. I don't know if they're great anywhere, but they're really good everywhere and they're awful nowhere. And with NFL coaching, you just can't be bad anywhere. You can't have a massive hole. They don't. I mean, they struggled to block, you know, the rush ends for Houston. Will Anderson, good luck. He's our Lawrence Taylor. Nobody's blocking him. So Drake May against the number two defense in bad weather, three touchdowns and a one on one passer rating and good movement seems pretty good to me. They're very much like the old Patriots. They give you about one to two big plays offensively and when you need them to execute at a high level, they do. So if you look at the Patriots this year, including the playoffs, they're number one in yardage differential. They're number five in points a game, number three in points allowed. So New England, I lived there for a decade. The New England region isn't a flashy region. There's a ton of wealth. Newport, Rhode Island, Nantucket, the Cape, Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket. But it's not ostentatious considering the wealth. And that's a little bit like the Patriots. The Patriots in Boston appreciate intelligence and toughness and resilience and efficiency and discipline. And I kind of feel like the Patriots have always been the region. They're not going to be flashy despite having talent. Yes, Seattle's more dynamic and the Rams are more experienced and the Denver Broncos probably have a bit more of a star studded roster, but I absolutely believe New England is good enough to win the Super bowl. Vrabel's elite, Josh McDaniel's elite, Drake may is elite. Their receiving core in the last year is significantly better. Made huge plays. They can't put the ball on the carpet like they did against the Texans. But they're not lucky to be here. They outspent everybody in free agency. They nailed the draft. So there are four or five different rookies making big impacts. And again, their corners are like Seattle's. They are sticky. They are all over the receivers. I like New England a lot. I don't listen. Everybody's got a flaw. I don't trust the Rams special teams. Seahawks sometimes can turn it over. I still think offensive line for the Patriots is probably a draft away from being elite. But this reminds me a lot of the old Patriots. Same owner, same coordinator. A younger, more mobile quarterback who's not quite Brady in terms of pre snap and experience obviously and probably will never be quite that. But the only big difference is Vrabel. And Vrabel's like a more current Belichick he's more player friendly, more connected to the player. As an ex player, he's very, very current. Offensively, it feels like what I watched for years there. Here's Drake May after.
- [41:47]
Sam Darnold
It was hard in this league to run it when they know you're going to run it. And those guys were huge. And fourth quarter, I guess that's when crunch time is, you know, snow picked up a little bit and it was pretty sweet. Just the fans and the stadium. The atmosphere was pretty cool. We feel like we deserve to be here and we got times where we know we're going to have to be at our best when in critical moments. And it comes down to it's going to come down the end and it's going to come down to make. Making plays when you have them. And I gotta just, you know, keep on giving our child a chance to make plays. And I like our chances when with.
- [42:16]
Jason McIntyre
Those guys in those locker room, I've said this. Sometimes the team becomes the city. Every great Laker team has been kind of flashy, right? Like every great Patriot team has been resilient, smart and physically tough and efficient. And that's what they pride themselves in. Like Mike Vrabel feels like a Patriot coach. Belichick felt like a Patriot coach. And maybe it's just Bill started that whole thing, but I mean, Robert Kraft's a billionaire. He's still complaining about having to pay off Gerard Mayo. He felt terrible about that. This is just, you know, it's, it's. There's an old saying in New England, fences make good neighbors. They're not looking for validation outside of the region. They know what they are. They're good enough to win a Super Bowl. They got a little bit of a break. I would probably favor Denver with Bo Nick starting. I'd probably make them a one, one and a half, two point favor. But I don't think Jared Stidham, who's not been taking snaps all year, more of a scout team backup guy. I think that's a huge ask. But I, you know, one thing we know about these playoffs, expect the unexpected. The one team that nobody wants to talk about. I mean, everybody pick Houston, you know, and everybody was like, well, Drake May can't win his first playoff game. And now a Drake May can't beat Houston. I don't know. I look at New England, I don't see the big flaw. They were good all regular season. They're good now. They're going to be good next weekend. I don't see the hole. I think they're really, really good. Seattle Rams, Denver Patriots. Wow. I mean, every weekend gets better. Everything tastes better after your team wins. Wings, Nachos, Celery. Seriously, everything. Similarly, everything also tastes better once you've baptized it with a simple handcrafted flavor of the original Louisiana brand hot sauce. So just imagine how truly tasty something would taste if it was doused in the original Louisiana hot sauce after your team wins. It almost sounds too tasty.
- [44:20]
Colin Cowherd
Almost.
- [44:21]
Jason McIntyre
So come Saturday, Sunday, or any day football's played, head down to wherever you buy things to eat and grab some of the perfectly balanced heat. The original Louisiana hot sauce. That's Louisiana hot Bayou.
- [44:35]
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- [45:34]
Colin Cowherd
Your business this is an iHeart podcast.
- [45:38]
Jason McIntyre
Guaranteed Human.