The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 09/16/2021 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: September 16, 2021

Colin reacts to the Cowboys losing their best player on defense and why it’s time for Dak Prescott to rise to the occasion after getting a huge contract in the off season. He changes his tune about a super star wide receiver and why he’s more valuable to his team than Colin originally thought. He also tells you which quarterback from week 1 had a more impressive performance than he’s getting credit for. Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to break down the opening week performances from Matthew Stafford, Justin Herbert and Russell Wilson.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday.

From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1, find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Thursday. We've got football tonight. Giants in the Washington football team live in Los Angeles. It is The Herd, wherever you may be. However, you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, 1 hour from now.

I get so many compliments when he's on our show. Greg Kosel, next 20 weeks. Thursdays, top of the second hour, really gives you an incredibly objective look at the league and what to expect if you play fantasy football, if you bet football, or you just love the schematics of it and what's really happening on film for somebody who, four decades, has just looked at film one hour from now, Greg Kosell, Joy Taylor is joining me. You know, yesterday I was walking around and somebody came out to me, Joy, And they're like, you know, you don't think this urban thing's going to happen.

And I said the urban mire to USC. Yeah. And I said, I've got my, I'm wide open on this. I think it's the biggest hire in college football, Denver West, in a decade with all the TV contracts. And I said, but what if he wins this week? Well, that won't happen. And I said, you really don't, don't, when you get humiliated the following week, professional athletes play well.

I said, what if he wins this week? Then he would not be interested at all? I think it's kind of comical that because he lost one NFL game, that now all of a sudden it's an actual conversation that he would leave his NFL job and move across the country and coach USC. I think it's kind of preposterous. I mean, I don't know how much he's making, but I think he signed a four-year, $10 to $12 million a year.

You don't walk away from that. There's actually, I think, less pressure on Urban in Jacksonville than there would be at USC. Completely true. then nobody thinks Jacksonville is a complete utter rebuild outside of wide receiver. Yeah, I mean, if he can get them stable, that's a massive accomplishment. If he won four games this year and seven next year,

he would be coming back for a third year. And we all know he's going to be pretty good in the drafting thing because he recruited all these kids, but it's funny. I do want to talk about it. I'm crying no tears for Urban Meyer. But I saw this story yesterday, and all the coverage was just boo-hoo-hoo. Cowboys defensive end, DeMarcus Lawrence, and he's their best defensive player, I think, easily.

He's going to miss two months. And I saw a lot of these comments. It was, oh, this is gutting. It's a terrible break. I can't, but it's not a terrible break. It's called the NFL. You pay Dak Prescott $40 million. This cannot be an obstacle.

Patrick Mahomes this weekend did not have Frank Clark nor Honeybadger. and he beat an excellent Cleveland team. Tom Brady last year didn't have Vita Via, who looks like the best nose tackle in the sport. He didn't have him for most of the year. Didn't have Chris Godwin. It felt like in September and October. Didn't have his top tight end O.J. Howard.

And it was a pandemic. He didn't have a preseason. They won the Super Bowl. Aaron Rogers, I can be critical of him. Six times in his career has not had Devante Adams. I could make an argument, second or third best receiver in the league. Aaron Rogers is 6 and 0 without Devante Adams. Russell Wilson has been losing players off the defensive side for four years,

the Legion of Boom. It keeps winning 12 games a year. You pay a quarterback $40 million. When you sit down and decide, all right, we're going to go all in on the quarterback. There's two or three things you've got to think about. One, is he mature enough to handle it with DAC, check? Is he a grown-up? Is he an adult?

Are we putting our billion-dollar franchise, in the Cowboys case, a $10 billion franchise maybe? Are we putting our money into somebody who is aligned with our values and belief system? A DAC check. Okay. Is he capable of overcoming obstacles otherwise known as the National Football League? Well, this is an obstacle. This is it. This is not crazy.

This is exactly what everybody faces in this league. DeMarcus Lawrence average six seven sacks a year. He had six and a half last year. The Las Vegas line moved half a point. The minute you get the bag in the NFL, and I'm happy for Dak, there's a lot of things I like. But the minute you get the bag, you get the blame. DeMarcus Lawrence and injury is not, doesn't matter.

That's why you pay a quarterback $40 million. They can miss Frank Clark, O.J. Howard, Honey Badger. otherwise, I've said this about Baker Mayfield. Can he play trailing? Can he make throws late? He's not the same quarterback. So to me, that's not a $40 million a year quarterback. James Winston this weekend.

James Winston has been living out of a hotel for two and a half weeks. He doesn't have Michael Thomas. He got a quarterback, Tase of Milk, breathing down his throat. He faced the Packers. Blew him out. Okay. Lamar Jackson lost. his entire backfield.

This isn't gutting. It's not a bad break. This is a league of regulated violence. Losing your top defender. I mean, let's be honest, they've added a game. You can lose your top defender often in preseason. Lamar Jackson lost his backfield in the preseason. So the line barely moved, if at all, for Dak Prescott.

Get the bag. You get the blame. And by the way, I criticized the Cowboys for years, all their Ritz Carlton facilities. If the NFL was a hotel, there'd be a leak on the second floor and flooding on the third floor. It is a league of constant stress, of constant anxiety, of regulated chaos. That is the league. And you pay guys 40 million to overcome it. If you need a perfect, grooved runway for the plane to take off, you're not built to win big in this league.

So San Francisco Niners, 49ers, this is very interesting to me. And, you know, there's this sense in the NFL that basically Jimmy Garapolo is just little more than a valet for Kyle Shanahan. He's just handling his bags. Very replaceable. But Jimmy Garapolo was willing to go on K&BR. That's the big stick in the Bay Area. it's a big popular radio station and acknowledge this going back and forth stuff with Trey Lance and ain't great.

We had a good drive, marched it down there. Kyle called the package and he's the head coach. So whatever he calls goes, just one of those things you can only control what you can control. You know, I'm out there with my boys, making the best of it, having a good time. And, you know, at the end of the day, we're playing football trying to get a win. So whatever it takes. But it is what it is, you know. Making the best of it.

That's what you say on vacation. when the airline and the hotel screwed you. That's what teacher said about the last year with their kids with COVID. The school's closed. We're making the best of it. This vacation, we're five days in. We're making the best of it. It means this isn't good.

COVID was tough on parents. That's an airline. That's a vacation you're trying to overcome. And it's very interesting. There's three quarterbacks in this league. only three that I can think of that win a lot of games have won

playoff games and we don't like them Kirk Cousins Jared Goff and Garoppolo Kirk Cousins we feel he shrinks. He does. Gough, we feel he turns the ball over way too much. He does. Garapolo can't

stay healthy. That's true. But what is interesting here is Garoppolo, unlike Goff and Kirk Cousins, has a little leverage. Number one, this is the best division, I think, easily in the NFL. Trey Lance is not ready, not ready. He's played one football game as a starter the last 600 days. Kirk Cousins, or excuse me, Trey Lans is not ready to win this division. The second thing he's got going for him, which is pretty obvious, is that Kyle Shanahan has a losing record in the NFL as a head coach without Jimmy Garoppolo.

And it's not hovering around 500. It's awful. And number three is, this is a Super Bowl roster. So let's not screw around here. This is not the Bears where it's a lost season, right, by week seven. Jimmy Garoppolo yesterday pushed back to say that big radio show in the Bay Area, I'm making the best of it. I'm going to go public with it.

I think Jimmy Garoppolo, I've always thought he's a little better than everybody thinks. And in this instance, I think he's got a lot more leverage than everybody thinks. The Rams Seahawks and the wildly improving Arizona Cardinals give Garoppolo leverage. You cannot start Tray Lance right now in this division. Greg Olson was on our show yesterday.

And he said, you know, sometimes you just got to pick a quarterback and pick a lane and go with that? You know, I think the number one thing you have to do is you got to pick one guy. I think if you as an organization, right, they see a lot that we don't see. And the fans there, they're passionate. They believe Justin Fields is their future. And I don't blame them, right? If I was living in Chicago and I'm trying to finally get back to our glory days,

it starts at the quarterback. I'd want Justin Fields to play too. If you want a guy to play, they've got to either be in or if you don't want them to play, they got to be out. I just don't love the whole back and forth thing, sprinkling in a play here and there. I think they need to commit one way or another. By the way, Chicago is not a great team anyway. The Niners potentially are.

And by the way, in that game Sunday, the special teams for the Niners unraveled late. The defense for the 49ers unraveled late. You know what? Didn't Jimmy Garapolo, passerating over 100. Jimmy Garoppolo did not unravel. It was Kyle Shanahan's defense and Kyle Shanahan's special teams that unraveled. Your quarterback says I'm making the best of it. Maybe you want to go with him, give him a little more credit, give him a few more snaps.

I'm not anti-quarterback here. I'm not anti-young quarterback. I'd said I think I'd start Justin Fields this week. But the Niners are different. The Niners are different. This division's different. The opposition's different. Trey Lance is not Justin Fields right now.

He's not that form, that refined yet. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman.

documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush

Got to do a little Kim. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade. of my own experience in the middle health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person

while you hear on earth. Are you a good person? because you're afraid. Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search, Learn the Hardway, and listen now. So I always feel that the show is better if I'm willing with new information and new data to change my opinion.

I do three hours a day. I've got strong opinions on stuff I see, but I do think I owe the audience the willingness to move off stuff that we get new information. I've said this with my pilots, with my surgeons, you know, with my stockbrokers. I'm not, I don't care if you flip-flop. What's the new stuff? And I never thought Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham was a good fit. My takeaway was Odell was such a Paris, New York, L.A. star that putting him with Baker Mayfield, who would be easily influenced, by this star was not necessarily good.

It would be like Dak and Dez, where Des, literally wanted the ball now, and I want my young quarterbacks to sprinkle the ball around and not feel beholden to get it to their star. And whereas a Tom Brady can tell a star receiver, shh, I'll do what I want to do. Aaron Rogers can do that. Russell Wilson can say, my club. It's very hard for a DAC at 21 or a Baker at 21 to have a global, star come in, get me the ball, and numbers indicated that Baker sometimes was better when

Odell didn't play, because he would not, he would sprinkle the ball around. And Baker's better when he throws to the right receiver, doesn't break the huddle thinking about, I got to get it to my star receiver. And so that was kind of my takeaway on that move Odell Beckham. And get, you know, fix some other part of your front seven defensively. I don't, I don't love the linebacking corps for Cleveland. I said last year I didn't like the secondary at all, but they've already patched up the secondary, and they did draft a linebacker, so those aren't urgent needs. And so my takeaway is, we know Odell is a world-class wide receiver talent when healthy, which he's often not. But under Stefansky, there is this sense, most people,

myself included, are kind of putting Cleveland in that top eight, nine team in the NFL that could win the Super Bowl, right? We're all doing this. But to win Super Bowls now, you've got to score points. even Nick Saban acknowledges, my defenses can't stop the best offenses. And that's in college where you could get 25 first round picks here in recruiting. In the NFL, you start looking at the teams that are winning Super Bowls. It's not the Ray Lewis defenses that are winning these Super Bowls. It's Mahomes. It's Brady.

Look at the teams that are winning their division. It's quarterbacks. It's offenses that can not only control the clock, but they can strike quickly. That's why Buffalo goes out and gets Stefan Diggs. Strike quick. We're already good. let's get an over-the-top component. So, Stefansky comes in.

He's obviously a very smart guy and a very good coach, and Baker's clearly capable of starting, not my cup of tea, but he's capable. So we've had now, if you go back to when Odell Beckham got hurt, which was the beginning of game seven of last year. So let's not count game seven because the game plan did include Odell Beckham. Let's start the following week, week eight until last week's loss. This is what Baker-Mayfield is with no OBECM.

And this is with the coach of the year, with the offensive line of note in the AFC, with the best running tandem. 12 games, 7 and 5, 63%. That's not amazing in this day and age. 15 touchdown passes in 12 games. Passer rating is solid, 96. We're giving Cleveland this sense of they're here. They really miss an over-lose.

the top component. They've got very few big play players now. They can control the clock. They can control the tempo. They did it against the chiefs for a half. This is not a criticism. Baker is now not turning the ball over. It's a very smartly schemed, highly competent, very functional offense without a lot of pop. And I know we're giving them all this credit for beating Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was a mess at the end of last year. Pittsburgh offensively, you saw him this past weekend, is still a mess. They can't run the ball. They needed a block punt.

So I look at this offense now and I'm like, you're not getting past Kansas City. You're not getting past Seattle, D.K. Matt Caff. You're not getting past Buffalo who's got Stefan Diggs. You're not getting past Tampa Bay. They need OBJ. Baker's got 12, 12 games, 15 touchdown passes. That is just not good enough with the game, the rules, the regulations, the star receivers, the Tyreek Hill,

Stefan Diggs, Lamar Jackson's explosiveness. The AFCs now, Justin Herbert looks like he is ready to make a big run. So my opinion is I've got this big sample size without OBJ. And I'm like, well, now you have a legitimate head coach. Now Baker, you know, is more mature. I think they need OBJ. Change my mind. This offense is getting all this credit.

You cannot win in this league without over-the-top stuff. For the record, that is why the Rams in the off-season. What did they do? They looked at themselves and they said, we're winning 10 games, but we don't have any Mahomes to our offense. We don't get anything easy. Golf doesn't do anything over the top. They get Stafford.

They had two 50-plus yard plays with Stafford first week. They had two all last year. So the Rams looked at it. And the Rams, much like Cleveland, we got a good old line. We have competent quarterback. We can make defensive stops. We can control the clock. We love our young head coach, offensive coach.

But the Rams went, yeah, but we don't get any cheap time. touchdowns. We don't get any. Odell gives you cheap touchdowns. Three or four, reverses deep after the catch. So I've changed my mind. I think they need to O'Dell Beckham. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays and noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byrd.

We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes to not only look back at what happened, what you need. to do at that minute and also look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup sits, starts, fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition.

Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because, of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

Podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize

that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app.

Search learn the hard way and listen now. If you lose in the NFL, you're a bum. If you win, you're great. But there are moments where you add some context to it. Who lost as a quarterback this weekend? But you look at it and think, wow, that was impressive. Look at what Mack Jones did this weekend. So Mac Jones completed 74% of his passes,

102.6 passer rating, one sack, no picks. That is against Brian Flores. and their excellent corners. Here's what Brian Flores did to opposing quarterbacks last year. So Brian Flores with a healthy defense, it's week one, and weeks, not a week to prepare, weeks to prepare. Last year, Brian Flores held quarterbacks to 63% completion percentage. Mack was at 74. Passing yards a game, last year Flores holds him to 250.

Mac, with I would say, a suboptimal receiving core, 280. Passer rating, Flores holds him to 87, Mac at 102.6. Remember this. Last year, Mahomes had three picks against Brian Flores. Jared Goff had a quarterback rating of 65. Those are Super Bowl quarterbacks. So for Mack Jones to come in, all new pieces, new playbook, new team, didn't get all the snaps in the preseason.

was named as starter late, goes up against arguably after Belichick, take Belichick out, arguably the best defensive coach in the league. Big Fangio's up there, Flores is up there, Pete Carroll is up there, Mike Tomlin, there's a handful. But Flores certainly looks like the best young defensive coordinator, unraveled golf. Mahomes had multiple picks. That was a good loss. Max Jones pretty good. That's a pretty good.

Now, again, I've said before, low ceiling, whatever. You start looking at that. I said Mac outplayed two of a. Two of one, Mac out played two. So pretty interesting. Mac Jones had a pretty good. And again, they didn't trade up to get him. He fell to New England.

They did need a quarterback. I didn't have a problem drafting Mac Jones. I had a problem San Francisco giving up multiple picks to get him. I don't think he's that kind of talent. That's a pretty good week one. Never played in the NFL, faced maybe the second, third best defense. coach. Dolphins have unbelievable, unbelievable corners. No picks, one sack, 75% completions. Pretty good. Pretty good. And we'll see Daniel Jones tonight. Daniel Jones has started 26 times in the NFL.

So we'll see him against the good defense of the defensive coach. I mean, it's the same thing. So Daniel Jones, you say, well, New England's got a better offensive line. Yeah, but the Giants have better weapons on the perimeter. And they have Sequin Barclay. So New England doesn't have Sequin Barclay. New England didn't have Kenny Gulladay talent. You know, Evan Ingram's out, but Giants' wide-receiving talent and running back talent is really good. New England's is...

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Tonight, the Giants in Washington play. And Tom Brady was talking about yesterday, about how good all the young quarterbacks are, how many young quarterbacks there are. And right now there's nine quarterbacks that are starting in the NFL that are between years one and three. But Daniel Jones is a really interesting one because I've said the industry trend for quarterbacks is they're getting better faster.

I mean, like Mahomes, first year starting MVP. Lamar first year starting MVP. So they're getting faster, getting better faster. And so, you know, it's quarterback coaches and all this stuff and college concepts in the NFL. So my expectations are you don't get three, four years. You do not. If I think you have a competent coach and I think the Giants do in Joe Judge, I'm going to watch 35 starts.

So right now, through 27 NFL starts, by Thanksgiving, I said before the season, by Thanksgiving with Daniel Jones, you'll have 36 starts. That's two years and then some. We're going to have discussions privately. So through 27 starts entering tonight's game, he's 8 and 19 it's one of the boxes I want does he win enough no

62% completion percentage he's not accurate enough turnovers he's a disaster 22 picks 18 lost fumbles through 27 starts and his his passer rating is 84 so there's no it there like sam

darnald by the way struggles with the first three so far but sam has an it You can see the it. He's a big kid and a playmaker. So we're going to give Sam this year. But I think similarly, by Thanksgiving with Sam Darnold, Carolina has a right to say, well, it's not a big contract. We're not paying a lot of money.

We got to move on. So to me and last week with Daniel Jones, once again, completion percentage, not great. 60% turnover. Had another. Passer rating. Okay. Nothing changed.

So I think the industry, the quarterback industry, these kids are better and they're better sooner. I mean, you watch Justin Herbert. I mean, we were in the middle of last season with a bad offensive line and we're like, oh, yeah, he looks like a great veteran. He wasn't making kid mistakes. Josh Allen, early. I mean, Kyler Murray now.

What are we to make of Kyler Murray? Just keep kidding. And he had one year starting in college. So when Daniel Jones came out, he was a number six pick. That was viewed, myself included, as a little bit of a reach. I had said at the time, I don't see a lot of speech. special. I don't see the big arm. I don't see the great athlete. And he had a great college quarterback with David Cuckcliffe. And I still didn't see it. So now Jason Garrett, the offensive coordinator,

the Giants are very conservative. Big Blues, very conservative. They're all behind him. They love him. Here's Jason Garrett. I think there are just so many positives about him. You know, start with who he is as a person, his approach, his competitive spirit, his smarts, his toughness, all of that. And then he has athletic ability. He's big. He can throw the ball. He can move around and make plays with his feet. I think we've all seen that. The biggest thing for him is just to play more football. And again, it's every quarterback I've ever been around. They need more experience. We need to create a really good environment. And they need to grow from the experience that they do have. And we believe Dan, can do that. By the way, he's got a good head coach in the NFL, I believe. He had a very good

college coach. He's grown up in this generation of Elite 11 quarterback coach. So I'm not waiting. in forever anymore. I'm not giving you four years. I'm not giving you three full years. I mean, if you listen to the Miami Dolphins and the trade rumors this offseason, they gave two and nine starts. That's it. He was six and three. They were looking somewhere else. They didn't even name him captain. So you watch Daniel Jones tonight. You tell me what you see. We'll talk about it in the show tomorrow. You tell me what you see. But I think we're in a different time now. Quarterbacks are better. They get better coaching in high school. They have elite 11 camps. They have the quarterback coaching business now.

It's a cottage industry. It's like a real industry. So I expect more. And with Daniel, he has not checked a box. The winning, the accuracy, the turnover issue, and the it. I'm rooting for him. This league is way better when the Giants matter. And we got good quarterback.

So I'm rooting for him. But it's a real test. And I just saw, by the way, I just saw Justin Herbert against his same Washington team. And he took the game over late. Back shoulder throws, moving around. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. With that, I bring in Greg Kossel, 42 years NFL films. Audience loves him everywhere I go.

People love Greg Koso. So let's talk about that. I said one of the more impressive wins of the weekend that we didn't talk about, it wasn't like a lead our show kind of game, was Herbert against that defensive front, new coach, new coordinator, new playbook, new old line. And I watched that game and I'm like, Boy Herbert looks like he's been playing in this league for seven, eight years. I was really impressed. What did the film say?

Yeah, I would agree with that. And what stood out to me is how efficient he was. He's a big armed kid, but he plays the game with efficiency. He drops back, hits the back foot, the ball comes out. He knows where to go with the football. You rarely see him stuck in the pocket, Colin. There's just an overall efficiency to his game. The term I always use is elimination and isolation.

He knows how to eliminate what's not there either before the snap or very quickly into his drop, and he isolates where to go with the football. And he's capable, of course, as we know, of big time throws. You might have seen that big time far hash, whole shot throw. He made to Mike Williams early in the second quarter. That's not the kind of throw that everybody can make. That's a special throw. And Herbert can make those.

But he's also playing very, very efficiently. And I think that's really critical. So I have to be honest, when Jalen Hertz was drafted in the second round, I thought it was a little bit of a reach. I did not know if he was a starting quarterback at Alabama. I thought he was more efficient running than throwing. He's an incredibly diligent, hardworking kid with a great story. And I watched week one, and my takeaway was, no, you can win some games with that. What did the film say on Jalen Hertz of the Eagles?

Well, I think what the Eagles coaching staff did was absolutely important. They really settle him into the game early. And don't forget, he was only making his fifth NFL start. They started the game with bubble screens, which are no read throws. Then they went with an RPO, which is a one read throw. Then they had a zone read run. So they really got him comfortable early. And even though the game was close through much of the first half,

they did not need to change anything they were doing. And even that touchdown that we just saw to Devontas Smith, that was a man-beater concept in a man-to-man down for the defense. So that was a throw. essentially he was throwing that ball to Devontas Smith. He was not reading progressions. So they did a really, really good job. And because their O-line dominated and their D-line dominated, the game stayed within Hertz's ability to play in a certain kind of way, which is good, because you don't want him really at this point, his career being in games where he's got to drop

back, take the seven-step drops, and progression read. He's not quite ready to do that against good defenses yet, but they really did a good job with them, and he played effectively. And one final point I make about the Eagles, Colin, two years ago, 2019, they were the slowest offense in the NFL. Right now with the weapons they have, and they may, we'll find out if they're going to be great players, but just in terms of speed and explosiveness, they now have speed and explosiveness on the perimeter. So, listen, the Rams went and got Matt Stafford, and if you look at their draft and offseason, the Rams told you what they wanted to do.

They wanted more Mahomes touchdowns. You know, McVeigh can scheme it up for nine plays, but in this league now, you got to get some cheapies. You got to get some freebies, and you didn't get it with golf. It was, so they went out and got, you know, this speedy wide receiver. They got Deshawn Jackson,

and they went and got a quarterback with a big arm. And I think we saw it in week one is, and I had talked to less neat about. this. He just like, you know, every drive can't be 12 plays. We can't play perfect football. One penalty or one sack, it's over. And I think, I think that Rams, I mean, what did you see schematically? Was it that different? Or was it just Stafford's got a big arm and made throws golf couldn't? No, I don't think it's different. I think what all said and done, what McVeigh wants as part of his offense is he wants the deeper play action concepts off of play action. That's what he wants.

He wants what looks like boot, which that play was to Jefferson that we saw in the second play of the game. He wants deeper play action throws off those boot concepts. And Goff could not really give him those throws. As we see this, he boots left and throws out. By the way, did you see Kong how easily he threw that ball? Yeah. He threw that ball probably 65 yards in the air because that was across the field. So now it gives him the vertical dimension to the offense, which you didn't really have with Goff.

Gough did not have a bad arm, but he does not have the arm Stafford has. And that's something McVeigh really wanted was that vertical dimension. And that's why they have Deshawn, and that's why they drafted two to Atwell from Louisville. So the Arizona Cardinals drafted a quarterback and decided it's not working. Roll the dice. Let's draft another one. They got Kyler Murray. And first year to the second, he absolutely improved before getting hurt.

This weekend, he's remarkable. So is it just his athleticism? Is it the weapons they've gotten him? Or are you seeing an improved quarterback with better reads, a greater sense of pocket? What are you seeing with Kyler? Well, I thought he threw the ball more accurately this week. And I think that's really an important part of his game. We know he's going to make those special plays.

Those plays happen. Quarterbacks that can move around and have the athletic ability Murray has will make those plays. But I think that he did a better job of throwing the ball accurately. And that is important because he has not really been that guy. You know, because he's so special with his movement, Colin, there's always plays on the highlights that people get excited about. But his first two years in the league, quite honestly, and I'm speaking solely about tape study now,

he's missed too many routine throws. And he did not in this game. And you saw them play in empty sets quite a bit. You saw them play with four wide receivers quite a bit. He was outstanding and empty. sets, meaning there's no one in the backfield other than him, he was eight for eight for 140 yards out of empty sets. So that's something you'll see them do a lot. It spreads out the defense. And by the way, even if it's a called pass, but he sees a lane in an empty set because the defense is spread

horizontally and vertically based on route concepts, then he'll run. And they'll be very, very comfortable with that. So I think they're learning what they can do. You know, they buck the trend, by the way of what the NFL is. There's almost no motion in their offense. Everything is static. So it just proves you can win and you can play well offensively many different ways. By the way, why was Arizona's, because there are a team we've talked about this week, and I just don't know what to make of them.

They were so dominant. What do you make of their defense? It was just Chandler Jones being great? What did Arizona do? No, no, their defense, their defense column is a fascinating watch now. Now, the big issue will be at corner through the season. They're starting a rookie Marco Wilson from Florida. And so that's a question as far as the corner position.

But when you talk about their front group, they have what every coordinator would want. They have length and they have athleticism. And that's what their front seven is. Isaiah Simmons is now being used the way most people thought he would be, but struggled in his rookie season. Now with a full off season, he's playing multiple positions, filling multiple roles. The kid from Tulsa, Zaven Collins, he played. in the base, some in the nickel.

Another kid, 6-4-2-60. They have Watt, who's 6-5-66, Jones 6-5-66. This is a defense with a ton of length. Yeah. All right, let's talk some young quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence, a lot of picks, a lot of TDs got, you know, let's be honest, they got way behind.

That means he had to throw, and Houston knew he had to throw, which is never great for young quarterbacks. What did you make it? What did you make it, Trevor? Yeah, I actually thought he played pretty well. The last thing you want to do is have a rookie quarterback in his first start dropped back over 50 times. And that's what he had to do because of the nature of the game. And the thing that stood out with him, and I thought with Zach Wilson as well, by the way,

he didn't fall behind as much as Trevor did. But I thought the mental toughness, the resilience that they showed, the ability to stay with their mechanics, to stay firm in the pocket and deliver the football and make throws, I thought it was really, really good. It's easy to look at the three interceptions. I don't think Lawrence has three interceptions other than the last one, which was a head scratcher, but the others were not terrible. One was just an inaccurate throw on the move. The other, I thought he just didn't anticipate a corner dropping as deep in cover two as the corner dropped

because corners don't normally do that. But I thought Trevor made some really outstanding throws, showed pretty light feet in the pocket, which I was really interested to see. and I thought he did that well. Zach Lawrence very much the same. I mean, we know he has light feet. Yeah, Zach Wilson. Sorry, we know he has light feet.

He's got a live, loose arm. We saw that. There was one play in particular where I really liked the way he manipulated the underneath coverage. It was his own coverage and he had to manipulate the underneath defender to get a clean throwing window. I thought he did that really, really well. So the traits are there for both those guys and I would expect them to get better.

Obviously, Jacksonville's in a tough spot because their defense is not very good. Yeah, no, I think when I watched Zach Wilson, my takeaway was he has what I would call a plus arm. He has a special arm. He made a couple throws. You're like, all right, about 25 guys in the league are not going to make that throw. That was my takeaway on him. Yeah, he's got to, see, I don't think he has a power arm like, let's say a Matthew Stafford, but I think he has a live loose arm. Yeah.

All right, let's go. I said this before you came on today. I said, Matt Jones is fascinating. If you go look last year at what Brian Flores and his defense allowed, they unraveled Goff. Mahomes had three picks. If you look at what Mack Jones did, and again, this is a game where you've got a couple of weeks to prepare. So Mac Jones first start had significantly better numbers, completion percentage, yards passing, passer rating, no picks,

then Flores allowed last year, I'm like, in a losing effort, Mac Jones was pretty darn good. That's what my eyes said. What did the tape say? I would agree. I would say there's a natural poison calmness to the way he plays. He trusts his protection, which is really interesting given he was not under duress a whole lot in college. And he delivers versus pressure without speeding up his mechanics.

And that's really important. And then the other part I'd speak to with Mac Jones is I think he showed efficient movement within the pocket. He has a good feel for pressure. He knows where it's coming from, and he knows how to get rid of the football and who to throw it to. And the other thing that I thought was fascinating, again, given that he was not under a lot of pressure in college, is he has an innate feel for what's pressure and what's not pressure in the NFL. Keep in mind, Colin, just having bodies around you in the NFL is not pressure. And Jones has an innate feel for understanding what pressure is and isn't at the NFL level.

Finally, we always do a big play. But before we do that, I just want to talk about Russell Wilson and Shane Caldron. He's got a new offensive coordinator. And I'm sure, you know, you and I have lamented this for the last couple of years. Seattle is Jurassic and predictable and run on first down. It's like, oh, please give Russell something here. So he's got a new coordinator. Tell me your thoughts.

Well, Shane Waldron came from the Rams, and you saw a lot of the Rams influence in the Seahawks offense last week. You saw the condensed, reduced splits by the receivers closer to the formation. You saw jet sweep action. You saw play action, both conventional, where he dropped straight back and play action boot. You saw the things we're used to seeing in the Rams offense. And I think that will make Russell Wilson, and I know he's a great player, but it will make him a better player, believe it or not. It will make him a more structured, more disciplined player.

Because there are times in the past where he's left the pocket, when he doesn't need to leave the pocket. And yeah, he'll make some great runs, but I think you'll see a more structured and disciplined player. And we can go to the play that we want to see this week because that was a classic case of understanding the defense you're playing against. They were playing against the Colts. The Colts are a defense that plays a good percentage of what we call split safety,

where there's two safeties on the back end. And they called a play to attack that. So here you're going to see Wilson in the shotgun. And it's a two-by-two set. with Lockett to the top of the screen and Metcalf to the bottom of the screen. And what you're going to get here is a split safety coverage, just what I spoke about. And what they do here is they play what we call quarters to the wide side of the field and halves cover two to the boundary side of the field.

Let's stay there. And we know in cover two, the corner does not run with a vertical route. That's on the safety. So what you get is Lockett now screaming at the safety. He's going to run a post-corner post on the safety. Look at the other safety on the other side. You want to make sure that he does not impact this play. So you have D.K. Metcalfe run a vertical route to occupy him.

When that happens, look at Lockett now. Post-corner post. You'll take Lockett, Colin, on a safety any day of the week running a vertical route. And there's the rainbow by Wilson. He's as good a deep ball thrower as there is in the NFL. And that was all designed. I'm not saying the throw was easy, but you can see the route right here. Look at Lockett, Post Corner Post, eats up Carrie Willis,

and just the design of the play set this up, and Wilson just laid it out beautifully. How can they not score on every possession? I don't, every time I watch it. Well, that's what they said about the Titans, Colin, when they got Julio Jones. Good seeing you, Greg Cole. 42 years, NFL film, great stuff.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hart Radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. So Tom Brady has a podcast called Let's Go. And he was talking about how young all the quarterbacks in the NFL are getting. He's a very young and Tom has noticed it. There's a lot of rookies playing.

It's pretty amazing. I don't remember this many young rookie players. Even the second year guys, Tua, Herbert, Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Fields played a little bit. Tray Lance played a little bit. Zach Wilson's playing. Mac Jones is playing. That's a lot of young quarterback. So kind of gone are the days of Drew Brees,

Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning. You know, those are the guys that I'm used to hear. And I'll be forgotten here soon enough. I'll move on and they'll be on to someone else. But that's just the way football goes, as does life. So it was interesting. He said that yesterday.

Joy and I talked about this. And I said, I thought to myself driving home, well, it's not true. NFL's always got like 9, 9, 10 young guys. they're just usually not very good. So we broke it down. Quarterbacks fall into three categories. Historically, young quarterbacks, first three years in the league.

You're either a young quarterback. You make mistakes. We say, lights just went on. Then there's the prime quarterbacks. You're in your prime. Year 4 to year 10. And then year 11 plus, you're an older quarterback. So right now, starting quarterbacks in the NFL, we have

nine young quarterbacks. 28%. 2a, Zach, Mack, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hertz, Daniel Jones, Keiter Murray. And they feel young. Now, Herbert doesn't play young, but those are your young quarterbacks.

Nine. We have 16 or 17 guys who are in their prime. That's half the league. Year 4 to 10. Josh Allen, Baker, Mayfield, Lamar, Russell, Tannahill, Wentz, Bridgewater Mahomes, Derek Carr, Dack Prescott, Taylor Heineke, believe it or not, Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, Sam Darnal, James, Winston, Garoppolo.

Your mistakes now are on you. Can't blame youth. You're in your athletic prime, and you got plenty of starts and plenty of practices. And then there's the aging quarterbacks. This is 11 plus where the injuries last longer and you've taken some hits. Ben, Brady, Rogers, Matt Ryan, Tyrod, Taylor, Matt Stafford. That is 19% of the league. So currently, 28% of the league is young guys. 50% of the league, half is guys in their prime. Those are the guys that usually have a chance to win Super Bowls. And then 19% the old guys. So I think about you think to yourself, that's a lot of young guys. No, we went back 10 years. There were actually not nine, but 10 quarterback starting under 25 years of age. Here's what

was fooled by. Only one of those a decade ago had a quarterback rating that was better than the league average, Matt Stafford. Seven of the 11 young quarterbacks now are better than the league average. Last year, we had 11 quarterbacks under 25. Seven of 11 better than league average. So the numbers aren't changing. You get about 10 guys.

Last year, this year, you average 10. You average 10 years ago. The difference is the guys are so good now that we talk about them more. So it feels like it's a younger league. It's not a younger league. It's always about 25 to 28 percent. It's about 10 guys. But the 10 guys now, what's happening is because of the elite 11 camps,

the personal coaches, the college schemes adopted by the NFL that has long. as you have at least more than one year of college starting, at least two years of college starting, you walk into this league, your prime starts in year two. So what we're going to see going forward is your prime is going to be about as long as you have at least two years starting, that Kyler only had one year starting. So Kyler now is popping year three. If Kyler had two years starting in college, and he kind of started to pop last year, he started to, he probably pops last year. So my take is, the league is, it's not more. young quarterback. They're just so damn good now that we talk about them all the time.

And so we think it's a more, no, it's half the league's in their prime. And there's almost 20% old guys. So 75% of the league is not young guys. They're also good. Burroughs good. Kailor's good. I mean, Mahalms, MVP, first year starting. Lamar, MVP, first full year starting. Kyler looks like to me, between the wiggle, the move that, that's, that's an MVP quarterback. Justin Herbert, honestly, was so good last week. You'll watch him. You'll watch him this week because they play the Cowboys. He's so good.

I mean, he doesn't look anything like. Remember, as great as Elway was, he didn't win an MVP until year five. As great as Peyton Manning was. He was trash in year four. He won an MVP in year six. What you'll see going forward? Prime for the kids who had two years starting, in college will be year two and because of nutrition and training it'll go to year 12 to 13.

So this league is in a great space. Quarterbacks are greater younger and they're greater longer. That's why anybody that doubts football, a couple years ago everybody talking about football, moms don't want them to play. When the quarterback play is good, the league is great. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

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Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

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