The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/20/2018

Episode Date: November 20, 2018

Colin reacts to an all-time great game between the Rams and Chiefs and despite losing still thinks the Chiefs are the better team. He says the Aaron Rodgers/Mike McCarthy relationship has run its course in Green Bay. Plus, Greg Cosell of NFL Films talks about Drew Brees having possibly his best season and how the Cowboys need everything to go right for Dak Prescott to succeed. 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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That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark, keep coming to her. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

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This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. 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.

I'm wearing Kansas City Chiefs Red, even though they lost the game. Joy Taylor is joining me. How are you, Joy? I'm great. What a game, huh? It was a wild game in one hour from now. The herd hierarchy. top 10 NFL teams, a weird, weird top 10 this week. Well, first of all, that was crazy.

Tip of the cap to both organizations. It was not only a great game, it was an odd game. And let me explain why. Think about the NFL. They prepare a year for the Super Bowl. Then they get to the Super Bowl and they need an extra week to prepare in the security and the teams and the stadium and the parking and that. These two teams, that game felt like not only was great, it was odd because it was

thrown together. the teams had to move the security had the move the broadcast networks had to move the teams had to figure out where to stay they hadn't booked rooms and for those two teams in all that mess to come together last night and give us that tip of the cap to the hunt family and he reading the chiefs tip of the cap to less need staying cronkey the rams organization sean mcvay that was unbelievable i mean good god fan security hotels teams trained practices, networks. They got through. You know what that was last night? That was your wife coming to you and saying, you know that huge Thanksgiving party in two days on Thursday? Yeah. You know, like 45 cousins at your brother's house?

Yeah. It's at our house. What? We don't have the space. It's at our house. We don't have the rooms. It's at our house. We don't have the food.

It's at our house. What happened? Their dishwasher broke. Their kitchen got flooded. It's at our house. But what? And you turn to your wife and you say, order some shampoo. pain, honey, let's just have a good time. Last night, that was just a good time. When you got to

throw a party together and 90,000 people are going to be there or however many were and you don't have time to get out all the wrinkles, you just have a good time. It was what every great game is. There was some weird clock management by Sean McVeigh. What was he doing? A 28 second drive? Take a knee, bro. There was some officiating calls you didn't love. There was, strange decisions by Patrick Mahomes late. There was stars making star plays. There was Tyreek Hill twice upon a kickoff. What are you doing?

What are you doing returning those? It was everything a great game is. It's never clean. Every great fight I've been to, every great NFL game I've been to, every great final four game. There's always a clock management issue. There's always a tip pass or a call you don't like. There's always a Starby and.

a star and a star doing a knucklehead thing. Calling the officiating, what about it? Kansas City wasn't ready to play in the first eight minutes. They had a lot of penalties. That's not on the officials. What about the tip pass? What about it? They let the play go.

Then they reversed it. They got it right. What about the Rams offensive linemen that moved? Guess what? You have a fireworks show for four hours? Sometimes one of those fireworks goes off into the tree, starts low fire. It's not perfect.

Last night was not built to be perfect. It was your wife coming to you and saying, we got to host 48 people. in your little 2,200 square foot house for a Thanksgiving party and not that much yard to play with? And you just turn to your wife and say, let's just have a good time. And the league just said, we're going to bring some refs in, we're going to do the best we can, we're not really prepared for it. The game was scheduled for Mexico City.

Now it's in Los Angeles. L.A. is going through fires. I mean, what this city in L.A. is going through is remarkable that they could put it together. It was great. Well, what about the defense? What about it? There were three defensive touchdowns. The Rams created five turnovers from Kansas City's offense.

Both quarterbacks took an absolute beating last night. I mean, there were some shots on those quarterbacks. I mean, folks, you keep telling me you love the NBA, but a third of the league's unwatchable, and the regular season's irrelevant. We know who's going to be there in the end. You tell me you love baseball, but analytics are killing offense. That was four hours of fun. That was four hours of champagne.

Yeah, some spilled on the carpet. Yeah, one of the cousins got a little too drunk. Yeah, I'm going to be honest with you. Somebody may have stolen some silverware. It was not perfect. But that game was not built to be perfect. It was built to be fun. And it was.

And it's remarkable. And Kansas City's owners and their GMs and their front office and their coaches, tip of the cap. And for the Rams, tip of the cap. That was a remarkable showcase. Man, listen, some things, you know, a wedding you plan six months for a wedding, it should be mostly perfect. The picture should be perfect and the flower should be perfect.

If you throw a wedding together in three days, guess what? The photographer is probably going to be drunk and they're going to be fuzzy pictures. But just make it a good time. And you couldn't come away from that game even in Kansas City thinking, God, that was fun. That was just fun.

First ever game, both teams over 50. Third most points in an NFL game. You had how many total yards? 14 combined touchdowns. I loved it. Let me say this, though. I've watched the Kansas City Chiefs twice this year. Go to New England and lose and go to the Rams and lose.

And in both instances, my takeaway is, I think Kansas City is better than New England and the Rams. This morning, I think Kansas City is the better team. Let me ask you, if the Rams had played in Kansas City and had five turnovers, You think the Chiefs only win by three? Listen, Kansas City to only lose like they did. Think about this. They weren't dialed in.

I mean, you could tell from all the travel, the first eight minutes of the game, they had a bad first quarter. It happens. They got a young team, young quarterback. They were bad for about eight minutes. They were on the road, and not on the road destination they were supposed to be in.

They had five turnovers, two defensive touchdowns. They dropped the game-winning interception. And I'm sitting there watching it, and I'm like, they're in this game with a chance to win. I think if you'd ask the Rams to move, play it in Kansas City, had all those turnovers, had a bad first quarter, I don't think the Rams would have been around at the end.

I mean, it, it, listen, man, Kansas City had the ball twice. All they were away was a field goal. Considering all the moves, all the turnovers, awful for, quarter, dropped the game-winning pick, and Kansas City standing around at the end? I think Kansas City is a better team. And I felt that way after the New England game. I'm like, yeah, I get why New England won. It's Foxborough.

It's Brady. He's been there before. They get the ball. I get why New England won. But I feel like Kansas City and the playoffs could go to New England and win. I feel there's no chance for New England to go to Kansas City and win. In fact, my takeaway last night was I can see several teams in the NFC coming to Los Angeles like a New Orleans Saints and winning.

I can see it. I can see that happening. They get that running game going. I can't see anybody in the AFC. Pittsburgh would have a shot, but they make so many mistakes. It's hard to go on the road, throw three picks, and win. You think Texans going to go on the road and win in Kansas City? Uh-uh.

New England? Uh-uh. Indianapolis if they get in? Uh-uh. Baltimore, they get in? Uh-uh. Chargers? Uh-uh.

I mean, it's, you know, it's funny because we think of the Rams offense is home run hitting, but their defense is home run hitting. I mean, Aaron Donald, Marcus Peters, it's interceptions, it's sacks, it's forced turnovers, it's big hits. But when I watch the Rams play, man, do they swing and miss a lot on defense? A lot. It's like the Chief's touchdowns, they're a bit. people wide open. Rams touchdowns. Goff makes a great throw and beats good coverage.

But I got to tell you something, I walked out of that New England game and I walk out of that Rams game and Kansas City went 0 and 2. And I think Kansas City is better than both those teams. I think Kansas City could play New England in New England, the Rams in the Ram again and win. I don't think either of those teams, Rams or New England, can go to Kansas City and win. I mean, remember that Rams touched, that Chief's touchdown, the Patrick Mahomes one? I mean, this is classic Rams defense. The Chief's down 10. Play action fake, bootleg throwback attempt.

Throwing long. Terry kills wide open at the 20. Nobody is within the boundaries of California. And now a flag is thrown as the touchdown is completed. The Chiefs go 73 yards in one play. That's a lot of RAM stuff. It's a lot of big plays. It's a lot of home runs.

But man, on defense, they swing and miss all the time. I feel this morning, Chiefs of the Better Team. 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. Over the weekend, somebody I deeply trust told me in the NFL that the Aaron Rogers, Mike McCarthy thing, it's over. It doesn't matter if they go in a five-game winning streak. It's over. And I'm going to side with Aaron Rogers on this, which I know you don't believe, but I'll get to that in a second. It was never a perfect marriage.

Ian Rappaport confirms it today. There is growing tension between this two. Let me tell you something. It was never a perfect fit. We've all seen the couple that you're like, that's a weird fit. And it works for a while. It was never perfect. One guy is old school, looks like a Milwaukee cop.

And the other guy is this California cool, progressive, the opposite of old school guy. It was never an ideal fit. And over time, it's just eroded. Aaron doesn't share the same vision. And Aaron's right here. Listen. There are certain people, and I said this about Andrew Luck.

He's just too damn good to have an average coach. Andrew Luck deserved an offensive coach. Michael Jordan and Kobe deserve Phil Jackson. There are a handful of people in my lifetime in sports, maybe 30, maybe. they deserve great leadership. Aaron Rogers deserves better. And there's a handful of NFL guys, Mike Smith, Mike McCarthy, Jeff Fisher, John Fox, they know football. They have not kept up with the times.

And let me tell you something. The last two nights, I want you to think about this, Aaron Rogers has sat on a couch in Green Bay and watched Mitch Trubisky tear it up and has watched Jared Goughf. tear it up. And has watched Patrick Mahomes tear it up with three brilliant offensive coaches. Matt Nagy, Andy Reed, Sean McVeigh. And you don't think Aaron Rogers, if I had his phone right now and looked at his text the last 48 hours, you don't think he's texting people saying, God, I got an offense. We don't even do jumbo sets. We don't do motion. I got to play hero ball. Listen, McCarthy and Rogers was never great. I've known four former Packers and talked to all of them. It ain't a great

relationship. It was never great. But you can't blame Aaron. You cannot blame Aaron. Aaron's got a huge brand. He doesn't want to ding that brand. He doesn't want to see like the cocky California guy that, you know, he's all these commercials. He don't want to see him like he's bum rush and Mike McCarthy had to work here. He's got a little, you know, he wants to make this a nice, professional, dignified, refined ending. It'd be bad for his brand if he blows it up and Aaron comes across as, you know, he bumrush McCarthy out of town. He doesn't want to do that. But let's be honest here.

Aaron deserves better. You're watching Tribeschi with half the talent, six touchdown games? Aaron had a two touchdown game against Buffalo. Okay, the defense was great that day for the Packers. He's watching Mahomes four touchdown games, Gough, four touchdown games. Aaron's trying to get to two a week against bad teams. So, and I think the last couple of nights for Aaron have been really tough. And I would say this to anybody, a great singer, a great, a great director, a great quarterback, a great pianist, whatever it is.

There are certain people that are so gifted and so talented that they're going to be frustrated their entire lives until they've, they believe they've met their equal. They're equal as a mentor. They're equal as a boss. They're equal as a coach. And Aaron's never had that. LeBron's never had that. Be honest with you, MJ had it, Kobe had it, Shaq had it, Bird had it. A lot of guy Jerry West may have had it.

LeBron's never had it. That's why sometimes he's been frustrated with coaching. Maybe it's Luke Walton, I don't know. But the stories now that we reported yesterday are coming out. The McCarthy-Aaron Rogers thing is beyond frosty. They can both deny it. But Aaron is simply too gifted. He deserves better.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays and noon Eastern. 9 a.m. Pacific. So the truth always comes out about a divorce. You know, somebody will get divorced. You're like, ah, man, I thought those guys were going to last forever. And then they get divorced. Then a year later, you're like, oh, she's dating the neighbor. It's kind of crazy there.

The truth always comes out. Truth always comes out in a divorce. LeBron James Cleveland. Oh, the truth comes out. It took us a while. It took us six months, but the truth comes out. In the athletic, LeBron's quoted is saying, everybody knows that when Kyrie got traded, it was the beginning of the end for everything, LeBron said.

General manager Kobe Alton told me he would not trade Kyrie Irving to the Celtics. And then the deal was completed the same day. James said at that point in time, you realize Kobe Altman, the rookie GM, is not the only guy running this team. Translation, LeBron didn't leave Cleveland. He left Dan Gilbert. Think about this. Think of how well the bus family in Los Angeles has treated their stars. Wilt, West,

Goodrich, Magic, Worthy, Kobe. They still have relationships with all those guys. I mean, Kareem, they've got a relationship

and Kareem is sort of stoic and aloof and they still got a relationship. I mean, look at the Lakers and the bus family. You're part of the family. They're not jealous or insecure.

Dan Gilbert has the best player in the NBA for 15 years and he butchers it twice. And the NBA, has a history, there should be a bad owner's Hall of Fame. I mean, Ted Stepion, I mean, James Dolan,

Donald Sterling, put Dan Gilbert in there. I mean, come on. You go look at how the Lakers treat their stars. Look how the warriors treat their stars. He has a best player for 15 years.

Ego, vanity, can't get along. Well, Dan Gilbert needed assurances. Here's the only assurance. When LeBron's there, you're good. When he's not, you stink. That's the only assurance. This is a league about players and stars, not about owners.

And now we know the truth. This is not a rumor, by the way. This is being told by LeBron. And LeBron wasn't being unreasonable. Hey, man, don't trade Kyrie. He's the second best player on the team and one of the 15 best players. I don't know in the world. that's not an unreasonable demand.

And they butchered it. I mean, I'll say it again, is that the truth always comes out about these divorces. And I heard for years, I would hear this from the Gilbert people. Well, LeBron's a little needy. So's Jay-Z.

So's Beyonce. So's Kobe. So's Aaron Rogers. Come on. There's far less talented and influential players who are needy also. Needy is part and parcel

to dealing with superstars. They're a little needy. What they're really saying is Dan Gilbert wants to be the only needy one. Yes. Yeah, he does it. He wants to be the star. Just go look at how the Lakers treat their stars. You go look at how you go look at historically how the Steelers treat their peeps, how the Yankees treat.

I mean, the Yankees have... Well, look what we were just talking about with Jerry Jones. At one point or another, you become so rich that you can't buy anything else. You can't buy any more toys. You can't buy any more houses that's going to make your life any different. can make your life different. Being famous. So what do you do? You buy a professional sports team and then you put yourself in the front of it. And LeBron James, the biggest sports superstar in the world is on your team. Guess what? There's not a whole lot of shine left for you.

Not also on top of the fact that you're constantly butchering things. So maybe if you were a great owner alongside a great superstar, all-time superstar, then it would work. But it's not. If you look at the calves as a stock, they're Bitcoin. When they've had LeBron, up. The minute he leaves, they crash. LeBron comes back, they're up. The minute he leaves, they crash. That's why Bitcoin, that's why banks won't put their arms around Bitcoin. It's

totally dependent on, you know, LeBron James. It's also a very easy thing to stop telling players you're not going to trade people. I think we've talked about that before, too. Just stop saying that. What's up? This John Middlecock from the three and out podcast. If you like Collins show, you will like mine.

I talk all football. Coming up on this show, you know I'm reacting to that Monday night football game. Jared Gough, Patrick Mahomes, Sean McVeigh, Andy Reid. The NFL has changed and we are all better for it. I will tell you why. Again, three and out podcast with me, John Middlecough, wherever you listen to your podcast. Patrick Mahomes was remarkable last night.

He went into the game. People said he was a leading MVP candidate. No. I think Patrick Mahomes is amazing, but he's never been my leading. MVP candidate. Two biggest games of the year, he lost both. Now, in both those games, he had big mistakes. If you're asking me, who's my MVP? I have him fourth. Number one, I have Drew Breeze. He basically leads the NFL in everything. He leads the NFL right now in everything. Number two is Andrew Luck. Seventh straight game with three touchdowns. That's like all-time stuff. And by the way,

He doesn't have nearly the toys, the running back, the wide receivers that Patrick Mahomes has. Number three is Big Ben. Big Ben has had the deal with this Lavian Bell Circus all year. It's been a very turbulent flight. And right now, I'm not so sure outside of the Saints, Steelers aren't the best team in the league. and then I would put Patrick Mahomes fourth with 37 touchdown passes leads the NFL. Listen, we know how it works with the media. They like the new shiny toy.

And Patrick Mahomes is great. And he's fun. And he's crazy. But in his two biggest games of the year, New England and the Rams, he got seven turnovers. Drew Breeze has a turnover. One, all season. So I get the stories cool, the players cool.

I like Patrick Mahomes. My guest booker met his dad last night. I love him. I think the NFL is an incredible shape. I get wince. I get luck. I get Wilson. I get golf. I get Mahomes. I get Deshawn Watson. NFL's never been in better hands. These people think the NFL's dying, gambling was just legalized by the Supreme Court. It's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. Don't get yourself. You'll be able to bet in these stadiums within two years. You'll be able to go to the stadium and bet during the game like they do in the English Premier League in soccer. And there's never been a time in my life. We've had more great quarterbacks. And now there are

lasting longer because you can't hit them. So it's just like anything else. If they created cars and cars lasted longer, the car industry would be in really good shape. Okay, so we're in good shape. But Mahomes, to me, Breeze is the best in the league right now at everything. You've seen some erosion with Tom Brady in the last three or four weeks. You're not throwing touchdown passes. You've seen none with Breeze.

Luck with very little to work with, a rebuild offensive line. not a great back, not great superstar wide receivers is chopping it up. Big Ben has had the deal with a massive controversy for three months. And I put Mahomes in there. Wow, you hate this and that. Let me say there is another guy that deserves, can I just say Aaron Donald deserves a vote, the Rams? He leads the NFL in sacks, quarterback hits, tackles for losses. No Aaron Donald, the chiefs win last night.

Aaron Donald's ridiculous. I know you all love Khalil Mack. He's an interior defensive lineman who has doubled on every play. Interior defensive linemen do not lead the NFL in Sacks. It's not the way the game works. Edge rushers do. Aaron Donald is doubled more than any player in the league statistically. And he leads the NFL in sacks.

That is unheard of in the history of football. 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. Heard hierarchy. Time is now, let's go.

The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10. I don't care about records. The Indianapolis Colts are one of the 10 best teams in the league. Andrew Luck's on pace to shatter every record he's ever have. Right now, they're incredibly well coached. They've got limitations on the back end

of that defense. They're not great defensively. But I tell you what, they at a home run in the last two drafts. They've shorted up their offensive line. Andrew Luck has attempted 214 straight passes without being sacked. You give Andrew Luck this kind of line. They have a decent, not great running game. Again, this is a team with holes, but you can't tell me there are 10 teams in the league. Did you see what they did to Tennessee this week? That thing wasn't competitive for eight minutes. Tennessee out Colts at 10. Number nine. Houston Texans. I never truly.

trust them. But they are the first team since the 1925 Giants to go 0 and 3 and win 7 straight. Now they get the Deshawn Watson story. Listen, Clemson was a really good football program forever. Deshawn Watson made him great. Houston's been a really talented team forever, and he's making them really good. Deshawn Watson is a unique, a little bit of Russell Wilson, a little Steve Young, a little this, a little that, a little Carson Wentz.

And their defense for the record is now playing good. They've always had big names, but their defense is allowing since week five, about 17 a game. So we know the JJ Watt. We know the defensive players. Now they're playing well. Texans at 9. Number eight. Dallas Cowboys. One slot ahead. Just because I like their running game. The recipe's real simple on Dallas. They're 5 and 0 this year when DAC doesn't have a turnover. And they're 4 and 1 this year when Zeke runs for over 100 yards. Now they've got to play with this formula. They're not great usually at playing from behind. They're a little like Carolina. But I don't get quite the roller coaster with DAC that I do. Cam,

DAC can be pretty good, good below average. Cam can give me great and not. This is kind of the Carolina Panthers. They're not as good at quarterback, but they're a better running team. And I'm going to put the Cowboys for now at 8. Number 7. Chargers are better than the Cowboys. Philip Rivers, by the way, did not play well Sunday,

but he's the only player in the league with multiple touchdown passes in every game this season. and he's the only quarterback who's at a 90-plus passer rating in every game this season minimum. So he just didn't play well Sunday. But they're very good defensively. First in the league since week five in defense points per game. Again, they don't have a home field advantage. They're not good enough on special teams. Philip Rivers makes too many mistakes two or three times a year.

I don't think they can win the Super Bowl. I don't think they can go to a Kansas City, go to a New England, go to a Pittsburgh and win. I'm not sure they can go to Houston and win, but they are, in my opinion, the seventh best team in the NFL. Number six. Chicago Bears. The Bears are not as talented as the Chargers. They're not.

But they don't make the mistakes the Chargers do. And I trust their kicker more. They've got the league's best turnover differential at plus 13. And they're the only team ranked in the top five in scoring defense, total defense, and takeaways. Listen, this is a team with two stories. It's a very good defense with a super star defensive player, Cleo Mac. and it is the most clever offense.

I mean, listen, I love Andy Reed, Sean Payton, and Sean McVey. They got something to work with. Tribusky is a marginal talent. And even their dive plays are spectacular to watch Bears at 6. Number five. I'll put New England one spot ahead of Chicago because they beat Chicago in Chicago. Now, fewest penalties in the league, fewest penalty yards in the league, they don't turn it over. Listen, Tom Brady is not having a great year for Brady standards.

Now, a lot of this is, Gronk, he's on the last year. It's over. Their rookie running back, Sony-Michel has been hurt half the year. Edelman's off an ACL. Josh Gordon pretty much disappeared for five years. I don't think Brady's working with a ton here. They're rebuilding the left tackle and the offensive line. I think Tom's still great if you give him weapons.

But I always say the final four teams in my herd hierarchy feel like Super Bowl-winning teams, so Patriots 5. Number four. Rams are four. Listen, I love the Rams. But I took the Chiefs and the points last night, blazing five out of winning week. Here's my problem with the Rams. Not only is their offense, a home run offense, their defense is a home run defense. I mean, they'll get the sacks, they'll get the picks, they'll get the touchdowns.

But man, is there a defense this talented that gets burned as badly and as often as the Rams do? I mean, their last three wins are by a combined 10 points. as good as that coaching and offense is, they just get gashed over the top where there's not a corner for 15 yards a lot. Rams at 4. Number three. I think the Chiefs are a better team, even though they lost. I think if you'd have gone to Kansas City or a neutral field and Kansas City wins that game by more than a field goal, Rams won by a field goal, and dominated the first 10 minutes of the game, got some officiating breaks.

I think Kansas City's loaded. Now, again, Patrick Mahomes has got a little Brett Farrv where he's going to drive you crazy and you're going to fall in love with him and you're going to win a lot of fantasy pools with him and he's going to set records and he's going to win multiple MVPs and he's going to lose some big games for you. But I got the Chiefs at three.

Number two. Pittsburgh Steelers. I picked him to win the Super Bowl, lead the NFL in sacks. About a month ago, five weeks ago, they played Atlanta. And it was at that moment, they flipped a switch defensively and solved their issues. Massive pass.

They have great line play, a Hall of Fame quarterback, superstar receiver. Listen, I think they'd be better with Levian Bell. I just do. But James Connor is so good. It allows them to get rid of the noise of Levian Bell and the headache. Steeler's at two. Number one. I mean, first team in the Super Bowl era to score 40 plus points in six of their first 10 games to Saints.

We had the Saints number one. Was it three or four weeks ago? they're special. What can you say? You get all the dynamic stuff with no turnovers. I mean, Drew Breeze has one turnover all year. I get great coaching. I get dynamic running, over the top offense. I get everything. Oh, by the way, I do believe right now, if their offensive lines not the best in the league, it's top three. You can't run on them. Very little. Now, back into that defense, they may give up some cheap touchdowns. That's their flaw. You can take them

deep. Other than that, looks like to me the best team in the lake. Don't see anybody going to the Super Dome and beating them, maybe in a Super Bowl or not the Super Dome. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

30 years plus NFL films. This guy, if you play fantasy, if you bet, or you just love football, the most objective, as thoughtful as anybody bring on. Greg Kosell, joining us now in heard via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

And let's start with this. Rams Chiefs last night. Yeah. I came out of that game and I'm like, Kansas City gave the ball up all night and still had a chance to win. I'm kind of more impressed with Kansas City. I know. Well, see, it's funny.

I look at these games, teams, as you know, I look at it tactically. And I think that you're dealing with two very, very good offenses that are different. And I would say this. I would say that when you look at the Rams formationally, what they do is they use the outside zone run game and they use some jet sweep action and they run with

tight or minus splits as we say. So what they're trying to do is they're trying to expand you horizontally, stretch you vertically, and they create a lot of space in the middle of the field. Yes, they do. That's the way they play. Yep.

Whereas the chiefs, on the other hand, are very multiple formation based. They move their people around an awful lot. They look for matchups and mismatches because they have people that can do that inside slot and who's going to cover them. If you're man to man, it's a linebacker or a safety in there. Kelsey is a mismatch nightmare. So they're very formation-based. They move people around and they look for those mismatches with a quarterback that can drive the football to all parts of the field. And I haven't even mentioned Kareem Hunt, who's a dynamic receiver, and that's another critical piece.

So they go about – Yeah, let me ask you about this. Aaron Rogers has to be looking at Trubisky and Goff and Mahomes, and it's all driving him crazy because they got all these genius play designers. I watch Patrick Mahomes, and he reminds me so much of Brett Farve, you're going to fall in love with him, you're going to buy his jersey, he's going to set records, and he's going to break your heart. I mean, he felt a little Texas tech last night, didn't he? Well, we don't know that yet, Colin. I mean, the guys had a really good season. I mean, you and I both know because I watched a ton of his tape coming out of college,

and I've talked to a lot of coaches. It's easy now to say, well, he's great, and he should have been the number one pick and everybody missed, blah, blah, blah. But there were a lot of coaches who felt when he came out of Texas Tech. They were concerns about his ability to play within structure effectively. No one questioned the armed talent because anybody can see that. He obviously has movement ability and can throw on the run, but there were a lot of concerns with coaches I spoke to

that they just weren't sure whether after they spent 20 hours a day putting their offense together, whether he would execute it. Now, the bottom line is he's done a really good job of that. And I wouldn't look at last night, obviously at the two fumbles, things like that do have to be cleaned up. But I would say he's not been a reckless player for the most. part this year. In fact, I've truly been impressed and somewhat surprised at how well and efficiently he has played within structure. And I think that's a tribute to the chief's coaching staff.

Let me shift to another team that's fascinating. Explain to me on what the film said, that how you can play as badly as the Steelers for three and a half quarters and so great for six minutes. Did they come in formationally, schematically messed up? I mean, explain what happened with that offense? I will say this, and a very good friend of both of ours, Ron Jaworski, always told me that there were two games a year in which he and every quarterback is just bad, that they don't see things and they don't throw the ball well. He's had these kinds of games, and then in the fourth quarter, he comes back and wins you the game. So I don't view this game as a problem for the Steelers going forward.

And in fact, I think that their offense, you know, it's funny. We just talked about the Rams and the Chiefs. The Steelers are not like that. The Steelers, you could almost argue, are more like the Packers in the sense that they rely on a lot of individual isolation routes. And they rely on their receivers to win and get open. And Ben certainly has the ability to extend his – there's some stat about his yards per completion when he throws the ball after three seconds, that's ridiculous.

It's something like 17 yards per completion when he throws the ball after he's in the pocket or moving around for more than three seconds. So he's got that ability, as does Aaron Rogers. But both those teams, Colin, they rely more on individual routes. We can debate that. And I know people think Aaron Rogers is playing in a bad offense, but the Steelers are somewhat similar. Yeah.

You know, let's talk about Mike McCarthy and Aaron Ron. I said, I think Mike McCarthy is a good coach. I still think John Fox can coach, but I do think there are times in every industry, yours, mine, football, whatever it is, that people don't quite keep up. They kind of get into, they get embedded into their system, and they don't evolve and they don't adapt, and this happens in American business all the time. When I watch last night, those offenses, those sets, the jumbo sets, I watched Tribesky. I don't know. I watch McCarthy, and I'm like, man, they just don't look as slick. And I think Aaron does deserve a little more progressive offense.

Yeah, and again, now you're getting, and you know, it's always been said that there's many ways to win in the NFL and you could win a lot of ways. I know a lot of people now believe that unless you have sort of this, you know, warp speed type of offense that you can't win. And that remains to be seen and we'll see. But there's no question that if teams do a lot more with. route integration with movement, with misdirection concepts, backfield actions, all these things that put stress on defenses, the mind and better throwing opportunities for your

quarterback. So we'll see going forward. My guess is Mike McCarthy, you know him, he's an old Pittsburgh guy. He's not likely to change dramatically. This is what their offense is. Yeah. Let me talk. There's two guys in the league that I've liked more than the public for sure and mostly

liked more than the media, Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck. Yeah. I just like them more than everybody else. And I think a lot of it, I like their personality. There's no BS. There's no nonsense. But I'm watching Luck this year. And man, oh man, his completion percentage is up.

He doesn't take hits. How much of this is Frank Reich? I mean, boy, they're fun to why. They're very tight-end centric. What do you make of them? Well, I think it's a combination of a number of things. I think it starts with the scheme, because the scheme, Colin, is built on more quick game, meaning three-step drops, quick five-step drops, get the ball out.

That's built into the scheme. Clearly gotten much, much better on their offensive line, and that certainly doesn't hurt. Any quarterback will tell you that. And I would say that luck, and who knows, maybe the year off helped, but he is far more decisive in the pocket than he used to be. He's been very, very good at eliminating what's not there really quickly. and then isolating what's there within the timing and structure of the concept. And he rarely holds the ball now, Colin.

He used to hold the ball an awful lot, and we used to marvel at his ability to make those second reaction play someone like Ben, but we don't see that very much now. And then to me, the idea is to run your offense with efficiency. You know, you look at the Brady's, the breezes. We don't need to spend a lot of time with Drew Breeze talking about his ability to make improvisational plays because we don't get there. Yeah, I'm just watching some of this video. He's had a heck of a year.

Let me shift to Brady. The numbers are down, right? Yep. Here's what I see. Gronks on his last year. Gordon is still a building relationship. Sony Michelle's been healthy every other game. Their leading receivers are running back.

I think Tom's still very good. I don't think many quarterbacks could take these disparate parts. this is a rebuilding left tackle situation. I don't think Brady's falling off a cliff. I think most quarterbacks, when you compare Kansas City's weapons and the Rams weapons and the Saints and I look at Brady's weapons and I'm like pretty darn impressive to me. Have you seen erosion? Is it a weapon issue with Brady because his numbers are down?

It might not be the right word because it's Tom Brady and it's very hard for me to say that he's really going down until there's a larger track record of that. but I think that there have been times this year where he hasn't been quite as consistently accurate. The ball placement hasn't been as consistently precise as it has been in the past. But again, I'd be real leery of saying that he's now done. You know, they're coming off a buy and heading into the stretch of the season. I'd like to wait and see on that. Let me shift to Breeze, who would be my MVP today.

Yeah. He's always been good. His numbers this year are comical. my takeaway is well Sean Payton didn't get smarter Breeze didn't get greater my takeaway is he's always been really good and now he's just using these rules

to his advantage for a guy like Breeze with this personnel this coach and these new you know everything's a catch they don't even review balls last night that are catch or no catch I think some of this is just he's great and with the rules he's ridiculous what's the film say

that Breeze is an absolute master at one thing that's rarely talked about with quarterbacks and should be first. And that's precise ball location. Because I remember talking to Troy Aikman about this years ago, Colin. And he told me that you could do everything right as a quarterback. But if you can't put the ball where you want to, then you have nothing. And just think about that for a second because it's so true. And Drew Brees, I don't think I've seen a quarterback in this given year.

Precise. And I'm talking about really precise. because accuracy is one of those relative terms, and that's why I say precise ball location. I don't think I've seen a quarterback that consistently precise with his ball location. Throw after throw is Drew Brees. Yeah, watch this. We'll show a tape. We're showing tape now of him.

He has a throw, and it's a shot from behind. He has a throw against Philadelphia. It's not this one. I think it's the one coming up next. Right here, watch. That's ridiculous. I mean, that's just a ridiculous. He's throwing into a crowd of people.

needle in a haystack, he squeezed it through a doorhole, keyhole. And that's quarterbacking in the NFL. You know, at all, look, we can talk about Lamar Jackson, we can talk about quarterbacks that move around, we can talk about all those things. But at some point, the game still gets reduced to the quarterback making throws. And whether you're making them from the pocket, whether you're making them moving,

you have to be able to place the ball where it needs to be. All right, finally, your big play includes the Dallas Cowboys, fire away. Well, what's your take on the Cowboys? Where do you see them? To me, they're a team that has to limit the exposure of Dak Prescott and play to their running game and to their defense. That's exactly it. 100 yards for him.

No turnovers for Dak. There's a recipe for them to win. They have to go like three things. Yeah. So let's run this play now. And you'll see this was the Zeke Elliott 23-yard touchdown run against the Falcons. And this was a really, you see him, of course, beat an unblocked defender, which of course

Elliot can do very well. I think he may be the best pure runner in the game. But let's start this play here. There's going to be a double team with Swain and Fleming on Beasley working up to the stacked backer. That's the first part. We're going to take this in segments. That's the first part of the piece. It's a combo block. You see that Fleming will now help out on Beasley and he will work up to the stackbacker. This is a critical nation block. Then the same

things going to happen on the other side with Looney and Suafilo. They're going to block the defensive tackle and they're going to work up to the stackbacker. These two blocks are absolutely critical because you're taking care of the second level defenders. On this side, the linebacker hits the gap, so Suafila has to come off. But now the key key block, the critical block is a one-on-one block by Zach Martin and he's blocking the three technique. And this is critical. this is the key block because it's one-on-one. Doubles are always good, and you want to hug double teams, but now you're getting the one-on-one block he gets through

and he can make unblocked defenders miss. And that's critical. As we said, this is a team. They have to run the football, and they have to lean on Elliott. They've got to play good defense, which they are, and they have to limit the exposure of the quarterback who's... Yeah, you have to win at some level in this league. It's not only unified and choreography, you got to win one-on-one battles in the trenches.

You just have to, and that's a great piece of video. They won as a unit, and they won a one-on-one battle. Greg CoSell, NFL films. Great stuff, Greg. Thanks, 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,

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