← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 3 - Looking at the Eagles offense, Packers-Bears preview, Greg Cosell
00:33:03
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- [00:00]
Greg Cosell
This is an I Heart Podcast, Guaranteed.
- [00:03]
Colin Cowherd
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- [01:50]
Greg Cosell
Let me ask you this, Colin. Do you think every one of these games that there's just the quarterback is playing, it's not always just about the quarterback. Believe it or not, this game on that side of the ball to me is one of the most fascinating games of the weekend because what you have here is you have Ben Johnson's pass game, which in terms of spacing and creating defined looks for the quarterback is as good as there is in the league versus Jeff Heffley's defense, which is among the very, very best in the league. And at changing the picture pre snap to post snap, he is so good with late rotation. So to me, that's really the matchup in this game is how the Bears and Caleb and that pass game will handle all the moving parts at the snap of the ball that Jeff Halfley is so good at. There have been fits and starts in that regard. There have been plays where the packers have won the down. There have been plays where the Bears have won the down. So it'll just. That'll be a significant part of this game. And one thing to keep in mind, for the last couple of weeks the Bears have not run the ball as well as they did earlier in the season. And I would think that, that Ben Johnson would like that run game to be a bigger factor against that packers front than it's been the last couple of weeks.
- [03:04]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. And there's reports of snow and 30 mile an hour wind gusts. So I that's one of the reasons I like Chicago is they have the better O line and the more consistent run game between these two teams. And Christian Watson running deep ball pattern doesn't seem to me terribly effective. The weather is going to absolutely play a role in this to me.
- [03:25]
Greg Cosell
Well, the slot corner for the Bears will be interesting because Kyler Gordon is practicing as you and I are speaking. He has, he's only played three games this year. Looks like Gardner Johnson who has been their slot and he's really not a slot corner in a strict sense and was burned when they played week 14. So I think that that's a spot to look at in this game. How the packers attacked the slot corner of the Bears.
- [03:47]
Colin Cowherd
So Bills at the Jags. Since week 11, the Jaguars are averaging 34 points a game. Why? What? That offense is on fire. Explain to me why.
- [04:01]
Greg Cosell
Yeah, the, the, what you see when you watch the tape are a couple of things. Number one, and don't forget Liam Cohen spent a lot of time with Sean McVeigh. So what you see a lot of are reduced splits with the wide receivers tighter to the formation. And what has changed in terms of Trevor Lawrence is he is working the middle of the field between the numbers in this eight game winning streak as well as any quarterback in the league. So now you get this against a Sean McDermott defense. And I think Sean McDermott is one of the absolute best in the league at situational football at understanding how to deploy his people. I think that the two safeties, Cole Bishop and, and Jordan Poyer will be critical players in this game in understanding the route concepts that work between the numbers. But you're dealing with Sean who's, you know, this is not his first rodeo and they've gotten better on defense as the year has gone on their run game, their run defense at times can be leaky, but it's certainly been better lately. But it'll be interesting because they're going to have to get pressure on Trevor Lawrence in those critical third down situations. But I think Sean McDermott, another coordinator that's really good at changing the picture and showing quarterbacks different looks once the ball is snapped.
- [05:16]
Colin Cowherd
All right, 49ers Eagles could be one for the ages. How much of the San Francisco Shanahan offense relies on scheme versus winning individual matchups?
- [05:32]
Greg Cosell
Oh, a high percentage. They don't really have an individual winner. And if Ricky Pearsall can't go, he's their best one on one route runner. And if he can't go, they don't really have that guy. Now, obviously Kittle can win, but he's not an outside receiver, so they don't really have that guy. So they rely heavily on scheme, heavily on motion. They use motion a ton. Vic Fangio will be well aware of that. I would expect that. You'll see the Eagles line up a lot in that quarter. Shell that four across, where it's a balanced defensive look and you don't really have to react to motion because you're balanced defensively. So this, to me, you know, it'll be interesting. The Niners have to find a way to run the ball with some sustainability in this game against a Eagles defense that's been playing at a really high level for the last six, seven weeks.
- [06:24]
Colin Cowherd
What defines today? Last four weeks. What defines Philadelphia's offense? When you look at the film today.
- [06:35]
Greg Cosell
That'S a tough question. I mean, I think what their identity still is, is running the football. They just haven't done it as well. I've got a stat for you that will blow you away. Okay, last year, okay, 2024, in the second half of this. Of games, the second half. Only the second half. Saquon Barkley gained over 1750 yards just in the second half. This year, in the second half of games, he's gained just over 500 yards. That's a difference of 1200 yards. That's a ridiculous difference. They've not been able to close out games running the ball, but I think structurally and conceptually, in many ways their defense, excuse me, their offense is what it is. They're a run first football team and I think now that they're in the playoffs, I think you've got to get Jalen Hurts involved in the design run game because of the impact it has on defensive structures.
- [07:31]
Colin Cowherd
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 Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from the Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
- [07:45]
Greg Cosell
And in addition to hearing us live.
- [07:47]
Rob Parker
Weeknights from 7 to 10pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio. We are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
- [07:55]
Colin Cowherd
That's right, you can now watch the Odd couple live on YouTube every day.
- [08:00]
Rob Parker
All you got to do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube again. YouTube just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out on YouTube and subscribe.
- [08:10]
Colin Cowherd
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- [08:41]
Rob Parker
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- [09:08]
Greg Cosell
Here.
- [09:09]
Rob Parker
We slow down, we listen, we learn how vulnerability becomes comes strength and how healing happens in community, not in isolation. If you're ready to let go of what no longer serves you and step into the year with clarity, compassion and purpose, Sacred Lessons is your companion on your healing journey. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Delarocha on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Sacred Lessons with Mike De La Rocha and start listening on the free I Heart Rate radio app. Today.
- [09:41]
Colin Cowherd
Chargers go cross country to the Patriots Patriots had a very easy schedule. Best team they played was Buffalo. When you look at New England's offense before the year started we thought it lacked explosiveness, but there have been sideline big big plays over the top. Their big play offense is pretty effective. What makes it work is it just Drake made the deep ball because the old line is not dominant. He doesn't get the best pass pro. What makes New England's offense to you dangerous?
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Greg Cosell
I think there's a lot of factors. It includes the quarterback for sure because he is as tough as they come in the pocket. He does not disrupt plays by leaving the pocket. He allows the play design to work because he will stand in the face of pressure when the pocket gets muddied. Noisy, dirty, he stays there. Plus I think schematically they're very good, particularly in the red zone. They're very, very creative with what they do in the red zone with their deployment of personnel and formations. And they've been outstanding over the last five, six weeks, which is one reason they've scored so many touchdowns. Now on the other side, one thing the Patriots have done a lot over the last month, six weeks, is a lot of pressure on defense and a lot of man coverage. And I think you're going to see that against the Chargers. They're going to make Herbert have to beat them throwing the ball under duress against man coverage. And I think that's going to be a selling part of this game.
- [11:11]
Colin Cowherd
I don't think you can win multiple playoff games when you have the lowest rated offensive line. So I, I think if they won in New England, you'd feel really great about, you know, not having their tackles. When you watch the film on the Chargers, I think it's remarkable that they're 11 and 6 with this O line. They were down to a third running back. Yeah, it feels like to me Herbert is a lot of the, the magic is not, maybe not to the level of a Josh Allen, but what do you see with Herbert on film in regards relative to what his protection is?
- [11:48]
Greg Cosell
Well, there's a, certainly a toughness to his game. He is a stand and deliver quarterback. He doesn't fly out of there.
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Colin Cowherd
He's.
- [11:54]
Greg Cosell
He lets plays develop. He's willing to make tough throws with pressure in his face. And you know, that is something that's very hard for people to really quantify because what that means is you're allowing the routes to develop. Quarterbacks that leave the pocket early, Colin, they don't allow the routes to develop. And so there are throws that end up being there that quarterbacks never get to. We spoke about that with May. Herbert's the same way. They allow the play to develop to its fullest and obviously he can pull the trigger and drive the football even just sitting on his back foot. He does not need space, he does not need to step into throws. But your point about their O line is a good one. And that's why I think you'll see the Patriots, who've clearly increased their pressure quotient over the last six weeks. I think you'll see that in this game.
- [12:42]
Colin Cowherd
All right, Texan Steelers, Monday night. I said I think we look at Pittsburgh over the last several years and more like seven years. Can't trust the O line, can't trust the run game. I actually like Jalen Warren. I think this is the best the offensive line has been in several years. Gainwell has been a nice addition. Friarmouth's obviously a very talented tight end. Is this offense the Steelers, when you watch it now DK Metcalf comes back, does it have a little more juice? And if it does, is that an Aaron component? I mean Aaron obviously has seen every defense. I just feel like when I watch Gainwell and Warren and I'm like maybe they've got a little more energy than I give them credit for. What's the film, what's the film say on the Steelers offense?
- [13:38]
Greg Cosell
Well, Aaron's going to have to throw some one on ones outside and he does. That's the way he plays and they're going to have to connect on those because the problem when you face Houston is this Houston and it will be the case in this game because Dylan Cook's the left tackle for the Steelers and while he's played well, you know he's not their starting left tackle. What happens when you play Houston is you're almost forced to keep a back and or a tight end in either as chippers or as primary pass protectors. And the Texans are a Predominant High Percentage 4 Man D Line pass rush. So that means they play with seven in coverage. So what often happens on critical down and distances, Colin is they have seven in coverage and you're sending out three primary wide receivers. So they have seven to play three. So they win the numbers game and they can still get to the quarterback even when you're blocking with six or seven. So it's very difficult to really throw the ball with any kind of real consistency against them. That's why you've got to make quick throws. And by the way, Rodgers has been in empty formations far more than any quarterback in the league and it wouldn't surprise me to see them do that and have him just make quick quick throws to try to negate the pressure.
- [14:52]
Colin Cowherd
Okay. Rams are a massive road favorite. Ten and a half. That's very rare in the NFL to be a huge playoff favorite, but especially on the road. So how much of the Rams offense is about personnel and pre snap movement and McVeigh and how much is just Matt Stafford being great?
- [15:14]
Greg Cosell
Well it obviously helps when your quarterback is really good but. But they are a 13 personnel offense. Beginning week seven, 44% of their offensive snaps had three tight ends on the field, one back and three tight ends. Now with Adams back this week we'll see if that changes but it presents problems for a defense as to how you want to play it because they don't just run these three tight ends to run the football. Stafford's pass game numbers, Colin, out of three tight ends up are off the charts. He's dropped back over 130 times with three tight ends on the field and has 20 touchdown passes out of three tight ends on the field. So this is not just let's hand the ball off. And by the way, Corum and Williams both have crazy good numbers running out of three tight ends. So I'm curious to see how Carolina wants to play this because they have two base defenses, basically a five, two front and what we call big nickel. So who are they going to put out there and how are they going to try to counter this three tight end offense? And they're so good with it and you know, they score touchdowns every week. And I think that's the play I wanted to show because they had a staple touchdown last week against Arizona, which was exactly what they do out of three tight ends, particularly when they get just right to the red zone area. This is technically just outside the red zone, but this is what they do and they're so, so good at it. So you're going to see that they're in 13 personnel and as I said, that means one back and three tight ends on the field. That's what 13 personnel is. Then they have one wide receiver here, it happens to be Mumford, he's split to the boundary side. So what they do here, and this is a staple, they go hard run action to the field and you'll see that it has a tremendous impact on those two stacked linebackers. So then what they do as far as the routes is Mumfield's going to run vertically and he's going to remove the corner and the safety and then Parkinson will run the shallow cross underneath off the zone run action. And you can see how well this works. Look at the linebackers, hit that run action hard. You're going to see Mumfield, he's going to remove the corner and a big void gets created and it's boot action by Stafford. They've scored a number of touchdowns on this very play. Once they get into the red zone area and it's just beautiful football. And you know, again, we know Stafford's great, but they do such a good job schematically as well. I think we all agree that Sean McVay schematically is one of the best around and they're so good with their formations. They're incredibly multiple and diverse. Out of three tight Ends it's just a very hard offense to play against.
- [17:51]
Colin Cowherd
Greg Cosell, as always, great 15 minutes, 46 years at NFL Films. Thanks Greg.
- [17:58]
Greg Cosell
Thanks Colin. Appreciate it.
- [17:59]
Colin Cowherd
Kevin Dotson, by the way, their best offensive lineman guard has been ruled out against Carolina but they've got their, they've got the full complement of weapons, that's for sure. So you know, for all the regulated levels of violence and football, it's. The Rams are going to be missing one guard. Like by and large the safety measures over the last several years. A lot of these teams. Philadelphia is ready to roll. I think San Francisco if Trent Williams plays. I mean they lost Bosa and Warner. They're. They're really the team that is like off the rails physically. Like the Niners are one of those teams. I can't quite explain their injuries. Some of it is they're really, really old. By the way, Washington had a ton of injuries this year. Washington was these first or second oldest team. So Green Bay, Seattle, Seattle's healthy. Seattle's very young. Rams defense, healthy. Rams defense, very young. That helps. J. Mac with the news.
- [19:01]
Greg Cosell
No, no, no, turn on the news.
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Kevin Blackistone
This is the Herd line news. All right, let's go to Eagles Niners. Really good game Sunday on Foxconn. I'm fired up about it. We've examined both of the quarterbacks. You know, this is the non first round pick playoff game. Purdy was the Mr. Irrelevant in his draft and Nick Sirianni knows he still has to game plan for Brock Purdy.
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Tom Brady
He's a winner. You know, he's won everywhere he's went and you know, really good football player, does a really good job with, with the system that they run. Has ability to extend plays. His ability to find guys that are, that are open and find the right receiver tough. You know, he's tough. So there's a reason they've been, you know, obviously all the really good players they have and good coaching that they have is why they've had sustained success. But they've had a really a steady quarterback through that time as well.
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Colin Cowherd
Also helps for the record, they may have the best backup quarterback along with Green Bay in the league.
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Kevin Blackistone
You see in that screen there, big guy, what goes up to five and a half.
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Colin Cowherd
Well, I think that's, that's the Ricky Pierce Hall, Trent Williams.
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Kevin Blackistone
I mean the offense did not look good without them, but it was against Seattle. I'd say the Eagles are in that Seattle class. They're not quite as good and loaded but they're front. I mean Jordan Davis and Carter Jalen Carter. You can't run on those guys up the middle.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, five and a half is, you.
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Kevin Blackistone
Know that it's a little disrespectful to Kyle and Brock.
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Colin Cowherd
I mean, I think the Niner game comes down to is Ricky Parasol and Trent Williams available? If it is, they got a shot. If it's not, they're not winning the game.
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Kevin Blackistone
There are some numbers. Vic Fangio has faced Kyle Shanahan, I think four or five times and Shanahan has not topped 20 points against him. Now, some of that is like without good quarterbacks, but still, that's a tough one. Eagles sneaky super bowl pick in the nfc. Keep an eye on them. All right, let's move on to Packers. Bears. Colin, this is the game you are fired up about. Now. Jordan Love was concussed in their last meeting and sat out the final two games. He's back and ready to go ahead of the wild card game. He's confident Rust will not be a factor.
- [21:15]
Colin Cowherd
It doesn't really, you know, I think still just practicing all week and, you.
- [21:19]
Greg Cosell
Know, staying locked in and, you know.
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Colin Cowherd
Obviously was suited up last week, was ready to go, but yeah, you know, it's been a couple weeks. But no, it doesn't feel like that. I think, you know, just staying with it in practice. By the way, Roma Denze is officially off the injury report. Roma Denze is going to play.
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Kevin Blackistone
Show up.
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Colin Cowherd
He's going to be playing for the Chicago Bears.
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Kevin Blackistone
What about Luther Burton? Do we know what's going on?
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Colin Cowherd
Won't even be necessary. Oh, please.
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Kevin Blackistone
They're going to need weapons. Other people have pointed this out and I think we mentioned earlier, both these teams got the early buy. Bears played their full guys all last week against the Lions. Packers rested, Everybody. I think LaFleur has an edge. Remember this. Ben Johnson's first playoff game, first playoff week. Caleb Williams, first playoff game. First playoff week.
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Colin Cowherd
Low pressure on the Bears. Little pressure.
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Kevin Blackistone
First home playoff game since the double Doink. Remember that one?
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Greg Cosell
Yeah.
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Kevin Blackistone
It's going to be a juiced up scene there. I'm surprised you're not front row.
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Colin Cowherd
I am at home.
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Kevin Blackistone
Oh, in front of your television sofa.
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Colin Cowherd
Front row.
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Kevin Blackistone
That makes sense. All right, final story. Come, let's go to John Harbaugh and the question is, who's going to replace him? I think Jesse Minter is a slam dunk. The Chargers.
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Colin Cowherd
Well, he definitely. Not only does he know the culture, but he was great there. He's been great with the Chargers. So you feel like you're getting some of Harbaugh's sort of culture building.
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Kevin Blackistone
Yeah. Now, you see we have odds here. It's low level stuff, but the interesting name is Todd Monken at 3. The OC.
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Colin Cowherd
I didn't think, I don't think he and Lamar. I think he and Lamar butt heads, don't they?
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Kevin Blackistone
There was a claim that someone, I don't know how credible it is, like, hey, Harbaugh, you got to fire the oc we need to fix this Lamar situation. And Harbaugh was like, I'm not doing that. Supposedly I don't even know Monk is going to be there next year.
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Colin Cowherd
I don't know Monk. I, I, I, I. Monkin's not to me Stefanski's interest. Nothing against him, but I, I think mentor and Stefanski are easily the top two candidates.
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Kevin Blackistone
Kevin Stefanski, go. What's that going like from like a Hyundai Sonata to a Ferrari?
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Colin Cowherd
Can you imagine? Cleveland fires you. Cleveland got, you know, Cleveland thinks, oh, we're pretty sharp. He goes to Baltimore and Stefanski owns you for a decade. That'd be so Cleveland. It would be so Cleveland.
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Kevin Blackistone
I think the Browns job is the worst one out there right now.
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Colin Cowherd
No, jets is pretty bad.
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Kevin Blackistone
Well, it's just not open yet. But yeah, this would be, this would be a big loss for Harbaugh.
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Colin Cowherd
It's not a coincidence that Cleveland's been bad forever. It's not the media, it's not who's upstairs.
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Kevin Blackistone
Ownership.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, they can't get coach or quarterback. Right. They just can't.
- [23:49]
Kevin Blackistone
Can I interest you in Cliff Kingsbury for this job or no? Ravens have a strong culture.
- [23:53]
Colin Cowherd
I don't see Kingsbury as a head coach. He and Adam Peters, I have it sourced now by two different people. Adam Peters, the GM and Cliff Kingsbury did not see eye to eye.
- [24:05]
Kevin Blackistone
Now, at the same time, this is a front office and ownership group that Ben Johnson was like, no, thank you.
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Colin Cowherd
Ben Johnson flew to Washington. Peters is an NBA guy. And Ben Johnson's take reportedly. I read this yesterday was Ben thought that Adam Peters and the Washington basketball people had too strong a football opinions. Thought they knew a little more about football than they actually knew about football.
- [24:30]
Kevin Blackistone
Josh Harris in the ownership group. Yeah. They own.
- [24:33]
Colin Cowherd
I think they had big, strong opinions. And Ben's like, yeah, you're basketball guys.
- [24:37]
Kevin Blackistone
Yeah.
- [24:37]
Colin Cowherd
You're not really a football guy. We're not.
- [24:39]
Kevin Blackistone
So.
- [24:40]
Greg Cosell
So.
- [24:42]
Kevin Blackistone
This whole Kingsbury thing, I'm not gonna blame Kingsbury if these guys who Ben Johnson wanted nothing to do with, said no. And now he's thriving. Maybe this is the best for Kingsbury. I don't know. I don't know why I like Kingsbury. I don't text him.
- [24:52]
Colin Cowherd
I like, I like Kingsbury too, but I don't know if. I mean, I guess Cliff would be a head coach potentially, but I, I think his psychology and his personality is to be a great coordinator. Possible.
- [25:06]
Greg Cosell
Yeah.
- [25:07]
Colin Cowherd
J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the Herd lie news.
- [25:13]
Kevin Blackistone
Yeah.
- [25:14]
Colin Cowherd
Roma Dunze is going to play another weapon for the great Caleb Williams. Miami Hurricanes Ole Miss tonight. I'm taking the Hurricanes. I think they're going to physically bully him a little bit in la. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd. Weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. So it's third meeting Packers Bears. So you're not going to fool anybody. Tom Brady came on about an hour ago, hour and a half ago. And I, and I asked him would you prefer to face a team for the first time or is it okay if you're facing kind of a rival, you're both familiar with each other. Where do you land on that?
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Tom Brady
This is what you love about it. These two teams know each other so well. Guys are coming out of, you know, some unheralded receivers from the Bears have made some plays late in these games. So it is a super tight matchup for this game. This is one of the most intriguing games of the weekend. I can't wait to see how both teams played. And look, they know each other so well. So now it really does come down to the fundamentals.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean, the games like this come down generally. Who doesn't make the big mistake late? That's the old Jimmy Johnson. You lose four games, then you win. Bears, Packers. For all the matchups, who doesn't turn it over, who doesn't fumble, who doesn't throw the pick? You know, in windy weather, I doubt you have a ton of field goals. I think Chicago's big edge is better online. Better run game with 30 mile an hour gusts. That and being at home, I think that's a big edge for Chicago. But there's a reason, you know, Chicago is, is the underdog. Green Bay has been here a lot. I like Chicago. The market tends to favor Green Bay. Also, you know, the other game, it's interesting, we were joking about Brady's first game. His first playoff game was the, the tuck rule game, the snowy cold game, which Brady said years ago on this show. I think it was this year, last year he liked snow games because he, he knew corners didn't have their footing and pass rushers didn't get a great push. So he at least knew offensively, offensive guys know where they're going. And so slippery, wet, snowy weather is an advantage to the offense, as long as it's not too windy, not to the defense. But we talked about kind of the first, you know, Drake May heading into his first big playoff game against Justin Herbert.
- [27:58]
Tom Brady
Look, I love Drake May and what he's done in a second you're working with Josh McDaniels, who's another tremendous coach and has done such a great job kind of understanding what Drake's capable of. I just see Matt Stafford is a Hall of Fame level quarterback that has played his best season of football and he's done it against, you know, in any conditions, 46 touchdown passes. He's just been incredible.
- [28:22]
Colin Cowherd
By the way, that's Brady talking about the MVP race. I, you know, it's funny when I watch Brady in that snow game against the Raiders. I that honest to God, it feels like 40 years ago. I remember one of the first things I noticed about when I watched Brady play is that, and it matters, playing at Michigan probably helped because he's from California. Brady was a great cold weather quarterback. And that's why I've noted this before. There's never been a warm weather NFL dynasty. Shula and Marino got there early, didn't get back together. Go find all the dome and warm weather dynasties in the NFL. Maybe in college, not in pro football. And you know, there's just, there is an advent, let's be honest about Jacksonville. What if Jacksonville has to go eventually to. You see the, you see the weather in Chicago this weekend. That's a huge disadvantage. I remember Dan Fouts having to go play Cincinnati and it was like minus nine degrees. So I do think there's an advantage to be Seattle and Chicago and Philly and Denver. I think it's an advantage to play in crappy weather.
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Kevin Blackistone
Do the 90s Cowboys count as warm.
- [29:39]
Colin Cowherd
Weather or Dallas is warm weather? Is, it's, it can be hot in the summer. I'm not denying that. I don't consider Dallas to be your classic warm weather team. Dallas gets cold. Last Super Bowl I was at in Dallas, there were sheets of ice falling off.
- [29:54]
Kevin Blackistone
January is tricky. Nowhere super warm in January, 49ers in the 80s. I mean, you got to go back like 40 years again.
- [30:02]
Colin Cowherd
I, when I think of warm weather, I think of Chargers, Rams, Arizona Cardinals. I think Houston of warm weather, not Dallas. I think Houston's more warm Weather. I think of Miami, Florida, Jacksonville and Tampa that like eight teams, those are warm weather teams. Dallas gets really cold for four months.
- [30:24]
Greg Cosell
Yeah.
- [30:28]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [30:28]
Kevin Blackistone
Southern California has not been a power. I mean LA Rams had what Jim Everett and a couple wide receivers, but they were never like a.
- [30:37]
Colin Cowherd
No. And listen, the NFL, college football was built on bowl games in warm weather. The Rose bowl, the Fiesta bowl, the Sugar bowl, the. That's the NFL. Its history is you have to basically to be a Super bowl champ when three or four, almost always outside of the super bowl, three or four or five big cold weather games to either get into the playoffs. Secure, better seating, get home field advantage. That's a huge disadvantage for Miami, Jacksonville, you know, Arizona.
- [31:11]
Kevin Blackistone
Possible to build a legit contender to be a dynasty in a warm weather.
- [31:16]
Colin Cowherd
Well, you can do it. If you go look at the Cowboys, Emmett Smith, they had a great run game. So if you're going to consider Dallas, you could say, well, I don't consider San Francisco warm weather. I mean go to a Giants game in the summer, it's foggy and cold. So I think there's about eight, what I would call, you know, Dodger games in the summer. You can get 90 degrees a lot. It's not the Bay Area, so I don't know. I think there's ways to build it. Like I always said, if you go look at the history of like cold weather, Brady was a great cold weather quarterback. So was Big Ben and Bradshaw and Flacco and Favre and Rogers start look at Mahomes big arm, you know, like, like Lamar Jackson is not a big arm guy in Baltimore now. His arm is fine, but it's, he's not a big arm guy. So I mean just the history of, I mean of northern tier football is big now. San Francisco and Dallas are not, they're not blizzard weather. So Brock Purdy doesn't have a huge arm. It's, you could win a Super Bowl. He's, he's a, you know, he's, he's not going to. Also in the afc, a lot of your best owners and best organizations are north. I mean forever variable for the next 10 years. New England's going to be in the playoffs for a decade straight. Buffalo with Josh Allen's going to be in the playoffs for the next seven years. Baltimore historically makes the playoffs. Kansas City makes the playoffs. All right, now more than ever, the AFC goes through crappy weather.
- [32:48]
Kevin Blackistone
The only guy I think that could build one in warm weather now is McVeigh. He, he's got a great system. They are run first to set up the play action. He's got the MVP quarterback, but to build a dynasty you'd need that bridge from Stafford. And finding a quarterback that's not easy.
- [33:02]
Colin Cowherd
But they are built for it.
- [33:03]
Kevin Blackistone
Their defensive line is nasty.
- [33:04]
Colin Cowherd
It's really. I was thinking about this. If you're the Rams and it's a weak quarterback class, you're not going to get Dante Moore. Mendoza. If Dante comes out and you're not getting Ty Simpson, somebody's going to reach. He's not going to last to the end of the first round. He'll get picked up at the 15th. If you're the Rams, do you just say instead of drafting a quarterback, just stack the roster, Stafford, one more year, then go get one next year. I thought about that. Why waste a draft? Because let's say you say, okay, we're going to go get Ty Simpson, you probably have to give up a third, a fifth, a six to move up. And my take is just stack the roster for Stafford.
- [33:45]
Kevin Blackistone
They got that Falcons pick and I think that's what I'm saying, 12 or something.
- [33:48]
Colin Cowherd
They need a corner, a safety, a.
- [33:50]
Kevin Blackistone
Tackle because they could win the Super Bowl. And Stafford says I'm out, I'm retiring on top, Goodbye. What, you gotta draft Mike Simpson at that point, right?
- [33:58]
Colin Cowherd
Well, at that point, my take though, I look, if I ran the Rams, I would go to Stafford and I if they win and say, listen, we'll give you a little bit more money because what, we're not going to draft the quarterback. We're going to take this and we're just going to do all we can to get playmakers and hit makers because they have two ones, a two and a three. That's four players. Say we will not draft the quarterback. This, this draft, it's a weak quarterback. Draft all four of those. We're going to go get you a first round tackle, a first round corner, a second round receiver and a third round playmaker and say now we'll give you an extra year on your contract. It's got to be team friendly, but we'll give you an extra year. Because I think if Stafford won it, my take is why draft the quarterback? Why? Because to get a quarterback that you think could potentially play, you're going to have to move up because they're at the end of the first round. Why waste draft picks on that?
- [34:55]
Kevin Blackistone
Yeah, I just remember Stafford coming in August, remember how bad his back was. People were like, is he even going to start the season bad? Now he's wins the mvp. I don't know what they're giving him.
- [35:04]
Colin Cowherd
May just not have wanted to practice it.
- [35:05]
Kevin Blackistone
Some horse tranquilizers maybe? I don't know. What's going on? He's fine. He's playing amazing.
- [35:09]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, Tom Brady, Greg Cosell both stop by. Money. Loved it. We'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy the Hurricanes and Ole Miss tonight.
- [35:21]
Greg Cosell
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.