← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 1 - The Tush Push is on life support, issues between Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson
00:41:32
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
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- [01:40]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
If you're going to go to the.
- [01:41]
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
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- [02:18]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Life thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon.
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Sponsor/Advertisement Voice
To 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific.
- [02:28]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
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. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It is a Thursday. Man, we got a good show. I'm in Chicago where the weather is perfect. It's beautiful. It's 70 degrees. J. Mac, how how's the weather in Los Angeles this morning?
- [03:00]
Colin Cowherd
We we got some rain this morning. First time in six months LA is panicking.
- [03:05]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Colin, that is funny. Yeah. So I was thinking about this this morning. I was thinking about the Tush push. And so Adam Scheft wrote a story yesterday like, people are gonna get rid of the tush push. And I was thinking about this stuff changes all the time in sports because of the way it looks and because this takes a while. It's ugly. It's hard to officiate. You unpile people. It's not great television. I mean, the NBA got rid of the Hack a Shack. Hack a Shack was brilliant strategy by Mike Dunleavy. They didn't like the way it looked. Shaq clanking free throws, baseball got rid of the defensive shift. It was great strategy. But they wanted more runners on the bases, more of their stars on the bases. It was great strategy, both the Hacker Shack and the defensive shift. And I don't like it. The Tush Push is great strategy. I mean, the NFL got rid of the or changed the catch rule. They thought players were making these dramatic catches. Fantasy football fans were like, yeah, it doesn't count. And it was like, that's a bunch. It was a buzz kill. So they changed the catch rule. So if you're bobbling it, you've got control of it. It's like I say with my iPhone, if I'm clutching it, I clearly have my iPhone. But even when I let it just sit on my hand that it can move a little, I still have control of my iPhone. It's still in my possession. And that's what the NFL did with the catch. You still possess it, even if the ball moves a little within your grasp. And it was the right move. But I do think there's a legitimate three reasons, maybe four, to legitimately keep the Tush push. Number one, it is a football play. I watch football games and that's a play during the games. It's not rugby. It is a play during a football game. It's a football play. Second, if it was just about the offensive line, the Lions would do it. The Lions have a great offensive line. So do the Broncos. You ever see Bo Nicks 2 weeks ago, try his version of the Tush plush? It was a disaster. And by the way, Jared Goff can't do it. It's only about Jalen hurts his all pro center left. They're better at it. This year, they do it more this year it's about Jalen hurts his number one asset. He's the strongest quarterback probably in league history. Pound for Pound we don't tell Lamar Jackson to run less. We don't tell Mahomes not to throw sidearm or left handed. Why take away the number one asset for one of the star quarterbacks in the league? So and so there are reasons to keep it. But I think this is what's happening and this is the problem. They're using it too much. The defensive shift had Joe Madden used it once a series against the dead pole hitter. You could have it. He started using it all the time. The NBA doesn't mind the three point shot, but when the Knicks and the Celtics meet and shoot 97 in a playoff game, it's bad television. And Adam Silver says we may have to change it. Remember, the IRS changes tax laws and tax codes all the time when they think something's being manipulated or used to hurt other people. And I think that's the problem this year. Think about this. Jalen Hurts has attempted the tush push more than balls thrown down the field. 10 plus yards and 60% of league revenues come from television. They're overusing it. I contend if you had one kickoff a game, they wouldn't have changed the rules. But when you have eight or nine concussions, numbers go up again. Even speeding on the freeway, you can go six to seven miles an hour over the speed limit. It's not called anything other than the speed limit. And yet law enforcement allows you to go seven miles an hour over it. 10, 15, 20. Trouble. So this thing would be allowed the defensive shift if Shaq hack a shack had happened once. But when it becomes protocol, the NFL is like, okay, you're doing it now more than you throw the ball down the field. And I think that is going to end it. I mean, the last time it went up for a vote, it passed. So there's a, there's a strong belief that they created it, they want a Super bowl with it. They're great at it and they're the only team doing it. I mean, Josh Allen tried it. Most talented quarterback in the league. He can't do it. Bo Nicks tried it two weeks ago with a great O line. He can't do it. Jared Goff can't do it with a great O line. Herbert can't do it. One guy can do it. Why punish him? Because he's doing it too often. That's it. Adam Silver doesn't mind the three. He doesn't want the Knicks and Celtics shooting 97 of them. Here's Nick Sirianni on his best play. That may be taken away.
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Ashley Fox
I think it's an exciting play. I mean, obviously there's been a lot of discussion about it and I think, you know, when you bring more discussion about a play, it brings more attention to football. I always think there's a beauty too, and like everyone knows what you're going to run and you can still get the. I mean, isn't that football?
- [08:19]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Yes, to a large degree it is. But there's a lot of things in life. You know, golf is a lot of fun, but if I was doing it six days a week and wasn't doing my fair share at the house and would probably say want to scale back on golf. But I do it in the summer, twice a week. I don't come home exhausted or drunk. I hit golf balls for a couple hours. I'm back. So golf is fun. There's a limit to everything. All right, this, this is. We have ourselves an issue in Chicago Cowboys Bears this weekend on fox. Must Watch. Bears are worse than we thought. Dallas better than we thought. So Ben Johnson said this yesterday. I'm going to read it slowly about the Bears practice habits. I'm going to read this. We talk about it all the time. We should be going at football very hard, finishing hard. Our offensive players, their fundamentals, our finish, our technique. They need to show up on the practice field. That's how it shows up on game day. Simple things like how do we properly block, how do we catch a ball, how do we block after the catch ball, security, things like that. That stuff you should know in youth league. Okay, now think about this. He's not criticizing defense that just gave up 50 plus points. He's not criticizing special teams. He's criticizing the offense. Who's the leader of the offense? Caleb Williams. So he's also criticizing the lack of fundamentals. You, he said, quote here little things that you learn in youth league, you know, like blocking and tackling and finishing plays hard. And I mention this because that's Caleb's number one problem. It's not horsepower, arm strength, mobility, it's footwork. It's mechanics. It's pre snap. It's the basics. And I want to take you. I don't think this is a small thing. There have been two times Ben Johnson has said things about the backup, Tyson Bajan. Here's the first. Listen closely.
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Ben Johnson
I've really been blown away by his approach from the spring to the start of camp to where we are now. He does a tremendous job knowing what to do, how to do it and getting it done.
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Basically, he's saying he's really good with the fundamentals, which is what he's criticizing when. With the current offense, only with this quarterback. So when he said, oh, I really like Tyson Bean, it wasn't horsepower, it was fundamentals. The exact thing he's criticizing now. But here's another one. This is even more damning from Ben Johnson.
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Ben Johnson
He and I are probably wired very similar. Just the enters a room. He's. He's usually all business. We try to loosen him up.
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
So.
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Ben Johnson
Because he. I mean, he. He's so serious about his job. He wants to do so well, and he wants the team to do well that he's always locked in. So we. I can appreciate that about him because I can relate.
- [11:30]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
I gotta be honest. I mean, if you said that to your wife, you know, I really. I work with Cindy. We have a lot in common. We really relate. Like, I totally get what she's saying. She's so sharp. Yeah. Don't let your husband go to a Coldplay concert. Okay. Like, you got a problem coming. You may want to get ahold of a divorce attorney. You don't have to be a marriage counselor for 35 years to figure this out. He talks about how much he loved fundamentals with Tyson Bagen. Now he's criticizing the lack of fundamentals. You know, we have a lot in common. I mean, our brains work the same way. Yeah. Maybe that business trip, try to talk your husband out of it. Like, something here is not good. I mean, to say all this stuff publicly about the backup. He's sharp, great with fundamentals, man. We think the same way. That's what I've complained about Caleb and Ben Johnson. Not the lack of talent, the lack of symmetry, the lack of chemistry, the lack stylistically, aesthetically, optically, they're just different. One guy is all about stacking and system and timing and rhythm, and the other guy is just this artist who paints the fingernails, ad libs, huge arm, momentum plays, little hero ball. They're just different cats, just different dudes. So I don't think those bites. I mean, when I read that this morning, complaining about fundamentals, my first thought is, that's what you loved about the backup a month ago. You kept going on about, oh, he's so sharp. The pre snap stuff, the fundamentals. Because just like Kyle Shanahan, Ben Johnson, at his core, designs a play and wants you to follow it. And he knows it's a complicated play and it's got to be fundamentally strong. Get the pre snap down. Let's get the operations down. You can hero ball it twice. Three times a game but run my play. I don't know. I'm trying to be positive here. I mean, at least our weather is good, but the stuff is jumping out to me. Greg Cosell, 50 minutes from now. Can't wait for today. J. Mac Urban Meyer stops by as well. You and I talk a lot. We talk about bets we like a lot. I have the blazing five. You have tomorrow's headlines.
- [14:05]
Colin Cowherd
Have you put in the blazing five? Colin?
- [14:07]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
I've got. I always have. Seven on Thursday, six tomorrow morning show.
- [14:11]
Colin Cowherd
I drop one because you open with the Eagles in the tush push. We saw the way the refs were talking to the Chargers. Remember they flagged the Chargers Monday night for a tush push attempt and it was like, wait, well what's going. That's never flagged. McVeigh's talking about it. Hey, maybe I need to go to the league office. Colin. If all of a sudden the tush push is removed and the referees are going to referee it differently, I think this hurts the Eagles. Honestly, I don't be careful backing them this weekend against we're going to see at least one flag for sure against the Eagles for the church push. They're going to, they're going to do something.
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Yeah, I mean it's. There is a way to manipulate officiating. Not all officiating crews are the same. Phil Jackson used to talk about that in the NBA. Some guys allow stuff Herm Edwards, Bill Belichick. Brady's talked about that before. Some officiating crews call more holding than others. Some officiating crews let defensive backs handsy with wide receivers down the field. So I think what, what will happen is I think all eyes you're seeing all these discussions. All eyes will will be on the offensive line leaving early. So Philadelphia will have to be on their best behavior. Tush push or not, I think the Rams actually match up with Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not throwing the ball down the field at all. Secondly, the Rams, Pukinuku and Devonte Adams, one of those is going to be open against the Eagles secondary because right now they're struggling at one of their corner spots. So it's a good matchup. It's in Philly that matters. You know you you that there's a reason they're favorites but I do like the Rams. Plus the three and a half. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.
- [15:56]
Rob Parker
Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the eye test, we've got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
- [16:26]
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- [18:45]
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- [19:16]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
You're now entering the no bull zone sponsored by credible great rates. None of the bull. So sometimes I just like to play soundbites from Aaron Rodgers because he uses words no other guy I ever know would use in a public setting. And so Aaron is talking about that. The game this week as they go to New England. I actually think Pittsburgh's the interesting side here. They could have, I mean, they just basically forgot how to play football. Forgot basic rules at home against Seattle. Then they had a ball that should have been a touchdown, a receiver made a mistake, it got tipped and interception intercepted in the end zone. Seattle, I thought was the better team going in. I had talked about that, but I did think Pittsburgh could have served itself much better in the second half. So now New England comes up and here's Aaron talking about next game up.
- [20:07]
Ashley Fox
I don't like getting too binary, but winning, that's a good response. But we can't get attached to the, the binary system that, that our league is judged on necessarily because it is a 17 game season and the process has to be great. So just dig into the details in the process, enjoy it, practice well, and then let game day take care of itself.
- [20:30]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Yeah, I don't know about the whole binary system, but winning cures everything in the NFL and sometimes you get lucky. And the next four weeks, who. Here's who. The Steelers are playing a franchise with six Super Bowls, so I hold you to a higher level. They're playing Drake, May, Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco and Jake Browning. So if they don't go four, no, we got problems. Regardless of what binary system you're dealing with. Joe Burrow. Pittsburgh's gotten very lucky. Joe Burrow gets hurt and he won't play the two times Pittsburgh's gonna face him. If you look at the schedule, they face Miami. Week 15, Miami could be in full tank mode. It's after the trade deadline. They may sell off players for picks and they may have an interim coach. Then they played the Ravens in week 18, and I think it's realistic to think the Ravens are going to win this now without Joe Burrow going away. And we'll be resting starters. So you get two Jake Brownings, a Miami team that I would Bet at the trade deadline is moving off players and a Ravens team resting starters in the final regular season week. So not all 10 and sevens are equal. Because the problem for the Steelers in the last decade has not been that they don't win. It's that they don't beat good teams and great quarterbacks. So all I care about with the Steelers this year is five games in the regular season. Week 8, Green Bay and Jordan Love. Week 10, Justin Herbert and the Chargers. Week 13, Josh Allen at home, Bills. Week 14 at Lamar Jackson and then Week 16 Jared Goff and the Lions personnel. That's the season I don't care about the Falcons or. Or beating Jake Browning. Well, Colin, that's not fair. You've got six trophies. I judge Georgia football different than Purdue. Okay? You got six trophies. So there's a lot of breaks teams get. And playing Jake Browning over Joe Burrow twice, getting a tanking Miami after the trade deadline. Ravens in the final week, resting starters are breaks. And if you think I'm being hard, remember last year The Steelers were 10 and 3. At one point I was getting a lot of heat from Steeler Nation. Then they lost five straight.
- [22:45]
Colin Cowherd
Lookie here.
- [22:45]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Who are the quarterbacks? Lamar Jackson twice Mahomes Hurts. And Joe Burrow. Oh, they lost all those games. Yeah. Suddenly, apparently the Internet went out in Pittsburgh. Never got any feedback after that. Certainly no pushback. So I'm going to judge Pittsburgh, whatever binary system it is. I'm judging them on wins over good teams. And in the next month you get young Drake May a rebuilding Patriot team. Yes, they still are. Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz and Jake Browning. You got to go four. No Jay McLean news. No, no, no.
- [23:24]
Promo Voice
Turn on the news.
- [23:25]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
This is the Herd line news. All right, cowherd.
- [23:29]
Colin Cowherd
We're starting with the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the biggest disappointments through two weeks in the league. Mahomes, it's a three game losing streak and he's. It's for the first time in his career, he's 0 and 2. The offense has been dreadful. I'm going to talk about the defense in a moment, but Mahomes, he's taking singular blame. It's all on him.
- [23:50]
Patrick Mahomes
For myself just being better at executing in some of those earlier moments in the game especially, I mean, there was guys open, obviously, no early. But even more than that, just if I kind of sit in that talking a little bit longer, trust those guys, get the ball to the guys down the field, I feel like we can make some more explosive plays.
- [24:08]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
That's not what my eyes tell me. My eyes tell me guys aren't getting open that my eyes tell me that Mahomes is actually playing really well, but he's got no run game, doesn't trust his own line and doesn't have a number one or two receiver. That's. And by the way, the Travis Kelce drop that became a pick was the ball game. I mean, that was the ball. If you're watching that game like I was, I was thinking, and you were watching it thinking, is Kansas City going to steal this thing? And then the minute Philadelphia picked it off and went off to the races, you're like, okay, game's over.
- [24:35]
Colin Cowherd
Well, there was still like nine minutes left, but yes, that was a massive swing in the game. Colin, I need to ask you about this. So, you know, we look at the trenches, are everything, right? You, offensive line, defensive line, pressure rate, can you pressure the quarterback?
- [24:48]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Right.
- [24:49]
Colin Cowherd
The Chiefs are number one in the NFL and blitz percentage, but it's not correlating with pressure because they're only 26th in pressure rate. They can't get to the quarterback with four or with the blitz.
- [25:01]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Okay, so here's my. What, what, what? Don't they have an edge rusher? No, they don't have a run game. Oh. So the defense, they are doing their series. Their defense is on the field too much. And I've said this before, one of the components to having a great defense, Baltimore always has one. They always run the ball well. So when your defense is only on its 43rd defensive snap, late third quarter, because it's harder to play defense. You're pursuing, you're chasing, you don't know the play. So it's, I mean, we've had people on the show. It's harder to play defense. You are constantly pursuing, right. You. And by the way, if you're not running hard to the very end of a play, it'll show up on the film role Monday and Tuesday in front of your entire team and the coach will call you out. Offensive players and offensive linemen, running back flies through. You just watch the play. Half the team watches the play. So my point is, look at the defenses in this league. The really good defenses are almost always aligned with a run game. Kansas City cannot run the ball.
- [26:03]
Colin Cowherd
And they're good. The defense is gassed in the fourth. The Chargers got the first downs they needed. Eagles ice the game.
- [26:08]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Look at the, look at the Eagles and look at Justin Herbert in the second half against Kansas City.
- [26:13]
Colin Cowherd
Lights out.
- [26:14]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
The defense is on the field. Too many snaps so let me ask.
- [26:17]
Colin Cowherd
Let's spin this to the Giants game on Monday. Is there a world where this is closer than the.
- [26:22]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Than.
- [26:22]
Colin Cowherd
Than the experts think? Everybody thinks. Oh, Chiefs are fine. Like, if you're not going to pressure Russell Wilson, Malik Neighbors is good. I know McDuffie got torched by Devonte Smith. He's more of a slot guy than on the outside. I'm telling you, Neighbors will torch him.
- [26:34]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Well, yeah, there's a world where this.
- [26:36]
Colin Cowherd
Is an interesting game.
- [26:38]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Yeah. I mean, they were in two interesting games with the Raiders last year. The, The. The Chiefs no longer blow out teams. All their games are interesting. Yeah. So, I mean, to. It's not. And, and, And I think Russell showed. I mean, he's. He made a bad throw in the. I think it was overtime when he lost to Dak and the Cowboys. But I think when, when people say, will the game be interesting? Every single game for the Chiefs last year, even against bad teams, was interesting.
- [27:05]
Colin Cowherd
They just happen to go 11 and oh in those interesting games.
- [27:08]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Right.
- [27:09]
Colin Cowherd
One final note. Mahomes, I didn't even realize this. He's at 58% completion through two games. 58% for Patrick Mahomes.
- [27:18]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
By the way, the Chiefs running backs are averaging 16 rushing yards per game this season. 16.
- [27:26]
Colin Cowherd
If they're not getting right against the Giants, I think it's okay because they got the Ravens. After that, it's officially priced.
- [27:33]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
I think it's a. I think it's a 2420 game. I think it's very close. I'd probably take Kansas City because of Reed and Mahomes, but, yeah, I think it'll absolutely be clear they're not going to run the ball at all against the Giants.
- [27:42]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, that front is. Is nasty. All right, let's move on to The San Francisco 49ers, who kind of got some interesting news yesterday at practice when Kyle Shanahan, remember Brock Purdy, was supposed to be out two to four weeks. Kyle Shanahan came out and said there's a chance he could play. What? Against the Cardinals this week? Now, some people. Of course. Hold on, Colin. Some people are saying he saw Mac Jones light it up and he doesn't want to get Wally pipped. And I'm like, all right, settle down. I personally don't think he'll play, but go ahead, Go ahead.
- [28:09]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
No, I like San Francisco in this spot. This is one of the games I like. Arizona's all beat up on the. On the back end. No, I think general rule in pro sports is athletes come back in about half the time of the initial prognosis. They're young, good team doctors. And for the record, Mac Jones playing great. Don't kid yourself. It matters. Guys want to get back on the field.
- [28:34]
Colin Cowherd
You don't think when somebody fills in here and crushes it, I'm like, hey, honey, we got to get back from vacation early.
- [28:40]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Come on. I know you don't do that. No.
- [28:42]
Colin Cowherd
Hey, by the way, I know the Cardinals, they're secondary. You got to check that injury report. But for the 49ers on Wednesday, I'm just going to read it. Nick Bosa was resting, did not practice. Juwan Jennings did not practice. Kyle Juszczyk did not practice. Christian McCaffrey. There's a theme here. Resting player, did not practice. I know some of these guys are veterans, okay, but this is early in the season for that.
- [29:05]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
No, but I mean, this is a trend I've seen for about five years when you get veteran coaches and veteran reliable players. This is a theme. Rams do this constantly. I don't check every team. This is Kyle giving the guys who play well that he needs and respect. Yeah. Did not practice. That doesn't mean anything. Ravens do that sometimes, too. I think this is a trend in the NFL is that especially when you play a division rival, you know their personnel, you know the quarterback. I mean, when you start playing division rivals, I mean, the games, you got a lot of tape. You got. You got six games of tape in the last three years. It's not like you're facing, as an NFC team, you're facing Lamar Jackson for the first time. It's like, yeah, I need my guys to practice. Yeah. And.
- [29:48]
Colin Cowherd
And Kyler Murray did have his way with the Niners last year. He had his two solid. Definitely one solid game.
- [29:53]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Yeah.
- [29:54]
Colin Cowherd
An upset. Final story. Colin Green Bay packers, number one in the herd hierarchy. The packers are big favorites over the Browns. We cautioned you guys against this yesterday. Kevin Stefanski knows that Matt LaFleur's offense is nothing to be trifled with.
- [30:11]
Ashley Fox
It's a tremendous offensive attack that Coach lafleur has going. Like we talked about the quarterback making great decisions, but they really do, to your point, Ashley, have the ability to throw it to all their guys, whether it's the receivers, the tight ends or the running back. So. And it comes in a variety of scheme. It can be hard play action shots down the field. They can spread you out very quickly with some of the things they do. They're an excellent motion team. So it's a great, great challenge.
- [30:38]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Yeah. When you watch the packers this year. Trust your eyes. They are the fastest offense in the league. Everybody can run. The quarterback, the running back, the tight ends. Kraft is going to be a six or seven time Pro Bowler. He is a stud and all their receivers can run. They have draft as well as the Rams have drafted on defense. The packers have arguably done better on offense. They're not missing on anybody.
- [31:02]
Colin Cowherd
Again. We I made a case for the Browns here yesterday not to win outright but for this to be closer. I think this number comes a lot down from eight and a half. Probably closes around a touchdown. Colin, let's just, let's be real here. We like the Packers. Their opener was against the Lions. They smashed them. That was an obvious we love that. Then they had Washington on a short week coming to Green Bay. Yeah I know two playoff teams but very favorable spots for the packers. This one with with Dallas next week. I, I, I think there's some caution here for Jordan Love against Miles Garrett and company.
- [31:33]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Well I'm my next story is going to touch on this Jmack with the news. Well that's the news and thanks for stopping by the Herd. So I love that J. Mac brought this up. You're going to love this. Jason Favorites in the NFL this year of at least 4 points are 12 and oh on the season. Why okay, this is something I've talked about for three years on the show. It's the disappearing middle class. In the NFL it's the disappearing middle class. So in any business when one thing primarily becomes the thing you have to have or do to succeed, that business becomes haves and have nots. And like in tech, if you don't embrace AI in five years, you're dead. Now everybody's going to obviously. But what the NFL has become to me over the last three years, it's not necessarily a bad thing. But I don't Love has become David Stern's NBA. David Stern, because he took over a dying NBA leaned into stars and market size. You could have two and three and four superstars on one team and if the big markets could afford them, so be it. Adam Silver doesn't like that. Adam Silver took over the NBA from David Stern where it was top heavy and Adam Silver said I want to make it more even. Well under Adam Silver, seven years, seven champs. We can argue which is better. But what the NFL has become is David Stearns NBA because the only way to win in this league consistently you have to have a great quarterback because of safety rules post CTE story and CTE 900 million dollar check written NFL for Texas quarterbacks as much as they can. And they've changed the legislation, the rules of the sport to favor the quarterbacks. So to me, the halves in the NFL right now, you have to have at least a B plus quarterback. The halves are Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City, Chargers, Cincy, when Joe Burrow is healthy, Texans and Denver. Those are the halves in the afc. In the nfc, it's Green Bay, Philly, Washington, San Francisco, Rams. Yes, Brock Purdy, Detroit, Tampa and Dallas. Fifteen teams. Now we can argue about. Sam Darnold certainly could argue about it. These are the absolute halves. In fact, if you go to the last four seasons in the NFL and look at the last 16 teams that have made a conference championship, it's only nine different organizations, but it's 16 teams. 15 of 16, 15 of 16 had a pro bowl quarterback, a quarterback that is at some point made a Pro Bowl. The exception is Jimmy Garoppolo, who under Kyle Shanahan was damn close to a Pro bowl quarterback. He isn't now. He wasn't before, but he was pretty darn good. He led Mahomes in the fourth quarter, completes one deep ball, beats Mahomes probably. So the reality is what you're seeing in the NFL is, and this is what's really changed for me, betting the NFL last year and a half. Blazing five is hard. Couldn't figure it out last year. I'm like, I was always a guy that took underdogs, especially if they had a viable quarterback. Favorites now. Cover one of my favorite bets next week. I like the Ravens over the Lions. They're a home favorite. They're a better team. Jared Goff's not the same outside at night as he is in a dome. And usually I'd be like, oh, I got Jared Goff. I got value. Like, no, I'll probably just take the favorite. I mean, tonight is not a game I would bet because it's a 12 plus spread. I stay away from those. I would take Buffalo. I would just take the big favorite. And I think there's a real gap in the league. It's very much David Stern's NBA. And I love David Stern's NBA. Adam Silver, some argue it's like the 70s NBA. We have no dynasties. But it's more even when you could win running the football, when you could win with defense and be a playoff team with running the football and defense. It wasn't as, you know, it wasn't as exciting, but it was more even. And by the way, you can criticize Jimmy Garoppolo but under as a Niner quarterback. Passer rating was 99 speed plus just didn't make a Pro Bowl. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
- [36:03]
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- [38:21]
Promo Voice
This episode is supported by FX's the Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawke. Allow us to introduce you to Lee Raybon, a quirky journalist, rare bookstore owner, unofficial truth seeker who is always on the tail of his latest conspiracy. This time, his most recent expose puts him head to head with A powerful family that rules Tulsa, meaning only one thing. He must be onto something big. FX is the Lowdown premieres September 23rd on FX, stream on Hulu.
- [38:53]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
Greg Kocell, Toppa next hour. My favorite 15 minutes of the week. The so I saw a headline this morning. It got me worked up as I was taking the train in a city with perfect weather this morning, J. Mac was driving trudging through the rainstorm, the tsunami in Los Angeles. So here's the headline I read. Caleb Williams was not the problem in the Bears blowout loss and this writer cites a bunch a bunch of stats. So you're going to notice this Great quarterbacks don't get blown out a lot. And there's free I'm not sure if it's still used, but I'm not going to mention the people who say this, but there's a couple broadcasters who say this a lot and it's just nonsense and they think they're smart when they say it. Winning is not a quarterback stat. Yeah, it is. It's funny. Mahomes, Montana and Brady always end up in the Super Bowl. What a coincidence. By the way, if winning isn't a quarterback stat, then why are these quarterbacks have the most wins? Brady, Manning, Breeze, Farve Rogers, LA Big Ben. Where's Jay Cutler? I don't. I don't see. Jay Cutler's not on that. That's interesting. Why? It's all they're all great. It's funny how it works. Like nobody would deny in that isn't that interesting? The most career quarterback wins all hall of Famers. Nobody would deny being taller and better looking is an advantage in life. Just opens doors. People want to be around you. Like nobody would deny that. There's studies they've looked at and they say yeah, it probably does help but yet nobody ever thinks about that goofy quarterback is not a winning stat. Or that's not what wins if you have a great quarterback. Three things are true that aren't necessarily with mediocre to bad quarterbacks. Number one, better coaches and coordinators are willing to move their families across town. Four better quarterbacks. Jim Harbaugh seemed kind of selective, didn't he? He was very interested in the Chargers. Because of their super bowl winning history? No, because of Justin Herbert. Jesse Minner's like, yeah, go look at, go look at the staff for Harbaugh. Very easy. I mean they didn't go to LA because it's inexpensive and you get a bigger home or their super bowl history. No, you get Herbert. So the better the quarterback, the easier it is to assemble a great staff. Second thing, it makes the draft easier. You don't have to for the next 15 years, ever draft in the first round, a quarterback again, you just find left tackles, edge rushers, weapons, centers, people to support him. Because quarterback is a 50, 50 miss proposition in the first round. You never have to worry about anything other than get the best player available. Not guess whether this quarterback will have the soul, the toughness, the cognitive ability. So it helps you in the draft. It makes drafting easier. And the third thing is stars already in the league want to play with great quarterbacks. It's funny, the Chargers called Keenan Allen. You want to come back. They couldn't get it out of the mouth. Yeah, I'll come back. I'll leave Chicago and I'll go to Los Angeles. It's funny, Mike Williams came back, Keenan Allen comes back. Jim Harbaugh, it's because of Justin Herbert. So this idea that quarterback's not a winning staff, if you get the quarterback right, it makes everything easier. Everything. I mean, Denver was a mess even after the first year. Sean Payton was there. They get Bo Nix and you're watching them like they should be two zero and all we're doing is complaining they have not played well. They should be two and oh, if not for a nebulous iffy call on the field goal, it'd be 20 and you'd be like, oh, okay. I mean, you start complaining about stuff when you have the right quarterback, that really is a privilege. You're complaining about your play calling in a win. You're complaining about, you know, man, yeah, we had too many penalties, we won, but I mean, we had too many penalties. That was Denver against Tennessee. So this when the reason that Caleb Williams is getting blown out. Too many three and outs, too many five or six and outs, there's no rhythm. You lose field position. When you have a quarterback that can't sustain drives, your defense is on the field longer and it plays worse. Go look at time of possession for bad quarterbacks and time of possession for many good quarterbacks. Right? Like, and I'm not saying coaches don't matter and environments don't matter. Matt Stafford wins a lot more with Sean McVeigh than he did in Detroit. I'm not saying coaches don't matter, but his idea that, you know, winning is not a quarterback stat. Well then why are all the greatest winning quarterbacks the winningest quarterbacks ever are all hall of Famers. It's just like being better looking or taller. It's an advantage. It just opens doors. It makes everything easier. You get more opportunities. You almost always win with a great quarterback, a field position. And that's what Bill Parcells used to talk about, the hidden yards in football, that you just get so many hidden yards. If you can pick up third downs and move the chains and win time of possession and over the course of a game, in your 13 possessions, if you are consistently week to week getting better field position, you have easier field goals to make. You can use more of your offensive packages like, so this. I. I mean, six of our last presidents, six of our last seven presidents have been like, tall. Like, go look at CEOs, tall CEOs. It matters. Quarterback winning. They go together, always have, always will. They do all the things that you can't necessarily figure out. And they feel like. I'm not sure. Better coaches apply for jobs with better quarterbacks. That. That's. That's the. By the way, a lot of people were interested in the Cowboys job with Dak. Jerry chose Brian Schottenheimer, somebody he knew. But the Cowboys with Dak, I mean, Vrabel would have been interested. Sean Payton at one time would have been interested. If the Cowboys had an opening next year, regardless of who Jerry Jones would hire, they would have people based on Dax play that would be like, oh, yeah, I can score 24 points a game with Dak. I can make. I can win playoff games with Dak. I was thinking about this with the Buffalo Bills. So sometimes, well, almost all the time. The reason LeBron, LeBron kept getting to the Eastern Conference finals and the NBA Finals. A big part of it was LeBron was good, but in equal measure, the Eastern Conference was awful. The minute LeBron goes over to the west, there are no guarantees. You're getting to the conference finals. The teams are better. Saban dominated a largely dysfunctional SEC the minute Texas came in with Sark and Kirby. Smart hit on Georgia. It wins. The wins didn't happen very easy, right? Like he was in it when Tennessee and Georgia couldn't get their life together. The Ole Miss didn't have Lane Kiffin for most of his stay at Alabama. Texas wasn't in it. Oklahoma, it's a different conference. Just remember this on the Buffalo Bills. Who's circling the drain right now in Week three? Miami jets again, by the way, who's circling the drain in the nfc? AFC North? Joe Burrow. Cincinnati, by the way, Green Bay's division. Minnesota, not sure what to do at quarterback. Chicago, a mess. Detroit regressed. If you're asking me my three favorites for the super bowl this year, Buffalo, Baltimore and Green Bay. Why? Because they're going to get buys or have more home games. Don't look at Tom Brady's career. He he always struggled in Denver. Tom got so many home games, largely because Buffalo and the jets were almost always dysfunctional and Miami was sometimes interesting but never great. So it's interesting watching Miami become the team that's really circling the drain. That is a big advantage. That's two wins, including tonight for Buffalo. The jets look like a bit of a circus. Justin Fields is hurt and New England's interesting but a mile away from being good. So the Joe Burrow interesting Joe the Joe Burrow injury and the Miami disaster. They're benefiting two of the three best quarterbacks in their conference, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. So that's and for the record, what have I said about Kansas City? Kansas City would be fine today if they were in the AFC or NFC South. Harbaugh, Sean Payton, Pete Carroll part of their success. I looked it up this morning. From 2017 to 2023, Denver, the Raiders and Chargers all had losing records. That was part of it. Home games, buys, playing at Arrowhead, Weather advantages. So I look at the packers, the Bills, the Ravens, all places that get cold in January and February, playoff time. All with great quarterbacks in their prime and all right now in their division. Dysfunction has erupted in the NFC north, the AFC north and with Miami in the AFC East. Packers, Bills, Ravens, it matters how good are your rivals or how dysfunctional are they?
- [49:26]
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- [50:41]
Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
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- [51:50]
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
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Jason McIntyre (J. Mac)
If you're ready to let go of the guilt, find the right food@hillspet.com iheart hillspet.com iheart this is an iheart podcast.