The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 09/11/2018

Episode Date: September 11, 2018

Colin celebrates Sam Darnold's debut and explains why he doesn't have the same talent as other QBs but he has all the intangibles you want. He gives his top ten teams in the NFL in the Herd Hierarchy including a new #1. Plus, NFL Writer Peter King talks with Colin about the struggling Cowboys and Aaron Rodgers’ status after getting hurt Sunday night. Presented by Perky Jerky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me, and I think my favorite Tuesday show ever on this network. It's a pretty good Tuesday for you. at least prediction-wise, you're in good shape. By the way, one hour from now, we unveil our really our first herd hierarchy. We do it every Tuesday. Ten best teams, in our opinion.

A couple of shake-ups in there, obviously. Let me start with this. Is that if there were a group of guys that were my kind of guys in the NFL at quarterback, Andrew Luck, Carson Wentz, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Sam Darnold. They're my kind of guys. No bragging when they win. Shake off failure.

And failure, Peyton Manning, Brett Farr, Drew Brees. Failure is everywhere in this league. You're going to win games. Mark Sanchez won. Tebow won. You're going to win games. How do you deal with failure?

I've never said that Sam Darnold had a great arm. It's good enough. I've never seen. said he has the innate skills of Andrew Luck, the size in the town of Cam Newton. I've also said he's a little reckless. He plays a little fast and loose. So it was absolutely perfect that he threw a pick six to start his career. It was perfect because then it allowed you to see the Sam Darnold I know. From that point forward, he had a quarterback rating of 141.

Here's a kid, youngest quarterback to ever start week one in the NFL. On the road, Monday night football against a former number one pick Matt Stafford and a coach Matt Patricia, who's helped guide along with Belichick and Brady those Patriots to win after win after

win. There was a lot to be nervous about. And after Sam Darnold threw that pick, he was 16 of 20, two touchdowns, no picks, and a passer rating at 141. And that is the Sam Darnold, I saw four years ago at a USC practice, and I came out the very next day on the air, and I said, folks, we got another Andrew Luck.

I just saw him for the first time. He's 18. And I sat there with the time, Steve Sarkeesian was USC's coach. And I walked over to Steve Sarkeesian. It was the first practice. And I said, and Sarke looked at me and went, don't say it. I know what you're thinking. And I said, he looks like him, plays like him.

he's big like him, he's thick like him. And Andrew Luck, by the way, doesn't have the world's greatest arms. And Andrew Luck, by the way, throws pick sixes and he's going to throw more. Sam's going to throw more of those. Brett Farve had 29 interceptions in what is 15th year? Remember Brett Farve's last memorable pass threw across his body, picked off. Ruined the Vikings' chance to get to a Super Bowl. After the game last night, Darren Lee, quote,

dude smooth under pressure, doesn't get rattled. We weren't worried whatsoever. He needed to throw that pick six. And it was all his fault, by the way. It was nobody else's fault. It was 100% Sam Donald's fault. And I've seen him do that at USC. And I saw him do it last night and you're going to see him do it again.

And I saw Fav do it in his 18th year. And Andrew Luck, he'll be doing it the rest of his career. But there's instincts and you can't coach him. And there's something called maturity and leadership and dude. qualities. Sam Darnold is a dude. We've all had guys like this in our life. When the fit hits the shan, who do you turn to? You get in a divorce. You got to move. Your life stinks for 48 hours. Who's the dude you turn to? That's what Sam Donald is. That's what the great ones are. That pick six wasn't a problem. It's the first of many. I predicted you have 18 interceptions this year.

but the pick six last night provided me the opportunity to let you see what I've been talking about. There's no reason to compare him to Baker-Mayfield. I think Cleveland took the wrong guy. I think the Giants in New York made a tragic mistake. They were afraid of the pushback if they drafted Sam Darnold. And because of that, for the next 15 years, Giants fans are going to watch the best quarterback in New York on somebody else's team. it's not about arm Tom Brady doesn't have a great arm

Joe Montana doesn't have a great arm it's not about mobility Peyton Manning ran like a batting cage it's about dude qualities are you a dude will other alphas rich guys follow you over a hill you watch Donald on the sidelines last night

do you watch him like just high five and slap and talking watch the lion's sideline like nobody talked. Last night, here's what I want. I don't want moods. I don't want poses. I don't want nicknames.

I don't want bragging. I want humble and victory, strong and defeat. Congratulations to the New York Jets. The next 12 to 15 years and Chiefs fans are feeling it after the weekend too. You got your dude. That is a great feeling. in the NFL. You got your dude. Now, fix that offensive line. Get a tight end. Draft another running back. But you got your dude. Let me shift to John Gruden. I've been a doubter since day one.

I have been a doubter since day one. And let me say, first of all, Oakland, the organization, it'd be tough for Belichick to win there. This is not easy. They actually are being sued by their city. They don't really know where they're going to play next year. Last night, my wife said, is that a baseball stadium they're playing in? And I said, yes. And it's actually not only a bad football stadium. It's the worst baseball stadium.

So the Raiders are playing in a baseball stadium, and it's also the worst. They tarp off the upper deck. They've got the poorest owner. You know what? The Raiders Stadium right now is the restaurant. my wife refuses to go into because the bathrooms are filthy and the floors are dirty. It's hard to win there. But that wasn't good.

That wasn't good last night. Second half, no communication. Derek Carr, receivers grew no communication. Outscored 23-0 second half. And by the way, the Rams didn't play any of their top players in preseason. They didn't play any of them. The Rams had the fewest starters taking snaps. of any team in the NFL in the preseason.

So they needed a first half to warm up on the road, and they did, and then it was like embarrassing. And I'm not saying it's easy because outside of linebacker, the Rams are good everywhere. And even at linebacker, it's not like it's a massive liability. They are loaded in the secondary, loaded defensive line, terrific offensive line, superstar at running back,

way above average, wide receivers, and a really good head coach, and a top defensive coordinator. And Jared Goff is really special. So I'm not saying it's easy. The Raiders are a mess and the Rams are exceptional. I mean, the Rams last year had the coach of the year, they had the offensive player of the year, they had the defensive player of the year, they had the special teams coach of the year, they're good.

And the Raiders are a mess. But 10 penalties in the first half, no adjustments couldn't score in the second half. Lack of communication, Derek Carr, called a timeout two and a half minutes into the game. That wasn't good. I didn't buy the John Gruden hire. I like him as a broadcaster, and I thought he was a fine coach. But I do think his brand has always been better than his accomplishments. But last night, 20 years ago, John Gruden was Sean McVeigh.

Last night, John Gruden was schooled by Sean McVeigh. He was. that's what it looked like. This league is not about scripted plays. The Chicago Bears on scripted plays looked like they were way better than the Packers. Alex Smith is excellent on scripted plays. Brady's good, Rogers is good,

Breeze is good when you're off script and you've got to make stuff happen and you've got to adjust. This is a league of adjustments. Rams didn't play anybody in the preseason. None of their stars. So they needed a half to get going. And that second half, man, that's bad.

That looked disorganized. And like, you know, we all know good sometimes can be difficult. What's the difference between good, pretty good, really good. But bad, bad food, bad movie, bad restaurant, bad traffic. You can spot that. Bad coaching. That looked second half.

Detroit looked like a poorly coached team. And Oakland in the second half looked like that. got completely absolutely out-schemed, out-communicated, and worked. Didn't buy the hire, still don't buy it. Maybe it'll all come together in Vegas. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Oh, I know you're going to crush me for this, but there are generals and there are soldiers. In appearance matters.

It does. you don't want to look like a frat boy, especially when you've never accomplished anything, especially when all of Bill Belichick's assistants flame out. But Colin, Bill Belichick wears on the sideline. It doesn't matter. He's the greatest coach ever. Okay. Certain guys can come to work.

They have the corner office. They don't have to wear a tie. You're an intern. Champ, do better. Matt Patricia on the. sidelines look like a chump that that's a mess hat on backwards guy first gig had on backwards guy if somebody applied for an internship came into my office looking like matt patricia on the sidelines i'd be like hard pass come on man don't talk about bellichick you're not you're not belichick's

valet it's your first NFL job this is monday night football you're on the sidelines that whole sideline did anybody ever talk to him for three and a half hours a coach a player, any communication? I mean, that just didn't look good. Nothing about that looked good. Everything about that looked like a soldier, not a general. In the last two games, Matt Patricia has been shredded by Nick Foles and the youngest rookie quarterback ever.

I mean, that just, there was nothing about Matt Patricia. I know what you're saying. Colin, looks don't. Hey, they do. You ever see Sean McVan on the sideline? Dude, looks sharp. You ever see Kyle Shanahan on the sideline? He looks sharp.

You don't look like a slob. It matters, especially when you're new and you're young and you're unproven and you come from an organization where everybody like you that got a job, it doesn't work. Especially when you're a losing culture, especially when you're on Monday Night Football, especially when you're in an organization that's looking for the guy and you look like kind of a chump. Come on, do better. You're not a frat boy. There's only 32 of these jobs in the National Football League. I'm not, I've said this before. Jerry Seinfeld would be just as funny if he was in Bermuda trunks.

But Jerry Seinfeld goes on stage and Chris Rock goes on stage and they look the part. They make you feel like that $150 for your ticket, you're getting a performance. I mean, Muhammad Ali is the best fighter I've ever seen. He always wore those clean white trunks. He could have worn Bermuda trunks. He'd have still beaten Foreman. He'd is still beating Joe Fray. or two times. But Ollie was more than boxing. Ollie was iconic. Rinaldo, Messi,

Ali, it matters. Pat Riley's appearance, it matters. I'm not saying it's everything. I'm not saying it's a huge thing. But if you apply for an internship and look like that, dude, no thanks. And a kid came in, worked his tail off. At least he would be paying. me the respect if he put his hat on. I wouldn't want a hat, period. But I mean, that was almost disrespectful. Like, this is an NFL head coaching job. You're a rookie.

All the guys from New England failed. It's Monday Night Football. You're representing a city, an organization. And by the way, kind of a dysfunctional one. You look dysfunctional. Go ahead, rip me. Go to social media. What do we all got to be robots?

No, just don't be a frat boy. Don't wear a hat to a steakhouse. Dress like Seinfeld on stage. be taken seriously? Part of it is when you walk in the door. What do they always say? Women make a decision in two minutes. Guys make it in eight seconds. Impressions matter. And when you haven't proven anything, and the last time I saw you coach, Nick Folles threw for 19,000 yards against you, and you're the Detroit Lions and it's Monday night football, and you're facing Sam Darnold, and that's not good enough. Sorry. I'm not saying it. Listen, it's not like, I'm not expecting

George Clooney on Ocean's 11. I don't need James Bond. I don't need period. I don't need periods. Brasnan. I don't need Denzel. I don't need a tuxedo. But it was something. I can't be the only person that looked at that and thought, come on. Pencil, hat backwards. It's not good enough. Sorry. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. You can tell when companies or businesses are people are truly special by the number of people they affect. I mean, when Howard Stern went to satellite, he ended FM morning radio and created satellite

radio in one move. He changed two industries, created one new one satellite and ended another one, FM morning radio, like stations literally switch formats that had Howard on because they couldn't get ratings. Calil Mack, think of the impact, and I was a big believer in Chicago getting Khalil Mack, Oakland keeping him, or the Packers getting him. Think of the impact Khalil Mack has had this week. Story this morning, Aaron Rogers might not play against Minnesota. I don't know if you've noticed, they will be Green Bay's primary challenger for the NFC North Crown.

Aaron Rogers is hurt, and he's hurt because with Khalil Mac playing basically a half, you can't double him. And if you do it, leave somebody else open. And Aaron Rogers was under duress in the first half. Oh, by the way, here's the other impact. The L.A. Rams, Jared Goff had all day to throw last night. He, of course, would not have had all day to throw if Kalil Mack was on the Raiders. Then there's the other impact that the Chicago Bears defensive front is going to be filthy for several years.

That's a real team. Now, I think they're limited at quarterback with Mitch Trubesky. I think that's a college offense, but they led the Green Bay Packers in Lambo with Aaron Rogers, 20-0. And Aaron Rogers was this close to being gone maybe for several weeks. And all I heard yesterday was Aaron Rogers is this and Aaron Rogers is that. You know what Aaron Rogers is? Hurt again because of Khalil Mack and the pressure and the scheme. you have to change when facing

Khalil Mack. He has affected four teams. Chicago is now a force to be reckoned with. They would have won that game if it was in Soldier. Oakland, they have no pass rush. Rams, second half

last night, Jared Goff, he might as well been in a lazy boy recliner. And Green Bay, their star quarterback, is hurt again. I always said this about Uber. You know Uber is a forer. It's ending taxi cabs, ending them. The DUI rate in America has plummeted.

People aren't in their cars. Restaurants and bars have gone through like a seven-year climb. Why? You can have an extra drink and get in an Uber. Don't have to drive home. Employment rates all over America. If you accept Uber, your unemployment rate goes down. I mean, because you have so many.

drivers in the city. I went to Vancouver, BC, about three weeks ago. They don't have Uber. It's no fun. I'm so addicted to to Uber. I'm like, well, I'm supposed to get around. I'm for cabs? Cabs? What is blockbuster

video around? Cabs? Seriously, what did you do? Hitchhite. I mean, it was ridiculous. I took a bike. I biked around a couple places. I walked a lot in dress shoes. It's terrible. I Uber to get my nails on a few weeks ago

and my phone started non-functioning. And I started panicking. I was like, I'm too far away from my house to walk. I mean, I don't know how I'm going to get home. I'm going to have to ask a stranger to call a Uber for me and give them cash. What do I do? That's when you have an impact.

When you impact several different areas, just look at Cleo Mac. One week, he affected four teams. I'm going to call a cabin, wait 40 minutes for them to get here. Listen, I've said before, there's just certain positions in football. quarterback left tackle pass rusher. Just pay whatever it takes.

Just pay, I don't care what it is. I don't want to hear about it. Tyron Smith, Dall's Cowboys left tackle. Just pay him. Figure out the rest later. Go to your accountant, say, we pay this guy a lot. You pay your quarterback if he's a star. You pay your left tackle if he's a star.

And if he's a pass rusher. Well, you didn't say JJ Watt. J.J. Watts never healthy. He's always hurt. Kalea Max never hurt. He plays every game. He's never hurt. You pay him.

That was big time first world problems. conversation we just said. What do we do without an Uber? You know, something else, I'm going to get my first heard hierarchy in about 35 minutes from now at the top of the hour. Peter King is going to be joining me in less than eight minutes. I will say, though, I do want to say this. I need a touch on this. Is that when I was at ESPN, one of the things I always tried to make a point of is given the West Coast some love.

East Coast. ESPN was East Coast. And I always felt like, you know what, man, I don't want people out West, Denver West to feel like nobody's paying attention to him. So I was the one guy at that network that did research that was embraced by the West Coast. Oh, he's our guy. He talks West Coast. Now I'm out west. So I'm out west now and I drive to work every morning thinking, how can I include the East? I don't want you to see me as just some guy out here. So when LeBron, I was told six months ago by somebody in Los Angeles of note, LeBron's going to the Lakers. And I'm like, how? How do you know? He said, because magic's telling people he's ours. Okay. But I kept saying on the air, yes, Lakers, Lakers, but I would include Cleveland. I would include Philly, even though I knew he had no chance. He couldn't stand Dan Gilbert because I didn't want to come off as an abject homer. It matters to me. When I was out east, I wanted to West to know I care. And now I'm out west, I want the East to know I care. So I've been very, very reluctant to say what I'm about to say. Rams are outrageously talented. There's three teams in this league that were really good last year.

Eagles, Vikings and Rams, and the Rams added stars. Akeeb Talib, Marcus Peters, and Domen Su, and Jared Gough now is no long. Let's be honest. Jared Gough last year, it was his rookie year. That was a wasted first year. year was a rookie year. Jared Goff looks really poised. His arm looks stronger. He just looks better. Aaron Rogers' arm got better over his career. It did. He didn't throw like that out of college. He threw like that fifth year in the league. Jared Goff's arm looks stronger. He looks a little bigger.

He looks more in control. Sean McVeigh is no longer a rookie coach. He's not a rookie coach anymore. Not trying to figure out how do I coach. It's what do I do next level. You know, Chris Carter said this on first things first, man. That offense, that defensive line, those special teams, that punter, that kicker, those corners, that safety. I mean, they are absolutely stacked. Here's Chris Carter this morning. I can predict a lot because I've seen so many games, so many films. I can predict where the ball is going to go formation and tendencies.

But when I watch the Rams, they're one of the few teams. I don't know where the ball is going to go. Jared golf running this offense and their ability to get that, all parts of the field in running the ball, passing the ball, play action. I think it's very special. It's going to be an exciting year for Rams fans. Listen, the Vikings, the Eagles, and the Rams were all good last year. The Rams added stars. Nothing wrong with Michael Bennett, Philadelphia.

He's a good player. And nothing along with Kirk Cousins. He's better than Case Keen. You're adding like two, three elite corners, elite defensive tackle. Now you have a quarterback, they are stacked. They are. Most of you East Coast fans didn't see. see it, you went to bed, because it was Monday night football.

There were two games last night. So mostly you didn't see the second half of last night's Rams' Raiders game. They didn't play any other players in preseason. They didn't play any of them. So the first half was a preseason game for the Rams. But the second half, 23-0, they were just destroying the Raiders. The Raiders, it looked like a Rams TV show, and the Raiders were extras. That's what it looked like.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Here we go. Heard hierarchy. Time is now, let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10.

Pittsburgh Steelers, they're like riding an amazing roller coaster. It's exhilarating. It's fun. You laugh. But if you ride it too often, you get sick. I mean, sorry. 12 penalties, six turnovers. But the opposite is, they have.

had seven sacks. That led the NFL. JJ Watt had four. That leads the NFL. And they got you almost six yards to play. But man, they got to button it up. They got to tighten it up. They're a mess right now.

And now Cleveland's good enough. So when you don't play well, you just tie them. Pittsburgh 10. Number nine. Said before the season, Carolina Panthers have the best front seven defense in the NFL. And they proved it. Cowboys couldn't run the football. 21 straight games for Carolina's defense without allowing a 100-yard rusher.

Ezekiel Elliott got off two good runs all day. And they're also sneaky good at home. Six straight wins at home. They were six and two last year at home. They also had six sacks. That was the second behind the Steelers in the NFL. I may sometimes struggle with Cam Newton, but this front seven defensively is just men. Carolina number nine.

Number eight. Green Bay Packers, everybody has them going to the Super Bowl. My reservation is this. They still can't run the football. You can't every week need Aaron Rogers to be a superhero. And I like their offensive line. They've upgraded at corners. They have a decent pass rush.

But of the 32 NFL teams, only three had a worst day run in the football. Well, Chicago's good. You looked at the NFC? A lot of good defenses. They play another one this week. It's called Minnesota. I like Green Bay, but I just, you can't ask Aaron Rogers, who, for the record, heard again to carry this franchise every week. Number seven.

Minnesota Vikings. Now, again, I like the Minnesota Vikings. I've said they're going to pull back a little this year. New quarterback, new coordinator, way tougher schedule. But they are allowing only 15.8 points a game dating back to last year, and that's the best in the league. There is no roster in the NFL. They may not have as many A players as the Rams or the last. the Eagles, but I don't know if there's a roster with more B-to-B-B-plus players than Minnesota.

Jimmy G, there were moments, and I know the Niners are rebuilding that O-Line and that running game, but there were moments he looked petrified Vikings at 7. Number six. Let's not sell all our stock on the Atlanta Falcons. Memo, it's hard to win in Philadelphia. They keep losing in Philadelphia. They only allowed 232 yards against the Eagles. That was the third best defensive performance of the weekend,

and they had the second best past defense in the NFL after week one. So their problem was they had 15 penalties, and they were bad in the red zone. But it's a team that's probably going to win seven of the next eight weeks. I have him winning the division. Yeah, Matt Ryan drives me crazy in the red zone, but he's not mobile enough to run it in the red zone. He doesn't have a cannon to squeeze it in little keyholes in the red zone.

They're not going to be a great red zone team, but they're still a really, really good football team. Number five. New England Patriots. Best coach in the league, best quarterback in the league, and they had 36 yards in penalties, fewest in the league. At times they're the opposite of the Steelers.

You question New England's talent, but Lordy, are they buttoned up? 36 penalty yards. Here's what's amazing. Even when you think Houston's coming to town, and they got, you know, J.J. Watt, and they got Jadawian Clowney, you're like, oh, pass rush.

They didn't touch Brady until the fourth quarter. They audible out of problems. New England 5. Number four. Kansas City, nine straight wins over the Chargers, and that's saying something because the Chargers got players. Here's the other thing. Even Vegas acknowledges that fumbles are sort of random.

But after a while, if you keep being randomly good, I'm going to go with your just good. They have the fewest turnovers since the beginning of last year. They just don't give you opportunities. I don't love their defense, but Patrick Mahomes is real. Andy Reid's one of the great game planners

and strategists in the league and their offensive personnel. Wow. Tyreek Hill makes fast guys look slow. He's got that Dion Sanders gear. I got the Chiefs at four. Number three. Philadelphia. They were good.

They added better. players. They had Michael Bennett. Hello, Dinada. They were already good. And they were also without Carson Wenton, week one, and beat a team that's going to be around at the end of the year, Atlanta. Philadelphia's good. I was wrong on Doug Peterson. When he came over, I was like, he didn't even call plays with Andy Reid. How good is Doug Peterson? They're clever, they're smart. When it calls for it, they're wildly creative. And they've held Atlanta, a high-powered offense to 22 points in their last two meetings. Philadelphia 3. Number two. Set it before the season started. My dark horse, to win it all is the Baltimore Ravens.

They're good on the lines. That was the most point scored in three years in the NFL. My bad, four. Held Buffalo to 153 yards. Now, the bills are rebuilding their O line. So, and Baltimore always has a Mike Tyson quality at home against bad quarterback play. I mean, they are just, they'll just beat you up.

But there's something about Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco, when he feels a little heat, is a different quarterback. He just is. Remember that Super Bowl run? He was looking for a contract. He was out. standing. Joe Flacko's 10 and 5 in the playoffs. Joe Flackos got into Foxborough and beaten Tom Brady. I got the Ravens at two. Number one. I'm not trying to be an L.A. Homer,

but like what's the Rams weakness? O-line, above average, D-line, scary, receivers. Good to really good. Secondary now. Fantastic. Running back. Amazing. Head coach. Amazing. Defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips. Exceptional. Special teams. Best punter, best kicker. I guess they're linebackers are a little okay, but I mean, I watched their linebackers last night against Derek Carr. If that's the weakness, this team's probably going to be playing early in February. They were already good. They added Marcus Peters, and Domen Su, Brandon Cooks, Akeeb to Lebe, Sam Shields, and Jared Cook, Jared Goff now, boy, he looked comfortable last night. I had the Rams at number one, and with that via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

Peter King joining us. You know, because I broadcast in L.A., I do. don't want to be a homer. And I want to be, you know, like, oh, my local team's great. But I'm watching that second half last night. Remember, Peter, the Rams didn't play their starters in the preseason. So, you know, they kind of needed a half to get going. I watched them in the second half, Peter. What is the Rams weakness? You tell me, what is their weakness as a team right now? Well, in the first half, particularly, they gave Derek Carr a lot of time. And because they're very stout, the Raiders are in the middle of the offensive line, you know, Sue and

Sue and I think their defensive front, you know, obviously everybody loves it. Everybody says, you know, that is the state of the art defensive front. And in my opinion, just my opinion, if one thing's going to hold them back, it's going to be the pressure on the quarterback. You know, corners can't hold forever, Colin. And in the first half of that game last night, they did not pester bother, you know, get. in the face of Derek Carr enough. But again, that's one thing. They're pretty good everywhere else.

I was shocked. I said this. If I was the Packers, I would have gone after Khalil Mack. Listen, if I'm the Bears and I got to face Aaron Rogers, at least 10 more times over the next five years and I got Mitch Trubisky, I have no problems paying massive money for statistically the closest thing to Lawrence Taylor I've seen. I totally get what the Bears did. We don't have Aaron.

Rodgers, how do we reduce his effectiveness? Let's go get the modern LT. I am shocked by how many people said, well, you know, the Raiders, they want draft picks. I thought it was a great move by the Bears. What was your takeaway on it? You simply, Bougar McFarland said it on TV last night. I wrote it a week ago. You simply do not trade 27-year-old Hall of Fame football players in their prime. and make no mistake about it. If Khalil Mack plays in his next eight years the way he's played in the last three, he's going to Canton. Now, that's a big if.

But you draft in the NFL to find players like Khalil Mack and to get rid of them after they've had two years after he's had two years in a row where he's had more sacks, quarterback hits, quarterback pressures than any player in football. don't give me any justification for that. There isn't any justification for it. And he's a guy who over the next seven years, on average, is going to take up about annually, about 11% of your cap. Yep.

I just don't see the downside to that at all. Sam Darnold, I was lucky enough to watch his first practice at USC, and I came on the next day on the air. I was at another company at the time, and I said, there's this kid at USC that's 18 years old, and I just watched him at practice. and I got to tell you, he's the closest thing to Andrew Luck I've seen. But I also know that Sam Darnold can be a little reckless, and he was last night.

But your initial impressions of what you saw from the Jets and Sam Darnold. I thought that was the best team performance of the weekend. Wow. The defense basically read Matthew Stafford's mind. And afterwards, they said we knew where they were going with the ball. special teams. They had the best all around, in my opinion, return game, even though there were a bunch of big returns over the weekend,

you know, for Andre Roberts to have two big returns and score a touchdown in the return game, that's very unjet-like. And so I would, I say this, not to demean or to take away from Sam Darnold. But Sam Darnold played a B game last night. Yeah. He was good.

And in a first NFL start at age 21, fantastic. But I think this, we're sort of confusing, welcoming the next Joe Namath, the next Johnny Unitas to football with a great team victory. And so I think Sam Darnel was good to very good. And I think the rest of the team was very good to excellent. Yeah, by the way, I think that's completely fair. You know, I said about three weeks ago, I said on the air, Peter, Todd Bowles is the best coach in the league with a losing record.

Every time I, first of all, they tackle well. They adjust well at half. They get every ounce. Players get better for the record. Jamal Adams is really special. So I think your kind of summation of it's incredibly fair. I thought Sam was what I've seen in Sam, but nowhere near what he can beat. Now, I want to go to another quarterback.

I said this yesterday that I'm a different guy today than I was in my 20s, then I have kids. Now my kids are in college. I see the world differently, right? And Jerry Jones is 75. He used to hate Vegas. Then he greenlit Vegas. And he used to be a player enabler, and he got rid of his best receiver Des. And I'm watching him Sunday.

And I'm watching Dak. and I'm thinking to myself, Jerry 75, and he has a decision to make at the end of this year because right now, Dax outperforming his contract. And I'm watching that, and I'm like, man, Dack looked like he had an incredibly low ceiling. What do you make of DAL? I mean, Jerry's older, he's not blind, he knows the NFC's loaded, he knows Carson Wentz, he knows these Packers, Aaron Rogers, Minnesota.

What do you make of this Dack Prescott performance this year? What was your takeaway? It was a terrible first game for both him and for Jason Garrett, for Scott Lenehan. You know, the offense looked poor. And I guess I would make just two points. Number one, I understand why the question is being asked on September 11th, but it's impossible to answer the question on September 11th. The question will be answered on December 11 or January 11th.

That's when you're going to know if long term you're going to, going to want to invest in Dak Prescott. Or if you're just going to want to let him play it out and then you want to bring in a quarterback to compete with him, maybe next year. We'll see. But, you know, Dak Prescott needs to play better, consistently better, to be given a trillion dollars in a contract. Yeah. If he plays a bunch of games like he did on Sunday, I wouldn't pay him. And I think Jerry Jones knows he can't pay him either. He's got to. be what he was a couple of years ago and not what he has been in the last one year in one game. By the way, Football Morning in America by Peter King at NBCSports.com, three-time national sports

writer of the year. Aaron Rogers did what Aaron Rogers does. Not sure if he's going to play this week, but you interviewed Randall Cobb after that game. What did Randall tell you? Basically that at halftime, he went looking for Rogers to see how he was doing. He went into the trainer's room and they said, hey, he's out. testing it, he's trying to get ready to play. And then the next he saw him was Rogers was walking on the field after having, he said, what's going on? He goes, I'm fine. I'm going. And he didn't really see a lot of, because we're watching it on high-deaf TV, we're watching Aaron Rogers on one leg. Randall Cobb and the receivers are watching him, are watching the field. So they can't really see

when I talked to him, he didn't know that he only played on one light, but he figured it was a fairly great accomplishment, particularly, Colin, because obviously the Packers had been zero and 111 when trailing by 17 points or more starting a fourth quarter in their history. And so to me, that was the best game, all things considered, of Aaron Rogers' life. You know, it's funny. And I'm sitting there and I'm watching Brady against N, New England. And I said before the week, I said, I think Houston's going to win this game.

I don't know about their perenter game right now, New England. Edelman's not there. And that first hour of football, I don't have words anymore. Like, here's the other thing, that Brady, Aaron gets hit from time to time. Brady didn't get hit much. I think he, I've been told by players who have played with him, he audibles out of sacks better than anybody that's ever played the game, including Peyton Manning. But I was watching that Bella. And by the way, when gronk spike the ball, Belichick after the game laughed at the gronk spike. And I kind of feel like Brady is forcing Bill to lighten up a little bit because Belichick would never in a million years say, oh, that gronk spike was funny, that was great.

It feels like this thing's a little fluid, but in the end, Belichick and Tom are just going to kind of functionally make it work. Because what I saw Sunday, that first hour, Peter, that was surgical. It was surgical. I thought that going into that game, I thought that Josh McDaniel's biggest job in this game was not trying to invent a passing game when he only had three wide receivers active,

okay, you know, who he thought he could even remotely trust. His job was to throw everything quick. You know, in the NFL, the average pass is thrown at 2.7 seconds after the quarterback receives the ball. I would just bet that Tom Brady's number was at about 2 or maybe 2.1. And the reason that that's so important is he got clowny, you got merciless, you got Watt. J.J. Watt touched Tom Brady twice in the whole game.

While his brother is getting four sacks and a field goal block in Pittsburgh, in Cleveland for Pittsburgh. J.J. Watt has zero sacks and three tackles. And the big reason is Josh McDaniels game planned to make sure that J.J. Watt was not going to wreck the game. So great game for Brady. Great game for some receivers who people don't trust like Philip Dorset, but a great game also with Josh McDaniels.

Peter King, NBCSports.com, formerly at Sports Illustrated, Great having you on a Monday, Peter. Wonderful first week of NFL football. Good, close games. Fun. Thank you. Thank you, Colin. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the Internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the... the moment and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

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