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Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 wherever you get your podcasts. Alienware's biggest sale of the season lets you unleash peak performance at Cyber Monday savings. Get the best prices of the year on select Alienware PCs like the groundbreaking Alienware 16 Area 51 gaming laptop, taking performance to the next level with Intel Core Ultra processors. Plus you can save on all the latest accessories and displays like the Alienware 32 4K QD OLED gaming monitor. Visit alienware.com deals before the lowest prices of the year go dark I'm Colin Coward from the Herd Whether you're a seasoned small business owner or thinking about getting started, you'll definitely want to check out season four of Mind the Business small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Inuit QuickBooks. In the latest season, hosts Austin Hanquitz and Jenise Torres are talking to self starters about the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and how QuickBooks helps you to get more done in less time. You don't want to miss it. Listen to Mind the Business small business success Stories on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Public Investing Sponsor
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work if want to. You it screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by public investing brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available@public.com Disclosures hi, it's Colin.
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Colin Cowherd
Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports radio at noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon. PAC. Find your local station for the herd at 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. Final hour. Urban Myers around the corner, man. Niners tonight. I'm rolling with a Niner, not blazing. 5. I don't know what you guys are doing on Friday. You may want to drop by the old radio TV show. Seriously, we need another fire extinguisher in this room real hot.
Tony Fusco
Wait, so Coward, are you doing picks for this week on Wednesday or Friday? Because here's three games on Christmas Day. Will you include those in the pick?
Colin Cowherd
Let me think about it.
Tony Fusco
10.
Colin Cowherd
Let me think about it.
Tony Fusco
I hope I can play by those rules as well for headlines because I'm looking, I'm like, I don't know if I can get picks by Wednesday.
Colin Cowherd
Well, I know when you only have so many games, you know, I didn't think yesterday was going to be that interesting. But then Saturday night was so unbelievable. And then you're watching New England. Last night was great. And then the. I mean that just the league's always entertaining. What can you say? I'm always entertained. Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. Hello. Held off. The Lions really controlled the game and to expand their division lead in the AFC North. And I've said this from the beginning, although Aaron Rodgers is merely duct taped for this offense he and Mike Tomlin, they make it work. So it's getting better. Aaron Rodgers said, you know, get me my guys, mvs, Adam Thielen and you know, it's typical Steeler fashion, a wide receiver, high maintenance drama, you know, you gotta always deal with that. And despite the fact that a 230 to 15 rush advantage, they had to hold on for dear life, it was Pittsburgh. But I will say this about Aaron. He's just a lot of quarterback play is just getting you out of trouble. He's made the offense slicker and smarter. You know, he just, he takes what's available. Not a lot of negative plays. Right now, Aaron Rodgers leads the entire NFL in fastest release. He's getting rid of the ball faster than any other quarterback. He's 42, he doesn't want to get hit and he doesn't want that cedar O line to get into trouble because they really don't have the kind of receiving core or consistent run game they did yesterday that can get them out of trouble. So Aaron's like, give me the ball, let's get it out. Stay ahead of the chains. I feel like Aaron has become like the oil, the lubrication for an offensive machine where the gears for the last seven years have been getting stuck and he just comes in, get rid of the ball, audible to the right play. Take what's available. Don't get greedy. It's really smart. And by the way, this is the most impressed I've been with Aaron Rodgers in a long time. Well, what about Green Bay? Everybody wins in Green Bay. Hell, Malik Willis looked great last Saturday. Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, Brett Favre, everybody looks good in Green Bay. The quarterbacks, backups come in. Malik, Willis, they're dynamic. This offense, Pittsburgh for seven years, they can't run the ball. The O line doesn't work. They, you know, turn style. Offensive coordinator. Aaron gets the credit for this. He gets the credit. The longer this goes on this season. Last three weeks brings his friends in at wide receiver. It's just, it works. Jalen Warren, two 45 yard runs dominate the Lions. Lions have their own problems, but you know, here's, you got Lamar Jackson, can't stay healthy. You got Joe Burrow, can't stay healthy. And Aaron's 42 and he's like, I'm staying healthy. I'm going to be available for my team. So he's just done all the little things. Well, it's amazing what coaching can do or really smart veteran quarterback play. It's not always what they do, it's what they don't do. They don't throw picks, they don't take bad sacks. You know, they audible in and out of trouble and into advantages. So Mike Tomlin, you know, you say what you want and I've had my grievances with Mike Tomlinson. Here they are again looking at a potential division championship.
Coach/Player Soundbite
Thankful of the fight and the win. And we'll keep pushing because that's what you got to do this time of year. Win or lose, you got to keep pushing. And we will. We're coming in tomorrow to watch the tape. We ain't got time for victory Mondays. And that's what I told the team.
Colin Cowherd
Okay, now let's go to the team that lost Detroit. One coach, one has really changed the direction of two franchises in the same division. Ben Johnson used to be at Detroit and wow, were they dynamic. The craziest third and fourth down team in the league. Look at him now. He left and went to Chicago. And The Bears are 11 and 4 and the best fourth quarter team in the NFL. For the record, the Cowboys weren't interested in Ben Johnson. Congratulations. But the Bears, who have poor ownership, I mean, like literally the poorest ownership and years of dysfunction upstairs and you watch them. Yeah, it's been a work in progress. But I've heard this before from athletes, the great athletes. And Caleb Williams is a generational talent. He is special. They want. Caleb Williams wanted to be coached hard. He said, there's nobody to watch film with me. He wanted to be coached hard. He wanted somebody to get on him. And enter Ben Johnson. I mean, Patrick Mahomes didn't become Patrick Mahomes because Andy Reid pandered. They disagree, the volume goes up.
Urban Meyer
So.
Colin Cowherd
And Caleb's got an ability to make the hard look easy. Sometimes the easy looks a little difficult. But the entire Bears organization, you know, again, once you get the coach right, Vrabel in New England, Sean Payton in Denver, Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers, Ben Johnson. It doesn't take long. Literally, it takes like six to eight weeks. You build the staff, you get the planning, and then slowly but surely you get into week six, week nine, week 12, week 15. You look up, this is a really good team. They do all the things that winning teams do. They win the turnover battle, they run the football. They've been lucky a little bit with health, mostly a very healthy team. They don't have negative plays. So you're seeing the same thing in New England with Vrabel, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh, I mean, last year, the Bears, just a simple thing. Last year, do you remember this? The Bears were the worst fourth quarter team in the league. They couldn't even script plays appropriately. Now third best. So they start smartly, they finish strongly. And again they've just gotten out of the stuff that loses games. No turnovers, no negative plays. The operation, the basic fundamentals, looks organized and. And then of course you have Caleb Williams, who really is a unique talent. Here's the walk off touchdown on the fake. Williams looking downfield, launching downfield, going for it all. It is caught. Bears win it. DJ Moore and great coaches are like great movie directors. You gotta let the star kind of do his thing. However, with a clear identity of what the movie is and what the game plan is. And people are going to say, well, I mean, the Bears got a little bit lucky. They recovered the onside kick. No timeout. They also had two game winning drives and they also, in overtime, stop the Packers. So it's not just. Well, teams block punts all the time, teams recover onside kicks. What do you do with the opportunities presented and well coached last night, New England could have lost that puppy. New England maybe gets a big interception or a fumble recovery. Well, what do they do with it? Well coached teams take advantage of those little breaks that every team in the league gets. Yep, the onside kick. Gotta be honest, that kind of surprised me. But it's what they did with it. And here's Caleb after I got the.
Urban Meyer
Best coach in the world, let's put it, let's put it that way. And we have the best coaching staff in the world. And so you put the talent with the coaches and the people that care. You can strive for anything, you can reach anything, you can go after any goal. And when you go out there in that football field, your belief is at all time high between players, between coaches. And you know, you have outcomes like this.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean, Chicago, two best drives, one to get it to overtime. One that wins it in overtime. You talk all you want about getting lucky. Every team gets the same amount of luck. Urban Meyer's around the corner. We've got four great games starting on New Year's Eve. Unbelievable college football playoff games coming up. 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, Paulie Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo, as everybody knows, we're the host of the award winning Paulie and Tony Fusco show.
Urban Meyer
Yeah.
Colin Cowherd
But instead of us telling you how great we are here's how Dan Patrick described us when he came on our show. Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated, blah blah blah blah blah. What are you doing? You're interrupting our promo. Yeah, he wasn't talking about you. You took those clips totally out of context. Oh yeah? Well after this promo I'm going to take you out and beat you. Let me put this into context. Shut up. Yeah. Anyway, just listen to the Paulie and Tony Fusco show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah.
Public Investing Sponsor
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member finra, SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures make your.
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Colin Cowherd
And we all know that every goal starts with an assist.
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Colin Cowherd
Okay.
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Colin Cowherd
Well, boy, we got some good games. Ohio State, Miami, you're talking probably the two best defenses in colle college football are going to meet in Miami. I'm going to give any college football team that can go on the road, Alabama and Miami and win. That's not as hard to do in the NFL. You got older players to get college guys to go on the road. I actually thought Miami got a break. It was a day game. So college football didn't want to go up against the NFL at night. And so Miami got a day game against a. To me that was a touchdown advantage. Huge break. Urban Meyer is now joining us live. Three time national championship coach. Okay, so Ryan Day. Because Brian Hartline took a new gig. Ryan Day's got to take over play calling. How's that make you feel? Do you like that?
Urban Meyer
Well, the last two national championships. We were part of first one in Florida. Dan Mullen left to become the head coach of Mississippi State and I made the decision to bring him back and it was, it was a. I mean, I had to stay on top of it because like it or not, that coach has now got a job. He's got a coach South. Brian Hartline is the head coach of South Florida. And then Tom Herman left to be the head coach at Houston and I brought him back. And you have to stay on it. Here's the difference. Ryan Day is an elite play caller, so there will be no drop off. He's knee deep in the offense. I think he made the right decision here. No offense to Brian Hartline, but Brian Hartline is the head coach of South Florida.
Colin Cowherd
Are you saying you weren't an elite play caller? You making it sound like. Were you more culture builder?
Urban Meyer
Yeah, and I was a special teams coordinator and I did more of the stuff.
Tito's Vodka Sponsor
Yeah.
Urban Meyer
You know, Ryan is. Ryan has been a play caller most of his career. He certainly was for me and I witnessed it. He's fantastic. So, yeah, if Ryan Day was not an elite play caller or has great experience doing it, I would have certainly brought the coordinator back.
Colin Cowherd
By the way, I, you know, everybody says Mario Cristobal can recruit. They don't like his game stuff. I don't know, I thought Miami, over the last three or four times I've watched him play, they just get. They've gotten better and better and better. To me, that's coaching. And I say it with, you know, your, your interpretation of what Miami presents for Ohio State and the challenges.
Urban Meyer
Well, last time we saw Ohio State, they struggled on offense against Indiana and Miami's offense. I'm really concerned about that. I've been concerned all year and I made the comment about Carson back that this will be the most, the most this game and the one he just played. And if every NFL scout is watching to say, can he be an NFL quarter? He's got all the tools, but just at times he's turned the ball over. So Miami, excellent. I don't put that on Carson Beck. I think they managed the game playing great defense.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
Urban Meyer
You know, you look at the end of the first half, Colin, they didn't really even try to go score. You know, they were just trained. They were. They had a good feel that their defense was going to just smother the A and M offense, which they did. And they managed a great game.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. You know, I agree with you. I think sometimes you as a coach can kind of feel like, we don't need to take big swings here. They're not. They're not marching down the field on us. So I got to tell you, Kaylin DeBoer gets a lot of crap. And my take is you can't stack your rosters like Nick did. Those days are over. Even Georgia doesn't look like they used to. Look, I thought. I mean, what did you. What was your interpretation of falling behind 17. Nothing. Coming back to win on the road. That does not happen a lot in college football against good teams.
Urban Meyer
Yeah. Our triple option podcast was live right before the game. We walked in there. I was with Coach Stoops, and that's one of the best college environments I've ever seen. And to fall behind like they did, I mean, they got punched right in the face. The crowd was behind. And we actually had Coach Deborah on today on the podcast, and I asked him. Every coach wants their team to hit adversity, yet not get injured and then also somehow win the game. It happened. So his team was. You know, his leadership was identified. That was one of the great performances here. Here's the thing about Alabama. Team B is not very good. That's the team that lost to Georgia in the. In the SEC championship in Florida State early. I mean, I don't know if I've seen a better. A worse discrepancy between the best version of themselves and the worst. The best version. I don't know who can beat them. That's how good I think they are. Their worst version. They're. They're. They're not very good. So somehow they got to get consistency. And if they play like they played in that second, you know, the last three quarters of that game, they'll be in a final game.
Colin Cowherd
Wow. There's been a lot of talk about Kalyn DeBoer going to Michigan. Do you buy that? Stop.
Urban Meyer
No chance.
Colin Cowherd
No chance.
Urban Meyer
No chance. He's in a. He's in Alabama. You don't leave Alabama to go anywhere. No. No chance. No.
Colin Cowherd
Well, Lincoln Riley to Oklahoma to go to usc. You coaches, you coaches, or sometimes, you know, you get. You get. You get crazy a little bit. So you think there's zero.
Urban Meyer
He's got a good infrastructure. You know, you saw Biff Poggy come out today and said, it's a malfunctioning organization, that. I think that that job's a complete. They're gonna have to. That's. It's a. Like, co. The coach is there instead. It's a malfunction. Think about what he just said. A malfunctioning organization the last five years. That's all that, that's hard to believe.
Colin Cowherd
So let me throw this out. Marcus Freeman. Apparently Notre Dame has signed rivalry games with byu, so and I think that's a great matchup. Byu, the former independent. Notre Dame, the partial independent. They should play each other. That's a good game. I'd like to watch that. But it says here they likely won't play USC until 2030. Now I'm for that. I'm not a traditionalist. I think usc, now they're in the Big Ten, does not need another cold weather game after they play Ohio State. I would say, okay, Notre Dame, you want to play me, gotta be in September. Two out of three games are in la. But Notre Dame's, you know, there's not gonna let that stuff happen. Are you bothered that USC and Notre Dame don't play?
Urban Meyer
I'm heartbroken. I am a traditionalist. I coached in that game when I was an assistant in Notre Dame. I love rivalries, I love the pageantry. I love, you know, the intersectional rivalry. And we're getting ready to witness the worst non conference scheduling in the history of our sport. It's, you know, Indiana played Old Dominion, Kennesaw State I believe they're called and Indiana State, that's. And they're the number one team in the land. So there's no reason to play a premier matchup. And it breaks my heart because I think that's awful for our sports. That's of all the things that got to get fixed in college football. That's either one area or one B that they not.
Colin Cowherd
You're getting ready.
Urban Meyer
Get ready.
Colin Cowherd
Colin.
Urban Meyer
You're going to see the worst Septembers you've ever seen in the game.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I've always had a theory. You should. You get one cupcake and then you get right into conference play. Especially now with the playoffs. We don't, we don't need Ohio State, Youngstown State, maybe one. Let's just get into the conference play. But you know, scheduling's always been weird. Okay, I want to give you these four games. I want an opinion on all of them. I like Ohio State by about a touchdown over Miami. I just, I think they have more weapons offensively. Ohio State 27, 20. What say you on that one?
Urban Meyer
I say that Ohio State scores two touchdowns, they win. I don't think the Miami's offense against the number one defense in the at Ohio State. From what I've been watching Miami, I think they're going to really struggle. I think Ohio State. Last time we saw them, they really struggled against Indiana offensively. So I'm saying 20 to 10, 20 to 10, 24 to 10, Ohio State.
Colin Cowherd
Okay, I'm going to go upset Texas Tech, who's being ignored, is going to upset Oregon. Oregon is good, but Oregon, Oregon can be beat. They're not quite as physically dominant as some of the other teams. I'm going to go Texas Tech with an upset. Who do you like?
Urban Meyer
Texas Tech. The only question is they played Utah and they beat him. We were there. Big Noon was there and then we saw him against BYU as well. They've only played BYU and Utah. Those are two toughest opponents. So the one issue that Texas Tech has, they're going to look across the field and see a team that has what they got, you know, or better, you know, their rosters. This will be the first matchup game that they've had all season. So I, I think the point spreads like one or one and a half. Yeah, I think it's a walk off either way. I think it's a. I'm going to probably pick Oregon, but I love Texas Tech.
Colin Cowherd
Okay. Alabama, Indiana. I like Indiana here. I think they've got two quality coaches, good college quarterbacks, both have excellent receivers. I think Indiana can run the ball a little bit, can control time of possession a little bit. I'm going to take Indiana. Where you land.
Urban Meyer
Yeah, Indiana. We've been covering them all year. We were at the Big Ten championship game and I, you know, I love to do this con. Love to walk next to their players and, and just get a feel for their size and their, their speed, athleticism. Indiana, you know, even I didn't give them enough credit. You know, they went toe to toe with the Buckeyes. And so I'm thinking again, this is a walk off that can go either way. It depends on if version A shows up of Alabama. Alabama wins that game. Alabama is a better, more talented team of team A shows up, but team A always doesn't show up. Team. The most consistent team in the country is Indiana. They always show up.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. All right. Finally, I'll take Georgia by about a touchdown over Ole Miss. Any different opinion there? I mean, Georgia's good.
Urban Meyer
I agree with you. I think Georgia, I'm saying Georgia is probably the team to beat right now from their performance against that, that, that was the best performance of 2025 was the Georgia against Alabama and the SEC championship. They were on fire. If they play like that, yeah, they'll.
Colin Cowherd
Win a bunch of close games. So it's not like George, the old Georgia three years ago, they played in a bunch of close games and they're winning them, so they're pretty good. So let me ask you this. You tell me. I'm crazy on this. So my, my take on the College Football Playoff. So in March Madness, you have far more teams, but you've got like 15 teams with no chance to either win a game. You got a bunch of nonsense, but it's part of the pageantry. It's part of the, it's, it's an exhibit, you know, part of what makes March Madness fun. If one of those teams pulls off an upset, it's like, awesome. But most of the teams get dragged and they're blown out and it's Carolina beating something called lipscomb by 30. Whatever. But everybody's okay with it. In college football, you've only got 12 teams, and we're outraged that there's two teams that can't compete. And my take is two's fine. If there were three to four, I wouldn't like it. But this point forward, I have the eight best teams in college football, and I'm okay with a couple of, you know, a couple of ugly little turbulent stuff. It bothers everybody. And my take is if you have a college football or basketball, lacrosse, hockey, if you have a college tournament and you invite a lot of people, you're going to get mismatches. That's just there. Otherwise, just have a 16 tournament. So. I wasn't bothered by James Madison or Tulane, were you?
Urban Meyer
I was, to a degree. Because I just don't think it's fair, you know, if the college football. There's only 12 teams. That's a big difference, like you mentioned, between March Madness and this one. You know, Texas plays Ohio State early in the season. They should have been in the playoff. I still don't. They got penalized for playing at Ohio State. Let James Madison or Tulango run up there and play in the Horseshoe and early, early in the season and see what happens. You know, that would be probably a 25 point spread or more. So, yeah, I'm, I just think you saw Notre Dame, you saw Texas. You imagine what those games could have and would have looked like if they would have played each other. And it, I don't, I don't know what anybody expected when James Madison had to go to Austin. They fought their ass off. I mean, they, they scored points on them. But you just watch the NFL draft. It's, it's, it's not even close. And then the same with Tulane. Playing the way they played, you know, that I. I just didn't know what people, you know, when I saw them coming up, the matchups, I'm like, what. What are we doing? You know, this doesn't make sense to me and I. I get what you're saying, but it's not March madness. There's only 12 teams.
Colin Cowherd
Urban Meyer, are you golfing today, tomorrow and the day after that.
Urban Meyer
Big step down from last week, though.
Colin Cowherd
You were at Augusta.
Urban Meyer
Augusta with Alex Smith, my old quarterback. We had a ball.
Colin Cowherd
Oh, he's one of the nicest guys. He is one of the.
Urban Meyer
Dude.
Colin Cowherd
He is great. All right, coach. Great seeing you.
Urban Meyer
Great seeing you. Stay warm.
Colin Cowherd
I am. I'll be golfing in Chicago when it gets warm. June 23. I kid because I care, you know? J. Mac with the news.
Coach/Player Soundbite
No, no, turn on the news. This is the Herd line news.
Tony Fusco
Buyer's remorse on the Midwest there. Okay, let's get to the Green Bay Packers. That came on Saturday night. Colin, what a thriller. Except for the fact that Jordan Love got knocked out. If you're watching on tv, Holy hell, look at this hit that he takes.
Colin Cowherd
Boom.
Tony Fusco
Now listen, some people are saying it was a dirty hit. Love lowered his head, you know, like, again, I'm not, you know, I don't know. Look at it. But he ducked into it and it was bad. He looked woozy. Packers fans obviously could serve well. Malik Willis took over. Colin, I'm sure you saw he ended up getting a big hit at the end of regulation.
Colin Cowherd
Malik played well. He was so good on third down.
Tony Fusco
Maybe the best backup in the league. He's up there, Mac Jones. But here's the bad news, Colin. We don't know if Malik Willis is going to be able to play this week. That would be crushing news. So the packers could turn to someone named Clayton Tune, aka Clayton Looney Tune, to be the quarterback for Week 17 trying to retain a playoff spot. Bad news is they go to play against Baltimore. Colin, this game is Saturday night. It could be third stringer Clayton Tune against backup Snoop Huntley. You're telling me the quarterback depth isn't an issue? That could be a big matchup Saturday night here in week 17.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean, listen, I. I still think there's a ton of star power. I know when the playoffs come around, I'm getting great young talent and then some Stafford and Aaron Rodgers and redemption stories like Darnold and Trevor Lawrence. So I think it's going to be great.
Tony Fusco
We need to recalibrate as we do the off season. Right what did the Bears do? You mentioned this early. They stole from the Chiefs. Fortifying where the offensive line.
Colin Cowherd
Tuney.
Tony Fusco
Right. They bolstered it. I think there will be a gold rush for offensive linemen. Anybody who's available. I'm grabbing them because that's the first easiest way to lose your quarterback. Jared Goff has struggled a lot. What happened? They didn't have a center. I think the most pivotal players this offseason will be offensive linemen. Do you agree?
Colin Cowherd
Well, I mean, yeah. I don't think it's a quarterback free agent class of note. I think I always said this league is A, find your quarterback, B, protect him. That's the first two things in this league. Andrew Luck and Indy. They couldn't protect him. He retired early. So I mean the first thing McVay did in LA went and got a left tackle for Jared Goff. Like so to me when I see and there's injuries, but if there's one area I would go into a season overpaying and have more players than I need, it would be my O line. Yeah.
Tony Fusco
And even when it comes to the draft, you know, reaching for a tackle, that's fine. Remember the Patriots were kind of people took shots at them for drafting Will Campbell. So early in the draft I think he went top five and they were like, oh, he's got short arms. Campbell's been terrific. And guess what? Campbell went down with the indies on ir. Now last week, tough struggle bus for Drake May. Now this week against the Ravens he was fine. But offensive line is everything. All right, let's move to the Carolina Panthers. Colin.
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Tony Fusco
Break up the Panthers and Bryce Young. Another game winning drive for the former number one pick. Colin.
Colin Cowherd
He was good.
Tony Fusco
Now I know he only threw for a buck 91, but he made the big throws. Look at that. Right over the shoulder to Coker. They've got a nice little receiving group. Here's Bryce Young.
Colin Cowherd
T Max. Great.
Tony Fusco
Oh, T Max. Outstanding. Here's Bryce Young on the grid. The Panthers show.
Coach/Player Soundbite
Coach talks about it all the time. Finish. That's something that we take a lot of pride in, that we carry into every aspect of who we are as a team. And you know, for us not to just talk it, but to walk it, to be resilient, to go and continue to battle. I wouldn't want to go to war with any other team.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean listen, half to half they're a bit inconsistent and it's not a terribly strong division. But I would say from an offensive standpoint, I think they had a Good draft and I think they get the most out of their talent and that's all you can ask. And I think, you know, Bryce doesn't have the strongest arm, but he's accurate, he moves well. I mean, he's a. They like him. I mean, Listen, he's got 32 touchdowns, nine picks, passer rating low 90s again. I think he got himself that fifth year extension. I, I think he's good enough. If he can stay healthy, they can keep surrounding him up front. The defense, they did good job. The defense got much better. It was awful last year. It's okay now. So I, it feels like they finally have, you know, David Tepper bought it. He was a little impulsive. Feels like they've taken a deep breath. They've reset with Canales Morgan. I. It's a real organization now. They outplayed Tampa, no question.
Tony Fusco
Oh yeah, Tampa's reeling. They've lost, I think six of seven. So Colin, what's the, what's the future for Bryce Young? You mentioned the fifth year extension. Yeah, I'm going to ask you. Could he be a version of what we're seeing with Baker Mayfield in Tampa and Sam Darnold in Seattle, can he be a version of that?
Colin Cowherd
Okay, so here's the thing. I wouldn't want him if it was cold weather. I mean, honestly, when you're talking about cold weather, Tua was a Pro Bowler in warm weather in Carolina. He's not a big, strong, he's not a 65 guy. He didn't have a huge arm, but he plays. That division's a warm weather division. I have no problem with Bryce Young. Spend some money in a warm weather division. I don't think he's all weather. He's not all terrain. That's not it. I mean, that's when you need a bigger, like Drake May is a. His ball cuts through it. He's a big kid. So I think Bryce Young, I mean, listen, you don't want to start over at quarterback now because he's been dinged up before. Fourth round, fifth round. Probably draft a quarterback and kind of groom him just in case. Yeah, but he's made himself some money.
Tony Fusco
I mean, you joke about me, I'm a warm weather, tank top guy. The cold weather, I shrivel up. I mean, it's tough. I'll just say this. I think at the right price, Carolina can build a contender in the nfc. Colin, like that division is a. We know it's a joke. Falcons can't get their act together. Bucks are reeling. I'm not believing the Tyler Schuck hype in New Orleans. If they can build wisely, they've got good receivers, two good backs, the offensive line is okay. The defense, as you said, is there. I think they can build a consistent 10 win team in that division with Bryce Young at the right price. Like 35,000 or, sorry, 35 mil. You know, that kind of contract.
Colin Cowherd
Final story.
Tony Fusco
Colin, let's go to boxing where we had. Yeah, we don't talk a lot of boxing here. So there was a quote unquote heavyweight matchup Saturday between YouTuber named Jake Paul against former heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua. It was on Netflix flicks. Joshua knocked him out in the sixth round. Actually broke Jake Paul's jaw in two places with that vicious right hand. I don't have a ton to add here, but I know you love.
Colin Cowherd
I mean, Joshua is one of the best, you know, he's one of the best fighters we've had in a decade. He could have knocked him out three punches in. I mean, you know, what Netflix does is fine with me. But I mean, it was, it was pretty obvious Joshua wasn't throwing his, his biggest stuff until later. I mean, he could have come out throwing blows first round and ended the fight. It was a total mismatch and everybody kind of knew it was. But, you know, I'm sure they, you know, it feels like there were certain instructions to. Let's not make this a 30 second fight. Interesting.
Urban Meyer
Okay.
Colin Cowherd
I mean, Joshua is a world class fighter.
Tony Fusco
He's 66240. Why is a guy 612415 getting in.
Colin Cowherd
The ring with him?
Tony Fusco
They're not even in the same weight class. I didn't understand this. I saw the highlights and the broken jaw X ray and I did hear from someone here on staff who was deeply close to this. Jake Paul got paid, you know, a YouTuber bringing an audience to Netflix got north of. I'm not even going to say the figure, but it's astronomical. Yeah, but is this, is this what we're, Is this boxing? This is what we're doing.
Colin Cowherd
More people watch that than we'll watch any other fight in the next 12 months. So, I mean, whether it's right or wrong, UFC has stolen all of boxing's thunder.
Tony Fusco
Feels a little short sighted. Hey, we could get a lot of people to watch this fight in December.
Colin Cowherd
Cool.
Tony Fusco
What's on the game plan for 26 crickets?
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. J. Mac with the news. So it's interesting. Tonight's the Niners. You know, it's. Normally you wouldn't be excited about this game, but the Niners are shockingly good and Philip Rivers, at 44 years old is, you know, going to go at it again. He can't move, but he couldn't move, you know, when he was good. So I like the Niners at this one, but I might my take is on the back end of the Colts defense. You can kind of make hay. So I think the Niners will move the ball down the field, but I am interested to watch and it is We've seen Kirk Cousins, we've seen Philip Rivers, we've seen Matt Stafford, we've seen Aaron Rodgers. These old school guys are very good at the line of scrimmage. They're very good pre snap. There's limitations on how much they can move, but what Aaron's done in Pittsburgh is very redeemable. They just don't make a lot of mistakes. He keeps the chains moving forward. You know, he's not running around getting in trouble there. There's a lot of value in just stay ahead of the sticks, complete the passes that are open, get the ball off, don't take sacks, don't turn it over. It's not the sexiest football, but you know, I think, I think the Colts will be viable for about three quarters tonight. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
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Colin Cowherd
Max hi, it's Colin.
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Colin Cowherd
Okay.
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Colin Cowherd
And we all know that every goal starts with an assist.
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Colin Cowherd
To learn more, go to halionassist.com yeah, it's. I've noted this a couple times. I think with Josh Allen and Caleb Williams you do get these kind of unique quarterbacks that have so much talent and so much horsepower. I don't worry too much about stats. I talked about this last week. Caleb's improved on everything this year except completion percentage. Here's Hasselbeck on Matt Hasselbeck on Caleb and the win over Green Bay.
Matt Hasselbeck
He put this team on his back in critical moments. It was a struggle bus of a game, a very windy situation, rivalry game and he had two incredible plays. And Ben Johnson again, whether it's special teams or offensive explosive plays or defense onside kick, this is a guy that has his team has the whole city believe in and they believe. They, I think a lot people believe that they've got their quarterback and for sure he is quieting a lot of.
Colin Cowherd
The doubters and you know it. It's last year he had 20 touchdowns, six picks. But they were, you know, you got the coach fired and the coordinator run out. So Ben Johnson's just alleviated a lot of the dysfunction. And I think, you know, Mike Vrabel said this when he got the New England job. He said, you just don't realize here in New England how lucky you are. Basically saying Tennessee is dysfunctional and political and poorly run. Well, Chicago's had that reputation forever. So there's things you have to overcome. But I think if you have a superstar coach and a superstar level talent at quarterback, you can overcome it. It was, I mean it's just all the big plays. This has become a fourth quarter team. And here's Hasselbeck on Ben and Caleb in year one.
Matt Hasselbeck
I think it's exciting for a guy like Ben Johnson because he was coaching Jared Goff who does everything right but doesn't have the mobility and escapability to make a bad play call look great. And I think that's one thing Caleb can do and yet at the same time accomplishing the goal of the which was consistent play, never, ever, ever missing an open guy, never being the reason that a play wasn't successful, maybe doing letting the offense work for you. Some of those things, if you can put all that together, you can have an MVP quarterback.
Colin Cowherd
And the other thing that you're Noticing all the success Bo Nix is having and Drake Mays having and Caleb Williams are having. Why? Well, they've got good coaches, but they're on their rookie contracts. So Denver's roster, Chicago's roster, New England's roster is better than people think. Is that, you know, we talked, J. Mac brought this up. Joe Burrow can't make the playoffs again. And you look at Baltimore, that roster looks kind of thin. And you look at Kansas City, I think Kansas City's in a rebuild. Everybody else thinks retool. I think rebuild. Folks, when you have a star quarterback, even if you have a star quarterback, you better make hay in four or five years. Because once you pay Mahomes, look at his own line. Once you pay Lamar, look at his own line. Once you pay Josh Allen, look at his defense. That's if you get a superstar quarterback. If Kansas City, not Buffalo, not Baltimore, they got the trophies and so, and that's the reality of it. There are some really elite quarterbacks on team friendly deals. Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, those are team friendly deals. Brock Birdie's deal is not too bad. Brock Purdy's pretty good deal for the Niners, but it changes everything. And so a great part of Bo Nix's success isn't just Sean Payton. It's a really good roster. And you look at the ability for New England to go out and get Stefan Diggs and then they hit on Kyle Williams who's getting better and better as a deep threat. And you know, you start, you look around, it's you, you've got. So J. Mac said this earlier, is it over? Is the door closed for Lamar Jackson? Well, he's expensive and because the old line's not as good, he gets dinged up more. So Josh Allen yesterday gets dinged up. We saw Patrick Mahomes gets hurt. So man, when you, you gotta make hay, there's just because once these star quarterbacks, what are you going to do? How many of them are going to sign team friendly deals? They're not, you know, if, and this is not blaming him, if Justin Herbert, and he shouldn't, if he'd have taken 10 million less, they'd have another tackle on the roster. But he shouldn't. He's been carrying that franchise with bad coaches for years. Justin should take every penny he can. So it's just, it's if you look at the highest quarterback cap hits. Let's see, they're putting it down here.
Tony Fusco
I have it on the screen. Do you want me to read them off?
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. So Let Dak Prescott.
Tony Fusco
Well, no playoffs.
Colin Cowherd
Okay. Matt Stafford, they had. Now they have aced like three drafts in a row. Like they have just hit on every draft pick. But should be noted, secondary is not very good. Special teams are a wreck with the Rams. They just fired the special team. So then you go to Joe Burrow. Defense is awful. Lamar Jackson, roster's okay. Kyler Murray, roster's okay. Geno Smith, roster's horrible. So again, that's where you get into trouble when Geno Smith is a huge cap hit. I'll live with Stafford, but you, you just can't make me. You can't pay Geno Smith big money. Huge mistake by the Raiders.
Tony Fusco
So one of the top eight cap hits made the playoffs and that's Stafford. Seven was Kirk Cousins and eight was Tua. So Colin, let's spin this forward. 20, 26. Do you want me.
Colin Cowherd
I want to see it.
Tony Fusco
Okay, here we go. Number one, desean Watson is the biggest gap hit next week. They ain't making the playoffs.
Colin Cowherd
We already know that. That's right.
Tony Fusco
Number two is Patrick Mahomes. So all this, hey, the Chiefs are going to do all this stuff in the offseason. You might have to start with talking to Mahomes about his contract. Number three, Lamar Jackson. Bigot third biggest cap hit next year.
Colin Cowherd
That's right.
Tony Fusco
Then it's Dak Prescott followed by this one Surprised me. Jared Goff at 5. I thought the Lions would have wiggle room. Maybe not. Six, Kirk Cousins, forget about him. Seven is Tua. Eight, Josh Allen and nine, Kyler Murray. So again, I know people think, oh it's Mahomes and Reed. Oh, it's Lamar and probably John Hart. It's way deeper than that. The NFL has changed, man.
Colin Cowherd
Listen, go look at Sam Darnold's roster. They moved off DK Metcalf to the less expensive jsn. Darnold signed a friendly deal. So you look at Seattle by moving off DK Metcalfe and by getting Darnold at a team friendly deal. That roster is stacked. Jalen Hurts. I don't. Jalen Hurts does not have a huge cap hit. Therefore Philadelphia's roster like Seattle, between good drafting and the addition of a couple key pieces, I'm surprised Stafford's number is that high. But I think you just pointed it out. One of the top 10 quarterback top are making the playoffs and that's with probably the best coach in the league, Sean McVeigh. And they have. They've been on a string for three years of hitting on draft picks that is really special.
Tony Fusco
Yeah. And then you, you, you marriage that, marry that with the NFL playoff seedings, and you're like, oh, that tracks, like, literally almost everywhere. It's like, oh, that guy doesn't have a big hat bit. That's probably why they're successful here.
Colin Cowherd
Who? Here's who doesn't have a big cap hit. Bo Nix, Drake May, Trevor Lawrence, Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, top five seeds, the other one, it's Sam Darnold, Caleb Williams, Jalen Hurt, Bryce Young, Stafford. Of the top 10 seeds, one has the big quarterback cap hit. And again, Sean McVeigh's probably the best coach in the league, and they've gone 7 for 7 on their last seven defensive picks. They've gotten. Either it's luck, either it's just brilliance, but they are. I mean, you get puka in the fifth round, that's not normal. You don't get players like that in the fifth round.
Tony Fusco
So if you're looking for a team next year, I was early on this and I whiffed this year. But the Tennessee Titans have a ton of cap money. That is an attractive job for somebody because nobody's getting paid on the Titans yet. So if you think there's five or six guys you can go out there like Vrabel did and add to the Patriots. And you think Cam Ward has Drake May upside. I don't know. He might. I've seen some flashes from Cam Ward. I like it. But that's an attractive job for the right coach. Now, if they go hire a defensive guy, I think we probably forget about it.
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Tony Fusco
As you noted, Liam Cohen, offensive guy, playoffs. Ben Johnson, offensive guy, playoffs. I think we've kind of hacked the NFL now. We know how to build well.
Colin Cowherd
And then Mike Vrabel is a defensive guy, but he's close with Josh McDaniels, who is arguably the best offensive coordinator in the sport. So if you're a defensive guy and Josh McDaniels, New England's very lucky. McDaniels has come out and said, I like living here. My wife likes it. My kids like it. It's a great educational area in that area, like, like New England's got Kraft, they got Vrabel, and Josh just likes living there. Great schools, great place to raise your family. So I, I think they got lucky there because Josh isn't going to leave. But he's also. He's tried the head coaching thing. He's going to stay there. I'm telling you. New I'm watching New England last night.
Tony Fusco
Frustrating as a Jets fan. Very frustrating. Very. Although, how about this, as a Jets fan, Dante Moore, I mean, I watched the JMU game. I'm a JMU grad. Dante Moore looked pretty damn good. Let's see what he does against Texas Tech. I wonder, do you think he's coming out now because his profile is skyrocketing and there's no other quarterbacks coming out.
Colin Cowherd
I don't think he is. I don't think he has enough college starts. I think he's going to stay at Oregon, and Oregon is uniquely positioned to pay him, you know, whatever they're going to pay him. So I mean, he may come out. I mean, part of it is I wouldn't want to go to a New York football team. Honestly, I wouldn't want to, like if I saw a team up there and I'm like, you know this, this team's got, you know. You better look at ownership. You better look at ownership. Excellent work today. First Things first is around the corner. I'm liking the Niners tonight. Fun game with Philip Rivers and the Colts.
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Episode: The Herd - HOUR 3 - College Football Playoff Breakdowns with Urban Meyer, You Only Have So Long With a Star Quarterback
Date: December 22, 2025
Host: Colin Cowherd
Featured Guest: Urban Meyer, Tony Fusco
This episode of The Herd focuses on two central themes: the transformative impact of coaching in both college and pro football—highlighted by a deep dive with Urban Meyer into the college football playoff matchups—and the critical window teams have when they land a star quarterback on a team-friendly contract. The episode weaves sharp analysis with strong opinions, blending in NFL takeaways and future-facing perspectives on how rosters must be constructed in today’s era.
Aaron Rodgers' Impact in Pittsburgh
Chicago Bears' Transformation with Caleb Williams & Ben Johnson
Coaching Parallels: New England/Vrabel, Denver/Payton, Chargers/Harbaugh
(Timestamps refer to the sections starting at 17:44)
On Ben Johnson’s coaching genius:
“Great coaches are like great movie directors. You gotta let the star kind of do his thing. But with a clear identity.” (Colin, 11:36)
On old QBs (Aaron Rodgers, Rivers, Cousins):
“These old school guys are very good at the line of scrimmage … There’s a lot of value in just stay ahead of the sticks, complete the passes that are open, get the ball off, don’t take sacks, don’t turn it over … not the sexiest football, but it works.” (Colin, 39:04)
On O-line Gold Rush:
“There will be a gold rush for offensive linemen ... That’s the first easiest way to lose your quarterback.” (Tony Fusco, 32:44)
| Section | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Aaron Rodgers/Steelers Analysis | 04:52–08:11 | | Bears/Ben Johnson/Caleb Williams Deep Dive | 08:30–12:59 | | Urban Meyer College Football Playoff Breakdown (with predictions) | 17:44–30:25 | | NFL Cap Hits, Contracts, Roster Building | 44:12–53:32 | | Bryce Young & Panthers Progress | 34:02–36:38 | | Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua, Boxing's Future | 37:13–38:56 | | Offensive Line Valuation | 32:33–33:35 | | Scheduling & Rivalry Discussion | 23:13–24:45 |
The tone is fast-paced, irreverent, and uncompromisingly opinionated. Colin’s style is conversational but assertive, never shying from hot takes, while Urban provides grounded, technical coaching wisdom and clear explanations for in-game decisions. Tony Fusco adds rapid-fire, sometimes comic color on league trends and team building, rounding out the discussion.
If you missed this episode, here’s what matters:
Next up: More NFL playoff previews, coaches’ carousel speculation, and breaking down which teams are ready for 2026’s new salary-cap landscape.