The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 12/03/2018

Episode Date: December 3, 2018

Colin compares the Patriots to Starbucks because they are consistent no matter where or when they play. He thinks Aaron Rodgers got exactly what he wanted but not necessarily what is best for the Packers moving forward. Plus, former Packers WR Greg Jennings talks about Mike McCarthy being fired and Super Bowl Champion Trent Dilfer explains why the Steelers are no longer a Super Bowl contender. 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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Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in 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. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to the best of herd 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 SportsRodio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. This on a Monday is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

It is great to have you enjoyed. Taylor is joining me on a Monday one hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. It's great to be here. Good morning. Good morning. By the way, I'm going to talk about the Packers in a second. put New England up first. I want to talk about this. I grew up in Seattle, the home of Starbucks.

And I've known people throughout the years that worked at Starbucks, like a couple executives. And, you know, one of the secrets to a great business, you can be in Seattle, you can be in Shanghai, you can be in Sakaka, Staten Island. It doesn't matter. They look the same. The coffee tastes the same. The service is the same. That's a good business. It's not like you get a Starbucks coffee here, the bean is burnt and over there Starbucks, like a good business, is consistent. I remember I moved 15 years ago to Connecticut.

I didn't grow up a Patriot fan. And at this time, the Patriots weren't a dynasty. And I started watching New England games, every snap. And, you know, I was in that area with New England. And the thing that was always remarkable to me about New England, and I've never seen anything in the NFL like it, it's the same team every week. I could take

yesterday's video of that game against Minnesota, put it back 11 years ago. Looks the same. It's the same. It's the same team. No penalties. They don't turn it over. They never fumble. They're very good on third down. They generally have good pass protection, terrific situationally, and they went in Foxborough by about 10. And here we are in December 3rd, Week 14, and I'm looking at the box score last night. The second leading wide receiver in the NFL, Adam Thielen, held to 28 yards. Mr. 100 yards, held to 28 yards. At one point screaming at Bill Belichick because he was so up. set. And here's New England averaging 9.7 yards of pass, seven yards of play, seven for 14 on on third down, and dominated time of possession. They took away Minnesota's great asset, Adam Thielen, got some out of the coach, Bill Belichick. It's the same darn team. The only team in the NFL, you could literally tape the tape of yesterday's Vikings game, Viking Patriot game. Just take the tape of it.

Eight years ago, looks the exact same. It's a Starbucks. It doesn't matter what, soon. do you go do? A well-run business is a replica of itself over and over and over. You don't want to go to a coffee shop or a burger joint where in one place it's sloppy and a mask, the other place it's pristine and clean. Yesterday was methodical

and mundane and meticulous. It was New England. And here it is, December 3rd, and I'm sitting to myself thinking Houston, oh, you think they're going to go to Foxborough? They've never won in New England. Pittsburgh can't close out close games. Kansas said he's not the same team without Kareem Hunt. And the LA Chargers.

I mean, that was fun last night. Foxborough, 11 degrees. Trust them. That thing wasn't even in doubt last night. And here's the other thing that's amazing. We get caught up in stars. New England had nine guys catch a football. Nine.

They had seven guys carry the ball. So they had 16 different people catch or carry the football. And I feel when I watched New England play is I grew up in my life, my child, childhood was fine, but there was a little chaos. I once had a stepdad get into a fist fight with his brother on Thanksgiving. There was a lot of craziness and divorces in my life, and I've gone to therapists about it for years and years. I don't like a lot of chaos. I get up, I eat the same thing, work out the same time, go to bed the same time. I'm not a big drama guy, not a big fan of drama or dramatic people. In every NFL franchise to me feels like a version

of Bitcoin. I mean, even the good organizations like the Saints had a three-year drought. The Steelers have had years. They're just not, they can't get it together. Even the good organizations, the Packers now are a mess. And here is slow and methodical and meticulous, almost mundane New England. And by the way, let me just throw these out there because this morning I wake up and I look at the AFC and I think they're going to win the damn thing again. New England's going to win the AFC again. Their drama offseason, nipped it in the bud. Here we go.

Philip Rivers, 0 for 7 in his career against Brady. Ben, Big Ben, 2 for 8. the franchise for the Texans, O for the franchise against him. Andrew Lux, O for six against him. And Patrick Mahomes is O for one. I mean, there are teams and there are people in this league. The Steelers are certainly one of them,

almost addicted to drama. Every week there's a story. It's Bitcoin. Oh my God. Cam Newton, Aaron Rogers. It's like they're addicted to drama. What is remarkable about New England, and I've never seen anything like it

in my life in the National Football League. The consistency, it is the same team every year. It's not just Belichick. Didn't look like that in Cleveland with Belichick. It's not just Brady. Because they had it with Matt Castle. They just weren't as good.

It is a combination of both. Ownership, coach, quarterback, culture. It's absolutely remarkable. And I look up and down the AFC playoff picture right now, and I'm sorry, but I'm taking New England once again. I think the chiefs are going to stumble here down the stretch. Their schedule's brutal. The Patriot schedule and their division's easier.

But, I mean, I just, I don't have any drama. They got rid of it in the offseason. By October, here we go. Here comes IBM in cleats. Here comes Google in a helmet. I mean, just the same thing. Incredible. Incredible.

Let me shift gears to this. Mike McCarthy got fired yesterday. that's weird. It doesn't happen in Green Bay like that. That's pretty strange, right? Like Green Bay is one of those places they take care of their own. They take care of their players. If they have to dismiss somebody, they often don't even fire them. They just move them to a different cubicle. This is kind of a classy, refined organization. Small town takes care of their people. And they just pushed him out middle of the season, right? And by the way, this, of course, means all of Aaron Rogers' problems are solved. Right? And it was almost. McCarthy. Okay, because they lost Arizona yesterday. That was all on McCarthy. It should be noted that Aaron now makes 33 million a year. None of the top six highest paid quarterbacks in the league currently lead their division. There's a reason because you can't afford other good players. Aaron's going to be the highest paid or second highest paid guy in this league for several years. Breeze Ben Brady take pay cuts. Aaron is not.

and so he's going to be forced to play with the younger, cheaper players. And Aaron Rogers does not like younger players. He's a highly cerebral guy who gets worn out from this rookie from, you know, Louisville or this rookie from, you know, Washington State. He gets worn out. By the way, he's had two major injuries. And this is what I think is interesting. Then everybody's like, well, he just needs Sean McVeigh. he just needs Matt Nagy.

He just needs the next young Sean Payton. Really? You think that a newbie is going to walk into Aaron Rogers, 36-year-old hot shot coordinator, first-time head coach is going to walk into Aaron Rogers. And Aaron's like, oh, here, take my career, go ahead. Hey, it's your team, not mine. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That's not the way it's going to work. this will always be Aaron's team. For nine years, all I've been hearing is Aaron can do no wrong. And we got the problem out of here now, Mike McCarthy. So we'll obviously go 15 and 1, 14 and 2. But I'll tell you this. You look around the quarterbacks who are really hitting it right now. Goff, Mahomes, Watson, Luck, Breeze, Brady.

All of them have very close. coachable personalities. All of them have an excellent relationship with somebody offensively. Deshawn and Bill O'Brien, Brady and Josh McDaniels, Gough and McVeigh, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reed, Drew Brees and Sean Payton, Andrew Luck and Frank Wright, all have a very coachable, amenable personality. All of them, all of them have an excellent offensive partner. and this is the rub.

Aaron's never had that great offensive partner. Is anybody considered Aaron's not real coachable? And there's a reason all these years in the NFL, he's never had a great partner? Like if it takes this long, you're 10 years into a career and you've never had the perfect partner, maybe it's you. I mean, Goff found a partner immediately.

And Drew Brees found a partner immediately. And boy, Tom Brady had multiple guys he worked with immediately. And Joe Montana had a guy immediately. And John Elway, by his second head coach, had a guy he worked with immediately. But folks, I know one thing. Difficult people, the richer they get and the more famous they get, the more difficult they get. Go ask Jimmy Johnson about Marino at the end.

Go ask the guys Brad Childress who coach Fav at the end. go ask anybody who coached Jay Cutler at the end. Wealth and fame doesn't make difficult people easier to coach. If after 10 years, you've never had that relationship. That's almost like a guy in his late 40s who's not married. It's not everybody else. Maybe it's him. So you can keep telling me all the issues are solved.

now with Aaron Rogers. And what I've said from day one about Aaron, I don't doubt for a second. He's far of Marino level talented. But he's difficult. He is difficult. And the issues will not all be solved for this 35-year-old, twice injured, highly expensive, doesn't want to work with newbies, legendary guy. They're not all going to be solved. I think it'll win a bunch. I think it'll be interesting. I think he's a Hall of Famer. I say over and over, it's great to watch. But if you think everybody can solve now, come back in a couple years. It's not. That division's never been tougher. 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. So that

that Chargers game last night, that Steelers' Chargers game, was Crazy Town. But ask yourself, when's the last boring game? The Steelers played. It was week eight. Yesterday was a great example of the difference between the Patriots and the Steelers. The Patriots were playing a game that was Fox's game of the week. It's Brady. It's Minnesota. The World's talking about it. It was almost boring. The Steelers game against the Chargers, Steelers are favorite. And for the third straight week, Jacksonville, Denver Chargers, it's crazy town at the end of the games. They've had one kind of Monday. They've had one kind of mundane performance since week eight.

No team in the NFL empties the tank emotionally every week like Pittsburgh. Every week. And I don't think you can do this. I don't think you can play at this level of drama every week. The Golden State Warriors have a lot of drama, but they are so separated from the rest of their sport. In the NFL, it's inches not feet. But think about teams this year that,

been really dramatic. Green Bay and Jacksonville in the tank. Philadelphia, Oakland, in the tank. Pittsburgh has so much talent, they can overcome a lot of the fireworks and theatrics, but I think it's going to wear them out. Two teams in the NFL this year had some real drama in June, the Seahawks and the Patriots. Pete Carroll got it out of the room. Belichick figured out a way to soften it, and both are great. Patriots, Seattle, Humming. You ever watch those shows, Real Housewives of Orange County,

real housewives of New Jersey, real housewives, you ever seen those shows? And they're flipping tables at lunch? Like, you ever notice for those shows? Like, three women go out for lunch in New York, and they're throwing champagne glasses at each other and flipping tables.

And you're like, it's 1145 on a Tuesday. what's happening here? You ever notice for those shows, all the divorces on those shows? I mean, I know I live in a country now that's outraged about everything. Every 15 minutes, there's an outrage, but it wears on you. And I just think Pittsburgh, every game is close. Every game is tight.

I just don't think this is last. I pick them to win the Super Bowl, and I'm watching them yesterday. Could they have a week where a game is over with eight to go? Could they have a week when the last play of the game is in everything? I think it's going to wear them out. And you look at the mundane, meticulous nature of their rival New England, which had all sorts of drama and got rid of it. And then we all thought Lavian Bell was the problem.

And he's out of town. There's more drama. The games are crazier. Mike Tomlin talked about it after the game. I mean, even officiating, here's Mike Tomlin. We didn't establish rhythm in the beginning of the second half. We had a couple of drives killed by penalties, holding penalties. it's catastrophic.

You know, I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm going to do that because I sent enough money to New York. I mean, the end of the game, off sides, off sides, offside. And Mike Tomlin doesn't want to talk. It should be noted. The Steelers, Joy, still play, arguably the best team in the NFC on the schedule, The Saints, and the best team arguably in the AFC, the Patriots.

how much drama how many wild finishes can a team deal with I mean the thing about the Rams you're watching the Rams this year and most of their games are sealed with about eight minutes to go it's a nice flight back

you don't hear a lot from them at some point this has to you can't empty the tank emotionally every Sunday be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific Greg Jennings was a multiple time pro bowler won a ring with the Packers

a decade in the NFL as a top flight wide receiver. He is joining us via the Coward Global Satellite network. All right, so the Packers fire Mike McCarthy. My takeaway, which used to be a hot take, but I hear now everywhere is, I don't think Aaron's the easiest guy

in the world to coach. Am I wrong? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. When you have a guy who holds so much in his own hands because of his talent, his ability, his skill set. And now because of his pocketbook, it's going to be a challenge for the Green Bay Packers to go out and find a coach who is willing,

not who's willing, because a lot of coaches will be willing, but who can take on the task of coaching, not only the Green Bay Packers, one of the most story franchises in all the football and all a sport, but Aaron Rogers, with him on the, the downslide of his career. You know, Greg, because he signed that contract, that's going to guarantee that his teammates are going to be younger. You can't afford expensive guys.

I think Aaron is hard to play with for young players. I want to go back to your career. As you grew with Aaron, made a little more money, had now established yourself as an elite receiver. Take me back to your first.

two years with Aaron, when you didn't have all the coin, when nobody knew who Greg Jennings was, is he hard to play with when you're new, when you're young, when you're not established? Well, I think the difference for me was I entered the Green Bay Packer organization with Brett Farr as my quarterback. So once Aaron took over, you know, I had had a couple years under my belt and had started to make a name for myself. And so we as a receiver group, we have, as an offense, we had success. And then in comes Aaron Rogers, who we knew who was going to be a very, very good talent. And he didn't prove us wrong or himself wrong. And I think for me, when I look at young guys on that team with Aaron Rogers that quarterback, he's going to have

to understand that I'm going to own it. And what I mean by that is I have to deflect everything off of my young guys because I want to protect them. I want them to grow. I have to learn how to be a nurturer. I have to learn how to take the blunt of the hit as well as the experience, all the success and praise that comes with things. And I think that's one thing that young guys will struggle with with Aaron Rogers is his, he's not always been willing to say that was me. That's my fault.

Let me take that off my young guy's shoulder. That was all on me. Is the Green Bay job, is it a great job? I mean, let's face it, small town, only thing in town. They don't go get a lot of free agents. They've got their own culture. They like the guys they draft. If I said to you, Greg, if you went into coaching and there were 10 jobs available,

is Green Bay a great job? Because I think a lot of people think it is, but is it? You know, it's a great job because you have the opportunity to leave one of the most stories, franchises, and all of football. In this situation, it is a job that you think of with great detail, meaning not only am I taking on the Green Bay Packer organization, but I'm taking on Aaron Rogers. I'm taking on one of the faces of the National Football League at 35 years old, and I have to overcome what Mike McCarthy, what all the media, what we all saw, Mike McArthur.

McCarthy was unable to do, which was get the best out of an Aaron Rogers talent that he possibly could. Can you do that and can you handle what comes with not doing that if you choose to take that job? You know, it's very interesting. You're in a very unique position, Greg, because you played with a legend who had a stack of money was the most popular guy in the world, Brett Farve at the end. And then you were introduced to a young Aaron. And I've heard, you know, Jimmy Johnson, with Dan Marino, Brad Childeris with an old farve. Those guys are, they have a strong point of view on life when they're young. By the time they get rich and famous and old, they're tougher.

Go back to your Fav years, the last couple. Because I think Aaron's entered that territory. Rich, popular, established iconic. Was Brett in the last couple years? I know he was great with you, Greg, but was he sometimes difficult? I think Brett Farr was definitely difficult for Coach McCarthy coming in. McCarthy and I, Mike McCarthy and I came in to Green Bay at the same year. His rookie year was my rookie year.

And what I noticed and I experience with that is when you enter into a relationship with someone and you have no type of rapport with them, it's even that much more difficult and challenging. The luxury Mike McCarthy had was that he had a relationship with Brett. Brett Farr dating back to his early coaching days. And so the Green Bay Packers understood, we can bring this guy in because he's going to have Brett's attention. And I think when you look at Aaron Rogers and you look at the comparison with Brett Farr, that's the only thing that's different here. Or that's the number, yeah, that's the number one thing that's different.

There is going to be no coach that really has a relationship with Aaron Rogers. So you're going to be coming in starting from scratch, a guy who, who has one of the highest IQs in all of football, who believes that he knows just about everything, if not all of everything, can you be thick-skinned enough, strong-willed and strong-minded enough to butt heads with that at times

and tell him, no, this is how we're going to do it, this is what you need to know, and this is how I can help you grow. That's going to be the challenge for the Green Bay Packers. Can they find that coach that can do that? You know, the division... With no previous relationship. Yeah, no, listen, I think you're bringing up the stuff that I question.

The idea that you're going to bring some, you know, Sean McVeigh hot shot in and say, okay, tell Aaron how football was invented. You know, I just don't see that working out. Let me ask you this, though. Let's go to physically with Aaron. He just turned 35 yesterday. A couple of shoulder surgeries. Do you believe he's got four to five years left of great quarterback play?

Or do you watch him now and think, you know, physically, he's back nine. He's whole 11. What do you see physically with Aaron? Physically, I definitely see him on the back nine. Back 11 is good. It's safe to say. But here's the thing. When you watch Aaron Rogers and you look at what he can do physically,

if he can stay healthy, he can be elusive and he can be electric. My question is, and I've mentioned this before on your show, where I think in order for Aaron to continue to play into his early 40s, as he has mentioned that he would like to do, he has to become a more pure pocket passer. Stop going outside the pocket, outside the tackles and taking those extra hits. Because when Aaron Rogers has been hurt, it has come to his ability to extend the plays, get outside the pocket, and then expose himself.

If he's willing to become a more primary pocket passer, then yes, I think he can play at a high level, extremely high level, for the next four or five, six years. Yeah, that's kind of what I believe, too. It's not like he's not a pocket guy, but he is a jazz musician. He's an ad libber. He goes off script and he gets you a lot of home runs that way, but that's how the guys track him down and drive his shoulder into the turf. Greg Jennings, great talking to you, bud. Thanks so much. Absolutely.

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. College football's got its final four set. This is the final four that we bought into a week ago, a couple weeks. Last couple of weeks, we've been on Bama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma. And so that's the final four we got. We said Georgia had to beat Alabama.

It's not fair. that if you lose to Alabama, Alabama should not have to play a couple of weeks later. That's not fair. And we didn't buy into Ohio State because, and the committee agreed with us here, you can't lose to Purdue by 29 points. What the committee really told you, and this is what we talked about, I preached this Friday. This is what I preach Friday. I said, ugly losses are more harmful than a good win is helpful. Because everybody, even bad college football teams have impressive wins. But great college football teams don't get beat by 30 by per don't.

Okay, so Ohio State, the committee told you that Georgia's ugly loss to LSU eliminated them. It wasn't the Bama game. If Georgia beat LSU and lost to Bama, they'd be in this thing. The committee told you that Georgia's loss, coupled with Bama's loss, or Bama's win over Georgia, those two, you're out. And Ohio State, you're not going to overcome a 29-point loss. And I agree that none of those five teams ahead of Ohio State would lose to Purdue by 30 points. But here's the other thing.

So now here we have our final four. Bama, Clems, and Oklahoma, Notre Dame. That's who I think should be in. And I think it should be Georgia 5 and Ohio State 6. I'm great with that, and that's what the committee saw. But I hear now a little complaining about this. Georgia. I mean, come on.

I watch that game. They are every bit as good as Alabama. Well, perhaps. But remember this. In the South, there are two things SEC teams do. They refuse to play a ninth conference game like other conferences. They only play eight. And they argue that's because it's so tough down here.

And then they also face more cupcakes out of conference. and our argument is, well, it's so tough down here. Okay, fine. So we're going to let you play one less conference game. And we're going to allow you more cupcakes. I mean, did you see who Georgia played out of conference this year? It was typical. Middle Tennessee State, Austin P., UMass.

I mean, forget Georgia Tech. That's an in-state rival. If you're going to be allowed to face one less conference game, all right, okay, you got it. and face three absolute cupcakes. All right. Then I'm going to judge your season on a handful of huge games. And Georgia, you had three big games this year. Florida, LSU and Bama, and you went one and two.

I wouldn't judge you so harshly. But if you're going to have the SEC won't play a ninth conference games, faces more cupcakes than everybody, they always have an in-season buy right before the big game, all right, we'll give you all those. but then I'm going to come down on you hard on two or three big games. And you had three biggies? I mean, don't talk about Kentucky.

Nobody gives a rip about Kentucky football in Kentucky. I mean, nobody cares. I'm going to judge on three games. Florida beat them. LSU blown out, Bama beating, one and two. Can't go one and two in your three big games. Because you got three weeks this year against Middle Tennessee State and Austin P and UMass that were weeks off.

Then you have, you know, a buy. And I'll give the Southern teams all that. but then I'm going to judge your season on one or two games where I'm not going to for everybody else. And in the end, I thought the committee did a good job. I thought the final, everybody always bangs on the committee. If I have to hear Dickie V and somebody rail on the college basketball committee, they do a great job. If those guys in college basketball didn't know what they were doing, then you'd have nine seeds and eight seeds and seven seeds in the final four. You ever notice who's in the final four?

one seeds, two seeds, three seeds, four seeds, because the seeding's good. All the media does is act outrage, a bunch of phony, fake news. Every year, if you go to the elite eight, it's always seven of the eight teams or one seed, two seed, three seed, four seed, and maybe they'll be like a seven seed. That means the seeding was good. And you can say what you want, but the bottom line here is once again, the committee got it right. And they did something that I think is very, very important for all of us to remember. it's not your wins what the committee looked for in your worst moment, how bad were you?

Because in the history of college football, the last 28 years, no national championship team has ever gotten blown out, ever. Now, they've lost, you know, Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech. I watched that game. It wasn't a blowout. It was two really good football teams and it was a two-score game. You cannot lose by 30 to Purdue. Okay, LSU lost Alabama like 29-0. You're out, at home, done, over.

You can go to the Outback Bowl. You can go to the Sugar Bowl, not playing for the national championship. Kirk Herb Street defended Georgia's case to be in the playoff. Here it was. I think the committee has said that two losses is too much for Georgia to overcome. This is a historical moment as far as evaluating the committee and moving forward because the eyeball test to me, clearly Georgia is a top 14. But at some point, you have to go with what is instead of what might have happened.

I agree with that, too. I'll say it again. If Georgia doesn't get blown out by LSU, they lose an overtime. And if they scheduled out of conference, Wisconsin, Utah, and they won those games, I may think of it differently. But when you go three and four cupcakes and you won't play a ninth conference game, I'm a judge really harshly on one or two or three. and you were one and two, George, in those three. You were one and two. Your season boils down in the SEC to a couple of games

because you're not willing to play big dogs at a conference. You won't even play average schools at a conference and you won't play a ninth conference game. 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. Every Monday at this time where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. Where Colin was right? You know, you pay Kirk Cousins, $28 million, it's the double whammy.

You're paying him too much, and he can't deliver in big spots. Last night was weak. Four yards per pass. He had a third and 11 last night, a big third and 11 late in the game. He could not get rid of that ball fast enough to a slant pattern. I mean, in the end, when you pay $28 million, you better be getting all-world performance. because even Breeze Brady and Ben have taken pay cuts. Two more years for Kirk Cousins at 28 large.

They're now 6.5 and 1. It's a good roster. Adam Thielen, 28 yards. I mean, Kirk Cousins, it should be noted as 6-2-200 pounds. You know, Carson Wentz is 6.4.5.2.35. It's not a physical specimen. And I, you know, when you pay him that much, I like him, but I always thought there's a lot of fools gold here.

Where Colin was wrong. year, a lot of times I start cool and then get hot in betting. My Blazing 5 is on a two-week losing streak. I didn't think Lamar Jackson would be 3-0. I didn't think Andrew Luck and the Colts would be shut out. And I didn't think the Vikings would be barely competitive. I mean, listen, Blazing 5, I'm going to have to fire some employees in the Blazing five staff because right now they're not getting it done.

How the hell do Andrew Luck get shut out? That game was beyond. I almost threw a shoe at the television this weekend. Not very strong for his MVP case. It's like that shrugging emojis moving up a little higher. Where Colin was right. The final four in college football, what we predicted it would be a couple of weeks ago. Bamma Clemson, Notre Dame in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma does not have a great defense. I'm not saying they do. But a wizard as a coach, a lot of great playmakers, tremendous mobile quarterback. they'll make Alabama sweat a little. And the committee rewarded Oklahoma for only having one blemish on their schedule, a very good team in Texas that will go to a good bowl, and they avenge the loss. Meanwhile, what the committee said, and I agreed with, was Ohio State's 29-point loss,

coupled with the fact that Ohio State, what did they do well all year? not running the football, not defense, not coaching, a lot of drama. I think Ohio State was a very good football team in the last two games. I thought they were very good against Michigan and very good against Northwestern. I thought Oklahoma, outside of a game against Army, pretty much gave me a good effort all year. Got it right. Where Colin was wrong. Yeah, as Joy mentioned, my MVP thing got screwed up.

I had Breeze and Andrew Luck running away with it. Well, Drew at his worst game ever and luck got shut out. Fellas, I got 10 points combined. And Mahomes, by the way, led his team in rushing and had four touchdown passes. It's not that I don't like Mahomes. I do. I've just been a little cooler on his ad-libbing style than everybody else. He's a tremendous talent.

But I saw him play some in college. And my sources have always said, he was a little loosey-goosey. He's got a perfect system now with Andy Reid. He's got a great deep threat or two. He's got Travis. You know, it's all perfect for him. And we've seen guys like Dak when it's all perfect be great. But I think Mahomes wrapped up the MVP yesterday.

Where Colin was right? Listen, Baker Mayfield, bummer, you don't get to face Cincinnati every week. We told you. Now he's going to face on the road a real defense in Houston and come back to Earth. Three picks in the first half. Cleveland as an offense had four turnovers. Baker got shut out in the first half. By the way, he made some really nice throws.

But here's what I didn't like. And this is what I've never liked about Baker. Baker had a little success. Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, last 10 games. Okay? Baker was very quiet when he was losing early. He was a professional. Baker had a little taste of success.

Ooh, Cincinnati and Atlanta's defenses. Lamar tore up Atlanta's defense. Lamar's a kid. Just like you're a kid. But Lamar, I'm not hearing anything from Lamar Jackson. I don't hear a peep out of him. Baker Mayfield went in a little winning streak. Well, this is reality.

Baker, there's a lot more Houston Texans than there are Bengals defenses in the NFL. Where Colin was wrong. Pete Carroll should be coach of the year in the NFL. He should be coach of the year. I've said this with Pete. I think Pete's going to be a Hall of Fame coach. I'm not doubting that.

won a national title in college and a Super Bowl. I'm not doubting that. But I've been told through the years by veteran players, his sort of raw-rah energy wears thin with older players. Well, he has done a masterful job. He got rid of some of the older, noisier players. And this is a younger defense. They play discipline.

They play with great energy. This is a perfect team for Pete Carroll. And he is, I think, rebooted the running game. And right now they're a five seed. They're red hot. They've got some good home games coming up. Listen, I always thought Pete was a good coach, but I thought a lot of his stuff, it had about a, you know, it's like a seven-year window and then the divorce hits with Pete. But he has rebooted it and he should be really proud because this is a no mistakes, run the football, assignment defense, no drama.

Congrats to Pete Carroll. Where Colin was right. Listen, my knock on Cam Newton has always been, I'm not doubting you're talented. But dude, you're a roller coaster. They were six and two. They're now six and six. He had four picks yesterday against one of the worst defenses known to man in Tampa Bay. He has never had back-to-back winning seasons.

But hey, he looked cool coming into the stadium. Nobody looks cooler. And nobody looks cooler than Cam. But I don't want to hear about he doesn't have weapons. DJ Moore is a terrific young receiver. Devin Funches is a very good receiver. Greg Olson's going to make the Hall of Fame, arguably, at Tide End. and McCaffrey has been terrific and their old lines above average.

I'm tired of hearing about the excuses. You can't be in this league eight years and be throwing four picks against the division rival, and you know all their players. You face Tampa Bay twice a year. You know their schemes. You know their – Tom Brady knows Miami, the Jets and Buffalo. Those are the games Tom knows every trick in the book for those teams. That was classic roller coaster cam.

they just didn't look prepared to play. Where Colin was wrong. Atlanta was my Super Bowl pick. Now, they had some injuries early, but come on, man. You cannot have this level of offensive talent. And in four straight week, score 16, 19, 17, and 16 points. I mean, there's just way too much talent on this team. And I don't really know who to blame.

I'm not in that locker room. but even if they had health because I thought in the first month I could blame injuries I mean they came in on crutches it's more than that it's the culture they're too finesse Matt Ryan's not played well

maybe it's Sark and Matt Ryan but you know I just I overvalued the stability of Matt Ryan second year was Sark they're a mess and then and they got way too much offensive talent to be scoring in the teens at home

where Colin was right? I went to the Chargers draft room this year and everybody thought I was being a homer and I said Derwin James is going to be the steel of the draft and every NFL source

I had said man you were in the right draft room tonight because Derwin James is great. I think he could be a top three safety in this league. I'm serious. Last night he was unbelievable and now the Chargers

for all the doubters out there, they didn't have their best player offensively. They didn't have their star Melvin Gordon running back, and it doesn't matter because they had Justin Jackson, a seventh round rookie who was great, but Derwin James put on a clinic and validated why I said when I was in that Chargers room, the steal of the draft, not because I was there,

was Derwin James. He is absolutely incredible. Where Colin was right? Well, Cam, Baker, Rogers, and Ben went 0 for 4 yesterday. Football's hard. It's even harder with drama. Baker Mayfield kept that Hugh Jackson story alive for an extra six days. And Big Ben kept that interception in Denver alive for another five days.

I was talking about it on Friday. You know who wasn't dramatic this week? Russell Wilson and Tom Brady. Okay. Quarterbacks are the leader of a franchise. They're like presidents. You're supposed to be fire extinguishers, not gasoline. And the dramatic four, and I talked about him last week,

Cam Baker-Rogers Ben, noise, drama, theatrics, O for four yesterday. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Okay, I want to go to my guy, Trent Dillford, decade and a half, a Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right. What kind of coach does Aaron Rogers need, Trent? I think that's a coach that has a lot of sophistication. A coach that can intellectually match him.

A coach that's going to work as hard as him and invests as much into their offense being creative. A coach is going to make his job easier. And I think that's the crux of this whole thing, is that if you go back and look at Aaron Roger's career, going back to Cal where Jeff Petford coached him. He was very coachable. Jeff would see, get Jeff on the show. Jeff will tell you's as coachable as any player he's ever had. But he pushed the coaching staff every single day to bring their best stuff. When he first got to Green Bay and he was back out Brett Barb, one of the friction points when Brett and him was Aaron wanted to be coached. Aaron wanted to be, he wanted to grow as a player.

He wanted to inspire the scout team that he was running. He wanted to enhance his game. So he was hard to coach in a sense that he demanded a lot, but he wanted to be coached. His first few years as a starter. That staff was on edge. McCarthy was still heavenly involved in the offense. It was creative. It was cutting edge. It did allow him to do his job the best. And Aaron was very coachable and very engaged. And then this last four to five years, and we talked about the other place, Colin, this isn't new news. It might be new news to some people. This is old news to me and You, we knew four and five years ago. There was real friction there.

There was some stuff that Aaron didn't feel as if that coaching staff was as invested as much as he was. That was giving him and his offense the best stuff each week. And now it culminates in Mike McCarthy getting fire. So to answer your question, it needs to be somebody that can come in there and say, hey, Aaron, number one, I'm the head flipping coach. And my job is to get the most from the least and the best from the best. And most of this group is the least. but the best is you. And I'm going to demand the best from you,

but I'm also going to give you new tools to be more successful. And that's all McVeigh does. That's all McDaniels does. That's all McDaniels does. That's all Sean Payton does to this day, is they try to get the most from the least and the best from the best. And when it comes to getting the best from the best, it takes a certain amount of intellectual property, it takes a certain amount of creativity to help that quarterback,

make that job a little bit easier than it is. Steelers Chargers, I swear to God, every Pittsburgh game, they give everything emotionally. There are no easy games. They're all dramatic. I said they're like the housewives of New York City. They're flipping over tables and throwing champagne at each other at lunch. I mean, doesn't that take a toll on the Steelers after a while? Every game comes down to the final play.

You've been on teams that were in blowouts and close games. Can you just keep playing like this emotional level through the playoffs? drama creates inconsistency lack of drama creates consistency i'm sure we're going to segue at some point and talk to your love buttons the patriots yeah and they they lack drama therefore they're consistent the steelers are inconsistent because there's always drama around whatever they're doing even their head coach who tries to be so stoic and tries to be so stern he creates drama with some of his commentary so they create drama they're inconsistent on the field the great teams, whether it be college or pro, they try to eliminate every aspect of drama because they know

that'll turn into consistency between the lines. And I'm watching New England last night. I said I could take that game from last night and replace it with one from six years ago and it looks the exact same. They do the same thing. They take away your weapon. Very few penalties, no fumbles. They're good situationally. Their pass rush is inconsistent, but always seems to be pretty good in a big third down. what do you make of their consistency? Well, they've forever they've mitigated risk, right? They've taken risk out of the equation.

They're like a great investor. I have a lot of very, very wealthy friends that are great investors. And those great investors don't take on risk. They're actually very careful with risk. But they'll out vet the things they're researching to invest in. They'll do more research. They'll talk to more people. And they'll take just steady gains.

And I think that's what the Patriots do, is that they take all the big risk out of it. They're going to outwork. their opponent. They're going to vet their opponent a little bit better. And they're going to say, hey, we'll take small little margins over and over and over week after week, year after year, and know that that's going to lead to victories that we're going to be sitting pretty at the end. We're never going to put too much out there on the table. We're never going to risk too much that we may get exposed. That's what they do offensively. That's what they do defensively. That's nice game plan against, um, against Minnesota. I'm sorry, yesterday's game playing against Minnesota

was as simple as you could possibly be. Play release off or come up and play play. everybody. Play really soft or come up and blitz everybody. I mean, it was that way all game long. That's as simple as it gets. But they knew that when they blitzed everybody, it would force on a fourth and 11 for the ball to come out at two yards. They know that on first and second down, they want to play action, push the ball 15, 20 yards down the field. They were going to give up those plays. So they know you better than know yourself. That takes away the risk. And then they're just going to, they're going to be willing to take steady gains over and over and over. The team that you like before the year, and you said this a couple of months ago,

the Chargers are the best team in Los Angeles. Lord, Derwin James could be rookie of the year. Physically, I mean, that second half was unbelievable offensively. Philip Rivers, after the game, was talking like he was 23 years old. His energy is unbelievable. I mean, you must, that was a tip of the cap to you. They were exactly in the second half what you said about what did you spot two months ago? they were they were patriots in the second half they played patriots type football if that's even a word

they came out they made huge half-time adjustments especially in the run game in the run game they went to a spread offensive run game giving the ball to the back offset from the hole he was attacking they forced him into the personnel group and they wanted him in they play actioned off that they threw the ball underneath the team now and they they made great adjustments but what they did more than they else would they just executed and we use that words a lot with New England. We don't use it a lot with a lot of other teams. They just came out and for one half of football executed to the highest, highest, highest level you possibly could. Pittsburgh didn't give them that game. Ben didn't fumble it around. They didn't throw it to the chart. They didn't,

the Pittsburgh didn't make a ton of mistakes. They just got outplayed, out executed. It felt very much like watching a second half of a Patriots in a big game. Yeah. By the way, I still think New Orleans is the best team in the league. I don't disagree that. Okay. I still think the best team in the league. It's funny. It's all that kind of, you know, Rams, Patriots, Chiefs, I kind of feel this, I haven't talked to you since the Cowboy thing on Thursday night. Do you feel differently about Dallas or do you think they're still kind of a low-ceiling team? I still think they're a low-ceiling team. I think they're very good. And I said that when I first made that comment that they're a high-floor low-ceiling team. I think they're going to

make the playoffs and they're going to win their division. But I don't think, and they might even make their first playoff game interesting. But I don't think we can talk about them as a championship football team. I think you're talking about championship teams. You're talking about the Patriots, Chargers, maybe chiefs in the AFC, NFC, NFC, Ram, Saints. Yeah. I would have put

the Steelers in that conversation a few weeks ago, but again, that drama, that inconsistency gives me pause. I think this time of year, we need to change the conversation between who's good and who can be great. And there are certain indicators when you're looking at teams

that have the chance to be great. Quarterbacks, obviously one, play caller quarterback relationship, but critical downstops on defense, the ability to get off the field, holding teams to field goals, end a half, end a game. Look at the teams that play great, end a half, end a game. Those will probably be the teams that are playing in the Super Bowl. Great stuff.

Decade and a half in the NFL. A Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, Trent Dill for good stuff, buddy. Thanks, brother. 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 SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo.

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