← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 3 - Bruce Feldman previews the National Championship, Caleb Williams' improvement, Albert Breer
00:42:34
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast.
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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. We're gonna have a lively last hour. Bruce Feldman 10 minutes live from the college Football national championship tonight. Indiana favored by about a touchdown plus against the Miami Hurricanes. Bruce Feldman knows that Hurricane program inside and out. Indian of course, representing the Big Ten which has made massive strides as a conference the last couple of years. Albert Brear is going to be joining us in 40 minutes. Buffalo Bills the 10th coaching opening. Harbaugh Giants, Stefanski, Falcons is set. But the Bills lost another heartbreaker. Time for the hands at the hands of Sean Payton and the Broncos. The bigger news though, today, Sean McDermott officially out as head coach. And I think when you have Josh Allen, it's okay to demand greatness. Bill Walsh, Andy Reid, Jimmy 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 Nixon 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 mad at the officiating. I get it. But when John Elway was in Denver, they moved off Dan Reaves. Dan Reaves had been to three Super Bowls. Dan Reaves 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 per 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 Dable. 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?
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Bruce Feldman
It's extremely difficult.
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Colin Cowherd
I feel like I. I feel like I let my.
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Bruce Feldman
Let my teammates down tonight. It's been a long season.
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Colin Cowherd
I hate how it ended and that's.
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Bruce Feldman
It'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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Colin Cowherd
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 Jimmie 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 Dable, 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 McVay, the Rams prove once again, regardless of weather, 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 N8. 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 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 Carter. And let's pivot to college football live in Miami. The Miami Hurricanes. You know, you'd say it's a little bit of a home game against Indiana, the favorite Hoosiers, but the Hoosiers travel so well, they don't play second fiddle to anybody. All right, so you tell me we haven't seen it so far. I mean, I've seen one half this year at Penn State where Indiana looked a little vulnerable. Is there a way to exploit Indiana, Bruce? Do they have a weakness that can be exploited tonight?
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Bruce Feldman
I don't know if they have a weakness, really. Colin. It's a really good team on both sides of the ball. They're much improved from last year in the trenches, especially on the offensive line. Obviously. Fernando Mendoza, he's more of a running threat than what they had last year in Curtis Rourke, he's played in an incredibly high level. Charlie Becker, that guy has emerged in the last month of the season to be a big play guy. They already had a good receiving core. The biggest question mark here, I think is Miami is really good on both sides of the ball in the trenches. Mario Cristobal, Aldo line guy has a huge offensive line that's really physical. We saw them. They have run the ball in the playoff extremely well. Elite defensive ends, both guys are probably first round picks. They can get after you. Can they get pressure on Mendoza? Can they force some mistakes? But the biggest thing I think is can the Hurricanes do to Indiana what they've done to everybody else in the playoff? And that's run it down their throats.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, it's, you know, Mario Cristobal, for years and years, people said, well, you know, he's kind of a recruiter and I don't know, like I watched this team midseason, you know, lose to Louisville and then I watch him late beat Pittsburgh and then I watch him in the playoffs. Do you think to some degree, you know, we look at Signetti, he has a very Saban feel, the way he even speaks, you know, the efficiency. Are you surprised? The Miami team that you watched midseason, how surprised are you? And you know this program well, Bruce. They're playing for the Natty.
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Bruce Feldman
I'm surprised in that they had a Carson back, played a terrible game against Louisville. Through four picks, they lost that game. I think later in the year they started to get momentum. I remember this is the same team that beat Notre Dame. They're the only ones really shut down. Jeremiah Love so they are really good on defense and that's a big improvement. From last year. But I think Colin, when you, when you frame it that way, I think a lot of us felt like, hey, when they had Cam Ward, which was an even more explosive offense than what they have this year with Carson Beck, the defense let them down and they sell and they imploded and they made a lot of self inflicted mistakes and it cost them making the playoff last year. This team, different defensive coordinator under Corey Heatherman, they're more buttoned up and I think they are more to what Mario Cristobal wants to be, which is a bully. Mark Fletcher is a 6 to 230 pound running back and he ran all over, you know, a really talented. Probably the most talented defensive team that they faced so far was Ohio State. And they took it to Ohio State and they shut down Ohio State in the ways that honestly if you look at how they played, I mean that was Indiana's toughest game. It was 13 to 10. Now Julian saying can't run as well as Fernando Mendoza can. I think Fernando Mendoza is also more experienced quarterback. I think he's probably playing with a, with a different level of confidence and I think they have a better running game than Ohio State did. But on the Miami side, Mark Fletcher, the big running back, got healthy late in the year and he has run wild in the playoffs. And sometimes when teams get on a roll, it's interesting what confidence can do. And teams, especially with these long seasons can get a lot better or they can get a little worse or get banged up over the course of the year. I felt like Oregon was banged up by the end of the year. I felt like Alabama was kind of, you know, sputtering towards the finish line and, and Indiana just abused both of those teams. Miami is a different challenge. I'm not saying, you know, I understand why Indiana is a favorite, but I could definitely see why Miami could win this game. Because when I talk to a lot of coaches who played both teams, the biggest thing they would tell you about Indiana is you have to be patient against them. Oregon wasn't and you have to be comfortable trying to have 12, 13, 14 play drives. That's exactly what Mario Cristobal wants to do at Miami anyway.
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Colin Cowherd
You know, Carson Beck has been in this game before. I think one of the advantages, Miami is comfortable, they're closer to home playing in Miami. The second thing is Beck has been in this game a lot. Mendoza is a different level player. Mendoza looks like a franchise star right now. Beck is, you know, he'll probably get drafted there. There's a spot for him Maybe on Sundays, but let's go to his big games. Do you trust Carson Beck tonight? If he had. If he had to really play a great game, where do you land on him?
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Bruce Feldman
I trust Fernando Mendoza more. Here's the thing I've heard from, you know, somebody, a coach who played him this year put it, I thought very succinctly he was like, you can affect Fernando Mendoza. You can get him, you can get pressure on him, you can't rattle him. And what they mean by that is he can have a bad series, but when he comes back on the field, he's ready to go back to work.
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Albert Breer
Yeah.
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Bruce Feldman
And I think that's the part that I think makes him a little different. Look, we. We haven't seen Mendoza implode this year. We have seen that from Carson Beck. Yeah, I don't think Carson Beck needs to play a great game to beat him. He needs to play a really good game. I mean, the guy you're looking at right now, Malachi, Tony is elite. He is just a playmaker who shows up in all sorts of ways, whether it's on tunnel screens or downfield or in the run game cracking safeties. He's a really good player. They have enough weapons to be dangerous. Again, I don't know what you're going to get from Carson back. I mean, the reason why I picked Indiana to win the game is because I trust Fernando Mendoza right now more than I trust Carson back.
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Colin Cowherd
No, I feel the same way. I do think Indiana will be. There'll be some imperfections with. When you play with the physicality and speed of Miami, you just can't play a perfect football game. They put a lot of pressure on you. And so I got to, you know, it's just really interesting in this nil world potentially tonight, Indiana is going to be the third straight Big Ten team to win a natty. And at least Ohio State and Indiana have bulldozed a lot of these other teams. Are you surprised if Indiana wins tonight? Has the power. The paradigm shifted in college football powers up north. Is it definitive if they win and win comfortably tonight?
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Bruce Feldman
Yeah, I think you'd have to say that. You'd be a fool not to say it. I mean, look what has happened with the sec, you know, the record, you know, in the postseason. It's not been good. The closest thing to add to a team standing was Ole Miss. You know, you see the drop off where Alabama is. I mean, there's good teams. I think Texas is, you know, loaded up in the portal. They got Arch coming back they should be probably a top four team next year.
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Colin Cowherd
Yes.
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Bruce Feldman
But when you look at, you look at how things are setting up, I mean, Miami is built like a old school SEC team. That's what he wants to do and that's how they built it and they have the resources to do it. You know, and I look at some of these other teams, I think Kai Whittingham is a good fit for what Michigan wants to be. You know, Oregon has Dante Moore coming back. They're going to be super dangerous and they got a bunch of good D linemen and we know that Dan Lanning knows what he's doing in roster construction, you know, and so I think with that, I feel like the top of the SEC has fallen back. I mean, the league top to bottom is still really good. It's just, it doesn't have the same kind of elite teams that it used to. And those were the teams winning the championships, whether it was Alabama, Georgia or the 2019 LSU team.
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Colin Cowherd
Bruce Feldman, as always, appreciate you stopping by, bud.
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Bruce Feldman
Always a pleasure, Colin. Enjoy the game tonight.
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Colin Cowherd
All right, Bruce Feldman live from Miami. 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 Cavino 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 Coke Covino enrich live on YouTube every day. All you gotta do, search Covino Enrich 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.
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Bruce Feldman
No, no, no.
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Colin Cowherd
Turn on the news. This is the Herdline news.
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All right, Colin. Yeah, we're at 10 job openings. This offseason is staggering. I do wonder. Kevin Stefanski was just named the Falcons head coach. They announced him. I wonder if, like you said that just a little bit entered his mind where he was like, wonder if I can get to Buffalo. I think the Atlanta situation is Great. I think they've got an opportunity to be a real threat in the NFC next year. This is a good team, man. It just relies on Penix who I think Stefanski can fix. Stefanski, under 500 in six seasons with the Browns was the coach of the year twice because he got Baker to the playoffs and I believe Joe Flacco filled in and somehow Stefanski made some magic happen there. Your take on Stefanski, the Falcons, yeah.
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I mean it's a winnable division. They've got good offensive pieces. Kirk Cousins could be their starter. They've got Penix, they'll do that for a year and then they'll go get another quarterback probably. We'll see what Penix does develops health wise. But it's a good solid job. Arthur Blank is a better than Average owner. Top 10 owner in my opinion. So you know, good game day revenue. Winnable division. They've always got a little bit of money. It's an attractive free agent market. Stefanski is a bright guy. I think it's a good fit. I mean I think ideally if I would have known the Buffalo job was gonna open up. I mean I think most of us thought the Buffalo job. McDermott saved it with a win against Jacksonville, but it was the way it unraveled. Five turnovers in Denver. Bo Nix outplays him. Bo Nix is up and down the field, 300 plus yards. You know it's just Buffalo keeps finding ways to lose and I, and I think that opened up. I think Stefanski, you know, if you could have Josh Allen, you'd take Josh. Same with John Harbaugh. If John Harbaugh knew Buffalo was open that would be wildly attract active. But you know, it opened up late.
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I'm curious that division next year moderately interesting. Saints showed some improvement with Kellen Moore. Bucks are regressing. Carolina got to the playoffs with Bryce Young. I'm going to go ahead and I know we do this every year lose money on the Falcons betting. I'll take the Falcons to win the division next season. I think they've got the best coach in the division and Kevin Stefanski and I see you laughing because the Falcons always let us down. That's what they do. But is it too early? Ah, I guess we got to wait for you to see free agency. But are you as bullish on the Falcons as I am?
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I'm very bullish on Kevin Stefanski. Ownership's good, Stefanski's good, Weapons are good. Let's see what they do in the draft.
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All right, let's move on to John Harbaugh. He's going to the Giants. So I hosted with Rachel Friday and during the show there was this weird moment where I was like, yeah, deal's not signed. There's some verbiage being worked out. And it was like, wonder if that's about Joe Shane. Well, according to Albert Breer, one of the stipulations in the deal is that John Harbaugh will report directly to ownership rather than going through the gm. So Joe Shane is essentially powerless.
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That's good.
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This is going to be fascinating how.
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The GM over the weekend is when you pay a coach 20 million, he'll make the decisions. Now Harbaugh is a guy that probably wants a little say in personnel. Andy Reid's never wanted it. Not every coach wants to say in personnel. Sean Payton liked a lot of say. Jimmy Johnson was good at it. Liked a lot of say. Belichick was not good at it. Wanted to say so it just depends on the coach. But my take is when you're changing the culture and I do think the Giants are not that far away. Tight end, right tackle, another corner. Make sure Jackson Dart stays out of the blue tent. I think the Giants are going to be a 10 win team and a playoff team next year. Wow. 10.
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So who? I can't wait for the offseason. It's fun.
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Albert Breer
Let's get it.
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Colin Cowherd
Who are you pulling out of the playoffs? 10. 10 wins. 5.
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5 teams a year regress. It's just the way it works. Stafford retires after losing to Seattle or beating somebody in the Super Bowl. All of a sudden the Rams don't have a quarterback. You don't know.
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That's a good point. Final story, let's go to Major League Baseball. Colin, some news late last week kind of send shockwaves around the league. Kyle Tucker lands on the Dodgers. The Dodgers basically were favorites to begin with. They are trying to go for a three peat. But look at their World Series odds. This is a massive gap, a chasm if you will, between the Dodgers and my Yankees, followed by the Mariners, Blue Jays and company. But the Dodgers are overwhelming favorite for the record.
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The dodgers in Game 7 needed three or four miraculous things to happen to win the World Series. So they, they have scuffed through some of their playoff opponents. They've won two in a row, not five. Kyle Tucker, by the way, everybody in Chicago complained about him. He's not been a good postseason hitter. Now he goes to the Dodgers and it's totally unfair. The Dodgers got Kyle Tucker. The Cubs ended up getting an Upgrade. They got a Marlins pitcher, Cabrera, who's probably there too. Bregman at third base. There's no question the Cubs will be better next year. Also, the Yankees got Weathers in their starting staff. They'll be better next year. So the Yankees, the Cubs and the Dodgers all potentially got better. Not bad for baseball. For the record, the low payroll teams like the Mariners, brewers and Guardians should again be very good. They've got excellent foundational pieces. So we can stop whining about the little guy can't compete. Yes. At the end of a season, big money Toronto, big money Philadelphia, big money Yankees. For next year, by the way, the Cubs will be good. The Yankees will be good. I think the Red Sox will be good. The Dodgers will be good. The Padres will be good. If Houston can stay healthy, they'll be good. And there'll be plenty of small market. Seattle and Milwaukee were outstanding last year. Cleveland's got no money. Cleveland, didn't they win their division last year? So this idea, the little guy can't compete. Little guys aren't winning the World Series, but they're competing.
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So interesting story. Like a second leg to this. Colin. So you're on the ground, boots on the ground. In Chicago.
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Yeah.
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There are reports that one of the reasons Tucker was driven to the Dodgers is because of the quote, unquote, character assassination they were saying, does this guy love baseball?
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Yes.
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And they were kind of blaming Tucker a lot for their foibles. One guy doesn't win baseball.
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Here's the other thing. All they did in Chicago is complain about him.
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Yeah.
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And the minute he goes to the Dodgers, Cub fans are like, this is not fair. You complain about him the whole time you had him, and there's no guarantee he's going to be a great postseason player. And that's all the Dodgers care about. Ohtani couldn't hit in the postseason. There's no guarantee Kyle Tucker is going to explode. He wanted to go to the Dodgers. The big money earners in this, in the sport, the Yankees and Dodgers make the most money. The Cubs are third, by the way. The Cubs are the third team in terms of annual revenue. San Francisco Giants, I think are fourth. If they had a huge year at the gate. San Francisco's kind of struggling to sell some tickets, I've been told. But the idea the little guy can't compete. Pittsburgh hasn't competed for 40 years. That's not a Dodger problem.
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Yeah.
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Okay. Kansas City doesn't really compete. Cincinnati. Okay. Is that a Dodger problem? Nobody complained about this stuff. 25 years ago when the Yankees dominated the hot stove league, nobody complained about it. Now it's a real problem.
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So it's interesting because you know Tucker in Chicago, the spotlight's on him. You go to the Dodgers, you're just another guy. There's no pressure on him. He probably will deliver. It's like Ohtani Betts. The big names get the focus. Tucker's not a huge name with the Dodgers. With the Cubs though, different story, right?
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Yeah, there's a lot of pressure on him. J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie. I will tell you the one thing watching the Bears game and again the Rams didn't drop a pass, didn't have a penalty and didn't have a turnover. They played like incredibly clean considering the lousy, cold, windy, cold weather. But I will say this about Caleb Williams. I think he's so much better today than eight, nine weeks ago. Like people in Chicago get very, they have like, you know, media criticism syndrome. Like any criticism of Caleb Williams, they get very, very defensive. Listen, he does complete a lower percentage of throws and he had struggled a lot early this year in like the first half. They weren't as good. He was heroic and great in the fourth quarter, a little bit of a Bonicks comped in that term. They're great late, not always great early. But I think one of the things watching him against the Rams, he's not frenetic, he's very comfortable. He doesn't get sacked, you know, he's just a different quarterback. I don't care what the numbers say, I don't care what the completion percentage is show. Matt Stafford completed 50% of his throws. When you have weather like that. And Dennis Allen dialed up real pressure for Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford missed a half dozen throws in that game. Matt Stafford had some. He didn't have an interception. Stafford had a lot of misses in that game, a lot. And Caleb always has some. He's got a lot of horsepower and he fires it too high. I think Caleb's a much better different quarterback than eight, nine weeks ago. I think he looks way more comfortable. And people say, well, how come he doesn't run more? He doesn't run more because he's more comfortable in the pocket. He is doing a great job pre snap reading the defense. He is a different quarterback today than two months ago. I don't care what the numbers say. He is a much better quarterback today than two months ago. Here's Matt Hasselbeck earlier on his Growth.
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Matt Hasselbeck
He's gotten better each and every week. And I think one of the best things you can say about quarterback development is a team. You're developing your quarterback, your young quarterback as you're winning games. And that's what they did. They found ways to win. They were the cardiac Bears. No, this is, I think you got to be so excited. And I've said it like when you get the GM right, the head coach right, and the quarterback right, you know, kind of that triad. One heartbeat, one vision, we're all together and we all got each other's back. That's what Chicago has right now.
- [30:56]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, there's. I don't care about the data. More yards, more sensational, better time of possession, a lot of big plays. You know, you get into overtime and late fourth quarter, you got to be spectacular. And you also have to be super efficient. So I don't know. I think Chicago's future is really bright. They don't need a lot. They can use an edge rusher. I think they need to be a little more athletic at linebacker. Everybody in the world could use another corner. It's a cornerback starved league. The Rams are going to draft the corner or two. Seattle is one of the rare rosters that they don't really have a whole Seattle. Philadelphia is another roster. Not a lot of needs, although stories on Jalen hurts rubbing people the wrong way. But in a salary cap league, you know, usually, you know, you got this you need and that you need. Chicago's in a really good space. Albert Brear around the corner who's getting the Buffalo Bills job? Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. 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. Buy you some. It's like a year ago. We're like, you know, this league is unfair. If you don't have a Mahomes, if you don't have a Stafford, if you don't have a Josh Allen burrow, you can't compete for a Super Bowl. Now Josh Allen and Lamar are looking for coaches. Albert Brear is now joining us live. 10 job openings. Stefanski Harbaugh locked in to Atlanta and the Giants, respectively. Brian Dable. Let's start with this. How surprised were you? Many suspected the win over Jacksonville on the road saved McDermott's job. When the news came down first, 60 seconds, what was your thought?
- [32:58]
Albert Breer
Yeah, I was surprised, you know, and look, I think Sean McDermott was surprised there wasn't a ton of internal discussion about this before the playoffs. So it sort of felt like, yeah, if there's like a car wreck ending in the first round of the playoffs, then maybe something happens. But I'm with you. I thought once they got through Jacksonville, you know, you're going on the road to play the top. See at Broncos, you're a little nicked up. I figured he was probably going to be okay. I will say this, though. There was a different feel in that building the last couple of months. More tension, I think. More pressure on everybody. They realize what they've got in front of them, the opportunity that Josh Allen as a quarterback gives them. And I think some of that spilled out, Colin, after the game on Saturday. With Josh Allen's emotion and with, you know, Sean McDermott, you know, coming out against the referees and then circling back a couple hours later and doubling down, it just. It felt like there was a tremendous amount of pressure on a lot of people in that building over the last couple of months. And so was there a sense that something could happen? Absolutely. Was there some sort of like, long standing conversation about it internally? Not that I know of.
- [34:16]
Colin Cowherd
Listen, Brian Dabel seems obvious. He's got relationships in the building. He basically took this raw, gangly kid from Wyoming and turned him into a superstar. Now, Josh would have gotten better eventually, but it happened very quickly. He'd have to be the leader in the clubhouse. Right.
- [34:32]
Albert Breer
I think Joe Brady will get a look. You know, Brian Dayball is an obvious one. He's a western New York native, of course, spent time there, has a built in relationship with. With Josh Allen. So that's certainly somewhere to start. I think what is pretty apparent is this is going to be a Josh, Josh Allen centric hire. And so whatever it is that they do here is going to be about finding a way to maximize Josh Allen, to create some longevity for Josh Allen. I think back to what the Steelers did when they hired Todd Haley and really tried to coach into Ben Roethlisberger. If you want to have, you know, a second phase of your career, we're going to have to teach you to play point guard a little bit more. I could certainly see them bringing in somebody with the idea of doing that. I'd also tell you this. They have leverage like Baltimore and Pittsburgh do, you know, like they have the chance now to say we have Josh Allen. We have one of the best jobs in the market, if not the best job in the market. We have a rare opportunity for someone to come in here and coach Josh Allen as he goes into his age 30 season and really make his mark with Josh Allen and win a Super bowl with Josh Allen. And so I think that gives them the opportunity, A, to be patient. They don't need to rush anything here the way some other teams are going to rush to hire guys. Like, I think you'll see a little. Little bit of that over the next 36 to 48 hours. And then B, I think it gives you a chance to take your shot and look like. I'm not saying any of this is going to happen, but if you are them, don't you just call everybody to see if there's some situation that may have gone sideways somewhere in the. In the league? Now, the Rams and Niners aren't going to trade away Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan, but why not just call him? You know, so if there's any sitting head coach in the league, I think you can call those teams. You know, you. You can sniff around the college ranks, of course, but this is a job that is a premium job. And the Bills may have one shot to get this right, because if they're doing this again in four or five years, Josh Allen might not be the same player he is today based on the way he plays and the damage that's already been done to his body. And so, you know, I think they have. I have a lot to sell here, and we'll see what they can do with it.
- [36:44]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. I'll tell you, my first take is sometimes, I mean, the Raiders got very lucky if they hired Sean McDermott today with, you know, he's organized. There's no question Sean's a good coach. He's got eight playoff wins. I thought to myself, Mendoza, Brock Bowers, Ashton Genty, they got to fix their offensive line. I mean, if I was the Raiders and I wanted to organizationally improve, you can do a lot worse than Sean McDermott doesn't. I mean, that, to me, feels like a natural fit, doesn't it?
- [37:16]
Albert Breer
Yeah, I think Arizona is another one that would be after him. Does Tennessee, you know, if Jeff Athlete winds up accepting the Miami job this afternoon, does Tennessee, after, you know, interviewing Matt Nagy and Robert Sala today, do they say, okay, like, we at least want to have a conversation with Sean McDermott. Their. Their general manager, Mike Borgonzi, came from Kansas City, so he's Got the relationship with Andy Reid. We know how close Andy Reid and Sean McDermott are. You know, I'm with you on the Raiders. I think that would make sense. Tom Brady was in the division with Sean McDermott for three years when he was the quarterback of the Patriots. So she. He's well aware of what Sean McDermott pulled off with a franchise that had been out of the playoffs for 18 years. And the other one, that makes a ton of sense to me because I think, like you said, this is a credibility hire for somebody, right?
- [38:04]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [38:04]
Albert Breer
Somebody who might be a mess right now can instantly give themselves credibility by hiring Sean McDermott. Arizona makes sense, too. And you have some pieces in Arizona, you have guys like Paris Johnson and Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride and Walter Nolan. And so maybe you feel like you've got a chance, you got some pieces there, but you need somebody to give you some credibility as you work through a potential divorce with Kyler Murray. And you're going to be going back into the quarterback market at some point, and you bring in the guy who can give you that credibility and help start that quarterback process, as he did in Buffalo with Josh Allen. So I think Arizona would be another one that would make a lot of sense for Sean McDermott.
- [38:48]
Colin Cowherd
So the interesting one here, Pittsburgh doesn't ever look for a coach. They're not good at this stuff. So the Giants do. They nab their guy. Atlanta looks for coaches a lot. They nab their guy. Buffalo, through the years has done it, but the Steelers don't. And I'm hearing Chris Shula stuff, and I'm thinking, okay, so Chris Shula, if they beat Seattle, I mean, you're looking, you could hire, you could hire the seventh coach of 10, Pittsburgh. And also people say Mike McCarthy, but it isn't, you know, he and Aaron Rodgers, I mean, they can say stuff publicly. Kumbaya. I don't buy that they got tired of each other. What in the world is Pittsburgh do? How long are they going to sit around here and wait?
- [39:29]
Albert Breer
I think Pittsburgh's got, again, the leverage to be patient. And I think it's instructive with both them in Baltimore to look at their past and look at where they've been and what they've done. And so the last time those two franchises hired coaches was in 07 and 08, the Steelers in 07. Everyone thought that they were hiring either Russ Grimm or Ken Wizen. HUNT OFF BILL COWER STAFF yeah, the Steelers said, wait a minute, we're going to go through a full process. And those guys are Going to be a part of it. We'll see where it takes us. And they go and hire a guy who had one year of experience as a coordinator, and it was on the defensive side of the ball. And Mike Tomlin at 34 years old, and you see how that worked out. The Ravens the next year, again, there were some hot names out there. They were after Jason Garrett, who was the Cowboys offensive coordinator. They were after Josh McDaniels, who was the Patriots offensive coordinator. Both those guys pull their names out and they go and hire a special teams coach from Philadelphia and John Harbaugh. And obviously that really worked out. And so I think you look at the history that those two franchises have. The last time they were in this position, which was a long, long time ago, they went through a very full process. They found their own guy and they were able to do it their own way, and they really benefited from going through that entire process. So both those teams have either talked to or are scheduled to talk to a lot of people. And I don't think that that's any sort of song and dance. I think it's. It's a real intention to go through a real process. So I can tell you right now, the Steelers really like Chris Shula, right? I can tell you right now that the Ravens like Brian Flores, but it doesn't mean those guys are getting higher because they're going to go through the full process.
- [41:06]
Colin Cowherd
Hey, by the way, we got all these teams left. Privately, I think New England's better than people think. I think Seattle's the best team. I think the Rams are the only team left that could go to Seattle and beat them. I think Denver's good. I think Cinema put up a good fight, but he's not taking first team snaps. You don't get the run around Bo Nicks component to the offense. It feels like a New England. Listen, I think the fact that the Rams go to Chicago in that weather, no penalties, no drop passes and no turnovers, we're going to look back at that. If they end up in the Super Bowl. That's as clean a game as I've ever seen played in that kind of weather with a warm weather team. Do you have a favorite Seattle Rams? Is it right. Your. Your. Your opening thought?
- [41:51]
Albert Breer
I mean, I think Seattle is more complete.
- [41:54]
Colin Cowherd
Yes, yes.
- [41:55]
Albert Breer
The Rams have. The Rams have the trump card, which is Matthew Stafford. And I, I think like watching that game last night, I think really illustrates how this team has changed over the last three or four years. And you can go back right there. Was a point when Kyle Shanahan really had Sean McVay's number. And Sean analyzed it and looked at it and said, what aren't we doing right here? And he looked at what the Niners were doing, and they had more physical training camps. They hit more. Yes. They had more injuries, but they wound up being more rugged when it counted most.
- [42:27]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [42:28]
Albert Breer
So he goes and hires Michael Fluor, who had been in San Francisco, as his offensive coordinator. He hires a couple of New England assistants in Ryan Wendell and Nick Cayley. And it was all in an effort to get tougher and more rugged. They now have those backs and Kyron Williams and Blake Corum along that defensive line. Look at who they got. Big tough guys. Right. Like Braden Fisk and. And Jared Verse and Byron Young and Kobe Turner. This is a very rugged Rams team. A really different Rams team than you had three or four years ago. Not to say it's a better team, but it was on display yesterday. Right. Like it was on display yesterday. In those conditions, you need to be that kind of team to win. And so I think I see a toughness with the Rams team that's going to keep the game close against Seattle.
- [43:12]
Colin Cowherd
Yep.
- [43:13]
Albert Breer
And it's just tough to bet against Matthew Stafford if this thing goes down and. And it's 21, 21 with five minutes left and the Rams have the ball. It's really tough to get to bet against Matthew Stafford in that circumstance. So again, I think Seattle has the most complete team in football right now. The most complete team, certainly this left in the playoffs. But the Rams have that trump card and we'll see what it looks like. Obviously, they played an epic game just a month ago on that Thursday night.
- [43:40]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, God. Albert Brer. Great stuff. Monday morning quarterback. Thank you. On late notice, bud.
- [43:46]
Albert Breer
All right. Thanks, Colin.
- [43:48]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, it's that. That is. Listen, I think we all felt this in Week 7 or 8 or 9, like the Rams and the Seahawks, when you watch those games, I mean, you know San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan can move the ball against everybody. Except we discovered Seattle can't move it at all with Kittle or without. Can't move it. The Rams have moved the ball. And I. I know I'm keep saying this. The Rams did not have a penalty or a drop pass or a turnover. And they ran. Kyron Williams, I think, had like 20, 21 carries and they were just pulling at him. And Puk had five or six catches and they're pulling at him. Ball never hits the ground for a warm weather dome team. Or whatever we categorize sofa, semi dome to go on the road and play in cold weather. I stepped outside for 90 seconds. I don't know. That is. That was impressive. Rams may have only had three drives. Those came at the right time. Their first drive, one of their last drives, and then in overtime. That was impressive. Impressive stuff. What a day 10 coaching. I mean, listen good coaches. Sean McDermott's available. Kevin Stabanski was available. John Harbaugh was available. 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.
- [45:28]
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- [45:31]
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