The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 12/06/2018

Episode Date: December 6, 2018

Colin thinks the Lakers need to stop worrying about developing their young guys and just get stars that can win with LeBron. He says the Packers need to hire a coach that makes things uncomfortable for Aaron Rodgers. Plus, Greg Cosell of NFL Films talks about what is wrong with Cam Newton and why Russell Wilson has been winning playing a different style than we are used to seeing. 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 best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. 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. We are packed today. Greg Kosell, Jay Glazer, Michael Rappaport,

Chris Broussard, T.J. Hushman Zata. an hour from now Greg CoSell, our NFL meat sandwich for the week on Thursdays. Joy Taylor is joining me. How are you? I'm great. Good morning. Good morning. Last night was a little bit of an NBA night.

That wasn't any college football. We're waiting for bowls now. And NFL, we're waiting for tonight. Some of you for the Titans Jags game. And so last night I watched a couple of, you know, like Netflix, Amazon Prime things. And I watched the Lakers play. I watched the Sixers play in Oklahoma City. Let me start with this.

Now, I'm just talking NBA. I'm not talking the NFL. The NFL's got seven rounds. Seven rounds to draft players. Many of the all-time great NFL players, you didn't even see play college. You didn't watch Walter Payton in college. You didn't watch Jerry Rice in college. You didn't see Big Ben in college.

You didn't half the NFL. You didn't see T.O. in college. You didn't watch Ocho Cinco in college. In football, there is talent everywhere. There is talent everywhere. in baseball. How many of these guys did it? Many of them didn't go to American universities.

There's baseball talent globally everywhere. Basketball, there are very few difference makers. The NBA only has two rounds of their draft. Two rounds. And by the way, after about the 14th pick, historically, you're out of players. Oh, you can give me a Tony Parker, a Draymond Green. Historically, after about the 14th pick, you're not finding stars. So when I hear about the Lakers developing talent,

It's developed talent. You know, LeBron's going to stunt talent. Really? Do you watch that game last night? LeBron was patient. For three quarters, he let the other Lakers, number two-pick lawn zone, number two-pick Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma. He let all those guys.

Rondo, all that roster is a bunch of, yeah, and then LeBron said in the fourth quarter, all right, guys, give me the ball. Scored 14 straight points, and an eight-point deficit in the fourth, when LeBron was being patient, became a Laker win by eight. What am I waiting to develop? You know what the Lakers roster is? It's LeBron and 12 pending transactions. I know Christmas is around the corner.

Hold off on the Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma, Jersey's for your kids. They could be a Pelican very soon. Since the 2015 draft, two guys are all-stars. Carl Anthony Towns, he's regressed, and Porzingas and he's hurt. And the 2014 draft only had one star, Joe L.M. B. who doesn't shoot threes and can't dribble much. So he's not going to really carry you to a franchise unless he has shooters and ball handlers around him.

LeBron James. I don't want to hear, I mean, Janus. Whenever I hear about developing stars, you can see Kobe Bryant's greatness early. You saw Durant's greatness rookie year. You could see LeBron early. Kauai Leonard, I guess, sort of developed and so did Janus. But Janus has still never won a playoff series.

We're five years into him. I hear about developing talent all the time in the NBA. It works that way in hockey, works that way in baseball, works that way maybe in soccer. It certainly works that way in football. I'm kind of over-developing talent. Brandon Ingram, heard again. Lonzo Good Early, not late.

This roster is all about LeBron. If you're a Laker fan, if you're LeBron James, patient. Give me players. Philadelphia had that thing called the process. And then they went out and they got Jimmy Butler, which was ostensibly saying the process is a bunch of BS. We drafted four guys, New Orleans in a while bust. Mark L. Fultz bust.

She was a little local four bust. Michael Carter Williams bust. And they went out and they got Jimmy Butler, a player. Who you didn't watch playing college either. I mean, let's be honest about it. That's what the Philadelphia 76ers were telling you with their rebuild. the process. They gave it a cool nickname. But it's a bunch of BS. It's a total sham.

And they went out and got an actual really good all-star level player who had 36, 38 last night, Jimmy Butler. So, you know, I'm watching all this Lakers stuff. Here's what LeBron coming to Los Angeles has really done. Greatness clarifies and separates. Like if you have a bunch of singers and you have a great singer that goes on stage in the middle of tryouts, she or he clarifies, oh, everybody else kind of average.

LeBron coming to L.A. has told you they don't have a second star. Ingram's hurt again. Lonzo Good in Spurts. Kuzma hot and cold. Josh Hart should be a good player off the bench. Here's LeBron's fourth quarter, 14 straight points to put it away last night. A head of steam for LeBron. And one.

What a finish with the left. Huntingham on James. wide open three got it LeBron out here taking the long way home LeBron looks energized pushing it hit and one a deep three hotter than fish grease right now LeBron with the steel up to Coosma Los Angeles the microphone is yours another deep three

wow this guy is giving the birds that work tonight For three quarters, he was patient. For three quarters, he let the developing young players control the game. In the fourth, the best player in the league for 15 years, took it over, won the game. The NBA draft is out of dudes by about the 14th pick of the first round. Half the NFL are undrafted. There's just not much world-class game-changing. NBA talent. The Lakers are LeBron and 12 pending transactions. Hold off on buying the

Brandon Ingram jersey. Let me shift to this. So the Aaron Rogers story has been great for us all week. There's a lot of talk. So Aaron Rogers is not working with McCarthy. McCarthy gets run off. Aaron Rogers says, well, you know, I just shocked like everybody else. Then a Green Bay assistant comes out. Winston Moss puts out a tweet that's inoffensive, innocuous that says, basically we've got to hold number 12 accountable and he gets fired. And so Aaron Rogers yesterday had to react to the questions about he's not accountable. Aaron Rogers said yesterday, there's nobody that holds me more accountable than myself. I mean, I'm always checking myself on preparation habits and my practice habits and my mindset. So Aaron Rogers said that yesterday. He'll take the heat

when needed. Here's Aaron yesterday. I think there's nobody holds, holds me more accountable to myself. I mean, I'm always checking myself on my preparation habits and my practice habits and my mindset. But, I mean, there's always been, I think, a great deal of accountability. Okay, fair enough. That's what he says. I'm not in the room, so fair enough. To me, this is really simple. The real question is, is Green Bay willing to be uncomfortable? Because you can hire Joe Philbin. He's your interim coach. He's comfortable. He's part of the Packer family. And let's be honest about small market America. They don't love change.

They look at the cities. I want to city people. Not interested. Dangerous. Crazy liberals. Small town America is comfortable with habits. Come to touch Green Bay. People have chosen to live in Green Bay.

Not a ton of employment in Green Bay. They like Green Bay. It's where they're from. They're happy being there. They got their friends and fam. And are they ready to get uncomfortable? Because Joel Philbin is comfortable. And if Joel Philbin goes 4-0 or 3-1 down the stretch here, they may strongly consider Joel

Philbin. But everybody in Green Bay knows him. Everybody in Green Bay likes him. And he would have no power with Aaron Rogers. The question is, who fills and checks the boxes that would make Aaron better and uncomfortable? Just say it out loud. What are the boxes? Smart.

Track record of success. Strong, frank coach. Give it right back. Not be intimidated. That's probably Josh McDaniels. That's maybe Jim Harbaugh. Those are the guys that check the boxes. But I got to be honest with you.

Josh McDaniels and Jim Harbaugh do not feel like Green Bay, Wisconsin. They're outsiders. They're going to be candid and frank and difficult and intimidated. to not only Green Bay people, but to Aaron Rogers. And I asked former Aaron Rogers teammate Greg Jennings about the Packers going after a guy, like a McDaniel or more specifically, Jim Harbaugh. He would be phenomenal, I think, for Aaron Rogers,

if Aaron Rogers would really self-assess and see where we can grow and where we need to kind of alter things. If he's willing to do that, I think Jim Harbaugh would be the, top pick, but I just don't know if Aaron Rogers will ever be able to do that. So what Green Bay, they're in a very tough spot here. What Green Bay needs is not their DNA. An outsider who is sometimes rude can be snarky and frank, who is incredibly direct,

who'll tell you what he thinks, and will push back on your icon. iconic quarterback. That's what Green Bay needs. Is Green Bay comfortable with that? Because Joe Philbin is your neighbor. He's been in the family. He's one of the Packers. Packers love, even when the Packers fired their general manager,

they just gave him a different cubicle in the office. They didn't run him out of town. Green Bay is nice. And nice people. They need to hire somebody that's not that nice. Harbaugh's not always that nice. McDaniel's not always that nice. They check the boxes.

Is Green Bay willing to hire what they've never been comfortable hiring? A real true opposite. Outsider. Not interested in your system or your way of doing business. That's what you need. I don't think you're comfortable with it. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio,

You know, a lot of times what the headline is isn't the story. And the guy that writes the story doesn't necessarily put the man or woman who writes the story, doesn't put the headline up. But the headline's trying to draw you into the story. So sometimes the story of the game, the headline doesn't match it. So here's the headline last night on Oklahoma City's win. Russell Westbrook, third most triple doubles in NBA history. Awesome.

SNASY. That guy is amazing. Russell Westbrook dominated the game. Oh. It you actually watched the game because Oklahoma City was getting rolled by 23 by a weak team Brooklyn. I mean getting rolled out of the arena. And Westbrook was dominating the ball. And then late in the third quarter, Westbrook was done getting the stats he so desperately won. He loves the triple double. He's going to be the all-time triple-double guy. He loves it. And he got him.

By the middle, late third quarter, he got it. And then he stopped shooting. And then the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were getting rolled, suddenly started playing really well. And they ended up because Paul George took all the shots in the fourth winning the game. It was a huge comeback last night. Before Russell Westbrook, had his triple double, Oklahoma City was minus 19. Then he stopped shooting.

They were plus 21. They shot 39% as a team during his triple double run for the first two and a half quarters. Then he stopped shooting. They shot 49%. He did not, did not make a shot in the fourth. Paul George went crazy and scored 25 in the fourth. Isn't that interesting? So Paul George, who mostly watched Russell Westbrook, feed himself, feed himself,

I'm hungry, give me more, give me more, give me my points, give me my rebounds, give me my assists. And then Westbrook, as he's prone to do, is exhausted, scales back after he gets what he wants. Paul George, the better shooter, takes over. They make a miraculous comeback, and they went on the road. Now, the headline is, man, Westbrook gets a triple double. the headline should be after Westbrook is done getting his triple double Oklahoma City allows the game plan to work

Paul George shoots more and Oklahoma wins a game that should have never been that close of course they don't have the space for all that headline but again flash news flash triple double oh my God Westbrook got a triple double is the most amazing thing that's the headline but if you watch the game after he fed himself and got what he wanted

and was either exhausted or felt like this isn't working then they just fed Paul George the ball Paul George the real shooter on the team took over they made a miraculous comeback in one once again the thunder are 5 and 0 in Paul George's biggest games

when he's allowed to go off when he's allowed enough shots and opportunities to score in the 30s They've never lost. And when Westbrook shoots under 20 times, the Thunder are 8 and 1. Last night was the first game. He shot over 20 times and they won. And they barely won.

Barely. There's a clear, you can keep writing your headlines. There is a clear definitive truth in the Oklahoma City Thunder. Less Westbrook, more Paul George. and you win. Triple double. A lot of Westbrook, over 20 shots, less efficiency. Paul George doesn't get the opportunities.

You do not win. But you keep writing those headlines. You keep writing those headlines about the triple double. That's not what really happened last night. What happened was after he was done feeding himself and he was full, big old belly of points, rebounds, and assists, Westbrook was exhausted, and George took over and they won the game. Be sure to catch live edition.

of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. There's an article yesterday written by Tim Kallowsha. He's a long time respected Dallas columnist, not really a homer. You know, I mean, most people kind of lean toward their home team, but he was talking about the playing field between Dak Prescott, the Cowboy quarterback, and Carson Wentz, the Philadelphia Eagle quarterback, has leveled. And I thought to myself, no, it hasn't. It's, the gap is the Grand Canyon. There's not a general manager in the league. Take out the Eagles and the Cowboys. The 30 remaining GMs, 30 out of 30 would take Carson Wentz. Now, Kalashaw went on to say, yeah, he's better. And yet, given the choice, teams would take Wentz over Prescott.

But it's not necessarily by so much that it makes all the difference in the world. Oh, yes, it does. That's exactly what it does. Carson Went is coming off an ACL tear. He was not healthy for the first two months. He has no running game due to a player leaving it an injury. He lost both of his top offensive guys, and he's still having a better year. Okay. The story here with the Dallas Cowboys isn't DAC, but he's a quarterback. And like Romo Aikman, Roger Staubach, Danny White, the cowboy quarterback gets a lot of discussion. It's the Lakers shooting guard. It's the Yankee shortstop. There are positions in American sports that get the discussion.

The story is about how damn good the cowboys are besides DAC. Dak is Andy Dalton. He's Blake Bortles. He's RG3. He's a better version of Tebow. In a short window, when a team around him has a lot of ingredients, mostly a strong running game, it can hide his weaknesses. Here's what I don't think people understand about Dallas.

because if you do a blind resume right now with Dak Prescott, this is with a better than average offensive line. This is with now arguably the best running back in the game. With a slot receiver, number one receiver. The blind resume, you know who he compares to? Winning, completion, touchdowns, pass a rate. Ryan Tannahill, who for the record has missed five games. If Tannahill hadn't missed any games, he'd be blowing Dack away.

DAC is blind resume. This blind resume is always just such a punch in the guns. That's who he is. And that's not a healthy Ryan Tannahill. That's an injured Ryan Tannahill. The story of the Cowboys this year, how good their supporting cast is. I was doing this this morning.

If you go to pro football focus and they grade players by position, and I'm not saying they're perfect, but they're as good as anybody else. The Cowboys have an elite running back, Zeke, an elite pass rusher to Marcus Lawrence. Two elite linebackers, Leighton Vandreche, Jalen Smith. An elite corner in Byron Jones. An elite left tackle, center and right guard, though the center is hurt. And an elite wide receiver.

Amari Cooper is rated as their highest rated offensive player, even above Zeke. The Cowboys have nine elite players. Do you realize the L.A. Rams do not have nine elite players. The Kansas City Chiefs have seven. The Cowboys have, and by the way, they're not just elite players. They're at key positions. Left tackle, running back in 2018, wide receiver, pass rusher, locked down corner.

This day and age, athletic linebackers are in short supply, and they are wildly important. the story of the Cowboys isn't Dak. He's Dalton, a better Tebow, RG3, Blake Bortles. The story is the Jones family has hit it out of the park in the last several drafts. Cowboys are loaded. If you gave Philip Rivers this lineup, Tom, I mean, don't fall for the Dak Prescott thing. Because we've seen this over and over and over again.

By the way, yesterday, Jason Whitlock went kind of crazy on the assertion that Wins and Dack are close. Quarterbacks from the same draft are not on the same playing field. They're barely on the same planet. No question Carson Wins has taken a step back from a year ago when he was an MVP candidate. But Wince isn't in Dackland. Dackland is Sackland. It's a neighborhood in Dallas where quarterbacks lack. confidence, hold the ball, absorb unnecessary sacks, and fumble the football.

Yeah, that's really the truth. The gap here is huge. I remember when Andy Dalton broke in this league, and Andy had, he just had it, he had two tight ends, Muhammad Sunu, Marvin Jones, A.J. Green, they had a couple good running backs, and Tyler Eiffert, and then they had a kid from Oklahoma was another tight end. Jeremy Gresham, I think, I mean, I could be getting, yeah, Germaine Gresham. And for like three years, we were like, who. And then all those guys left or got hurt, except AJ Green. Now you're like, oh, yeah, we need a new quarterback. Don't fall for this.

Don't fall for this thing. Dallas is stacked. Right now, the thing holding them back is the quarterback spot. By the way, the Wents blind resume this year. Let's put up Carson Wence on the wall. So we saw that Dax's blind resume was who? Ryan Tannahill. The Carson Wentz blind resume.

Completion percentage. Oh, it's Tom Brady. And that's having lost his running game, his two offensive guys, and coming into the year off an ACL injury. That was last year's Tom, not this one. Last year's Tom Brady that won MVP. That's his blind resume. Tom Brady last year, MVP, Tom Brady.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, 7. days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 30 plus years, our NFL meat sandwich at NFL films, nobody gives you a more objective

look at the football game as a whole. If you're a fantasy player, you bet it, or you just in love the game, nobody lays it out quite like Greg Cosell. So let's go for our Thursday meat sandwich. Let's go to the Cowboys defense. They did something

that nobody's done. To that level in years against Drew Brees. Greg, what did the film say? Why did they have so much success against Drew? Well, I think, Colin, what they did is they guild position players in the passing game of the Saints, and they pretty much said that there's two players who really scare you, Kamara and Michael Thomas, and the rest of the players we can handle. So what they chose to do was they played a lot of man coverage, and then what they did

on third down as the game progressed is they played dime with six defensive backs so they could put a corner Jordan Lewis on Alvin Kamara. So they felt that that was an athletic equivalent because you cannot put a linebacker or a safety on Alvin Kamara in the past game. So it was very Belichickian. There's two guys. Let's take away there too and we think we match up physically with everybody else. Right. And it's really interesting when you talk about the Saints, Colin because Sean Peyton and Drew Brees are obviously phenomenal of what they do, but if you really look at

their skill position players, they do not have anyone that I think you game plan for. Michael Thomas, yes, in some ways, although he's not a true vertical dimension, but he's outstanding in what he does. Certainly Kamara. Kamara is arguably the best receiving back

in the league. And is a wide receiver as well. But other than that, I think you feel, if you're a good man to man team and you have good man defenders, I think you feel you can match up. I want to go to Russell Wilson, who has multiple

games, eight straight with multiple TDs. And I think this is one of Pete Carroll's better years. They've shored up the offensive line. They're a running team. But I also think Russell Wilson's had a very strong year. Let's talk a little what the

film says. That's what my eyes see. What is the film said? And Colonies had a very strong year playing the way a lot people do not think Russell Wilson plays. He's had a very strong year playing with stability from the pocket. And what they do is they run the ball and then they work the play action pass game. And he's been very, very successful, really on a weekly basis at hitting what we call shot plays. Work off the run at times with six all linemen. They line up with six offensive linemen on 20% of their offensive snaps. Think about that for a minute.

and he's thrown the fewest passes by a wide margin of any quarterback who started every game for their team this year. So he's been incredibly efficient. He has 29 touchdowns throwing those fewest passes, and that play-action pass game has been outstanding for them. Yeah, it's a different way. You know, it's funny. The Cowboys run. It's old school. It is really old school, but I got to tell you, I've yet to believe that the Steelers can get past New England.

with all the throwing and that Kansas City can go to New England if they have to win-win. Everybody says this is old school. In my life, good defense, great running game, controlling the clock, and the ability with a top quarterback to make some dynamic plays. Everybody says that's old school. That's winning school to me. Now, Carolina can be very run-reliant, but Cam has regressed in the last couple of weeks. What's happening there?

Well, you know, they've sort of had the perfect negative storm. When Cam's played well over the last number of weeks, their defenses let them down. This week, Cam struggled through much of the first half. He was not as accurate as he's been this season. He missed some throws that he needed to make. He clearly has an injury to his shoulder because when I watched the tape this week, the ball did not come out with the same energy. Now, one thing to keep in mind with Cam is he's always been a poor, lower body man.

mechanic's thrower. You say that, yeah. So he's always but you can tell now that his shoulder is not right because when he steps in the bucket and opens up his body and tries to make throws, the ball's not coming out the same way. And that's affecting his velocity

and it's affecting his ball placement. And that was noticeable this week. Yeah, so he's an arm thrower over sometimes a leg thrower and when his arm or his shoulder is injured, then you have the mistakes and you have the turnovers basically. Yeah, he's not a twerker. Norris strider.

If you understand what I mean, think of baseball. Think of a guy swinging where you snap your hips, power hitters. You know, you don't have to be a 6-5-250-pound baseball player to be a power hitter because it all comes from torque. It's the same thing, let's say, with a puncher in boxing, you snap your hips when you throw that right hand. You know, it's why someone like Thomas Hermes back in the day, you remember Tommy Hurons on York Island, why, you know, a guy who was six, one and a half and 145 pounds was such a strong knockout puncher because he had torque. Yeah. You know, the Steelers and the Patriots are becoming the opposite of one another. One is now very past reliant. Let's talk New England. Sony Michelle, Rex Burkhead, and James White. This is about the best threesome they've had in some time. They've got the receiver White.

Burkhead and Sony Michelle can both catch, but nice running back tandem. Stealers are the opposite. They become very past reliant. When I've watched New England this year, Boy, they're starting to look like every New England team in November and December. Pick up those short-yarded situations. Good situationally, no penalties. Number nine in points allowed. Let's talk a little bit about the running game for New England because it feels like now, a little bit of a three-headed monster. Well, let me just turn that around if I could, Colin.

I thought one thing I could add to what you just said about New England when they're playing well is they're very specific to the opponent that they play. and I think they had a phenomenal game plan against Minnesota, because think of it this way. Minnesota's got a really good down four. They're very good against the run. So even though the Patriots had been running the ball really successfully, and I was fooled as well, they did not come out running the ball. It was a past game approach, but it was spread formations, it was quick game, it was play action,

it was misdirection, it was screens. They did not let the Vikings front four generate any momentum in that game. and then when they got the lead, that's when they turned to the run game, which very often is the sign of a really good team. Get the lead throwing it and then run it to close it out. Now the Steelers, meanwhile, James Connor has hurt. Statistically, they're throwing it more than anybody in the league. Yeah.

That, to me, doesn't feel like a winning recipe in Kansas City at Foxborough in January. What do you see over the last few weeks? Yeah, I think, you know, four or five weeks ago, we talked. talked about how they'd really committed to the run with James Connor, and he was carrying 18, 19, 20 plus times a game, and it seems as if they've gone away from that. And I think it's difficult, in my view, to play that way, particularly, you know, Ben has not been as good.

He's missed some throws with ball placement. He missed a touchdown against the Chargers to Justin Hunter wide open. You rarely see Ben miss those. And then he threw a very bad pick in the first half in just outside the red zone. you take points off the board. So those individual negative plays start to add up. And with a problem, when you don't run the ball to me anyway,

and maybe I'm old school, is I don't think you have the same continuity and stability in your offense. I think the run game tends to provide that more than the past game. Yeah. In that game against the Chargers, which we were just watching highlights of, Joey Bosa has returned for the Chargers. It was one of the most impressive halves of football by any team in the league. what's Bosa create for them?

Very much. They're way down the league in Blitz percentage versus quarterback drop. Bosa now gives them that two-sided pass rush with Ingram, and that's critical. And one thing about the Chargers, and it's been very effective all year, they play with six defensive backs way more than any team in the league. And they can do that because number 31, Adrian Phillips, who's essentially a linebacker, but is a safety as well. he can play the run. So that allows them to play that dime personnel. And like I said, they play dime a ton and they're good at it.

By the way, I'm watching Philadelphia. Now, they can obviously get everything right by beating Dallas. I don't think they will. Although I do think they have a ton of talent. You know, Carson Wentz, statistically is having a pretty good year. He lost his two offensive coordinators or his two offensive guys. They don't have much of a running game. I do think Golden Tate, I think,

they're wide receivers, Alshan, Aguilar, Golden Tate. I think they're fine. I don't think they're great, but I think they're fine. You know, people have said Carson Wentz has regressed this year. Is it that or did he just lose these spark plug coaches? Well, I think that's part of it, but I would disagree with you a little bit. I think that they have very limited talent at the receiver position. They have no vertical dimension whatsoever.

Their biggest vertical dimension is Zach Ertz. So they do not have any vertical dimension at all. Their past game is very condensed and very limited, and I think that really hurts their offense. So that's one reason that they've been trying to run the football more of the last two weeks because their past game is not good enough from a personnel standpoint to carry them at all. I don't think Carson Wentz is the problem at all. I think they're so limited from a talent perspective.

Golden Tate's a good player, but he's a certain kind of player. He's not a vertical dimension either. They cannot stretch defenses at all. Now, meanwhile, Dak now has Amari Cooper. So that clearly is working, right? I mean, now I don't ever think of him as a field stretcher, but I do think of Amari Cooper as a separator, that he will get open.

He's a great route runner. I mean, it does feel like Amari Cooper is absolutely, to this point, been worth what they gave up for him. Well, I think that they run a lot of isolation routes, and you need receivers who can win one-on-one. And he can win one-on-one. And because of his size, he also has run after the catchability. So while he's not a vertical, true vertical dimension, the way, let's say someone like Julio Jones might be, he does have the ability with his route running to get on top of corners, but he's so good run-after catch.

So he gives them an awful lot, given the way they play. You know, it's funny, we started the year, and everybody said Dallas has the worst receivers in the league. Well, Cole Beasley's a decent slot, gallops a rookie who appears to be getting better, Amari Cooper, and then they have Zeke. If you look at the cowboy receivers in Philadelphia receivers, entering... The Cowboys have better receivers than the Eagles. Okay, there you go. So entering the season, we didn't think that was a huge issue for Philly, and it was a major issue for Dallas, but you like Dallas's right now on Tatemore. All right. They have more dimensions, and don't forget they've got Zeke. You know, that's a big factor here because they've got an outstanding screen game as well with Zeke.

And a lot of teams have good screen games tactically, conceptually, but Zeke adds another dimension to that because he's so, he's such a good run. I think Zeke's the best back in the league. Well, let's talk about perhaps the second best back, Todd Gurley. That's your big play of the week for the Rams. They play the Bears. Yeah, and just as a preface to that, I think that the Rams offense has not been quite as sharp over the last three weeks. I agree. And I thought it was pretty noticeable this week.

I don't think Goth has been quite as sharp. And they have a great matchup Sunday night against the Bears. I'm fascinated to watch that. But I wanted to show this play, and let's start it. This was the touchdown in the fourth quarter that actually won the game for them, you know, sealed the win. And this was a fascinating play because what you have here is an understand defense is doing. It's a basic outside zone run, and it's to the trips, a bunch side of the formation. You can see Higby, Woods, Reynolds.

It's Trips Bunch, tight to the formation. Now, they knew they were getting man coverage. This is what Sean McVeigh is so good at, understanding the defense. So Diggs is on Higby, and that's man. Sleigh is on Woods. That's man to man. And Lawson is on Reynolds, man to man. Now they take Higby and Reynolds and work them to the other side of the formation.

So those defenders go there. So what that does is it creating a gap in the defense, and it's a walk-in touchdown. And you know, understanding, Colin, what the defense is doing, anticipating tendency, probability, understanding what you're going to get, and then you call a play that breaks that down. One thing I've learned from talking to the really good offensive coaches, you must understand defense, you must understand the rules of the defense, and that's what you need to study. You do not call plays in a vacuum. It's amazing that at the 13-yard line, with that congestion, you'd have that large a lane.

And that's just understanding, systematically understanding, they're running man. We're going to move our men to certain places. That opens the lane. At the 13-yard line, you're not supposed to have that much of a lane for a touchdown. No, no second or third-level defenders because of what they did with the reverse action by Reynolds and what we call split flow zone action by Higby, and then Woods just, we call an easy release, and the entire lane.

You and I could have run through that lane, Colin. Yeah, well, I would have wobbled through it, but I can. Me too. Greg CoSell NFL films, thanks, Greg. Thanks, Colin. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app.

By the way, I don't like nicknames. People say The Herd, Colin Coward, some marketing guy years ago. said Colin Coward doesn't sound good. Why did you just call it the herd? And I said, that's what a guy used to call me years ago. Someone called you heard? Yeah, the herd.

It's about 22 years old. A guy named Don Logan started calling me the herd. Everybody in the office called me the herd. And pretty soon everybody called me the herd. Like, even when I walk around the streets, like in Los Angeles, hey, herd, love the show. That's what people call me. Whatever.

I don't get it. So it's kind of a nickname. I hate nickname. But I've just people have been calling it. I didn't call me JT. I didn't come up with Hurd. It's not like I came out with. it. No, you can't create your own nickname. But a lot of people do. And I'm not a big,

I'm not a big believer in that. And I'll give you an example why. Think about the current like eight or nine dynasties in sports. Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Yukon Women's Basketball, Bama football, Golden State Warriors, Patriots Duke basketball. There's no nicknames. Nobody has a, nobody, nobody calls him Roger Rocket Federer. Okay, so let's look at the big, popular nicknames over the last 10 years. Lobb City, Saxonville, Legion of Boom, the process, moneyball, and we the north. Yeah. Nicknames are created to sell something. I never bought the process. I thought it was a sham. I didn't buy into Philadelphia's game plan, which was, let's draft the tallest guy available in the draft as it becomes a shooters league. Nerlands, Noel was a bust, Jalea Localco

was a bust, Markell Foltz is a bust, Michael Carter Williams is a bust, four busts. Ben Simmons, by the way, I love him, but not a shooter. And when they went out and they got Jimmy Butler, who had a huge night last night in a loss, what they were telling you basically was, yeah, the process is a crock. By the way, the Jimmy Butler thing is working. They are better with Jimmy Butler. They were nine and six before him. They're eight and three after him.

And they're averaging about a bucket more a game. He has meant about three to four points a game. and they shoot from 45% to about 48%. They're a better team with them. Those numbers matter. Now, they're not as good as Toronto. They're not as good as Golden State. For sure.

After that, they can play with anybody. Right now, Toronto and Golden State are humming. But when they acquired Jimmy Butler, what they were telling you was the process, let's try something new. It's not working. When you give me a nickname, I'm out. I'm completely C crest out. The Jimmy Butler, Joel M. Bede, Ben Simmons,

Sixers do not have a nickname. It's just three good players. So you can try to sell me something? I always said, the Lakers rebuild with LeBron. Right now is very good. There's no name for it. It's just LeBron and a bunch of guys that want to be as good as LeBron.

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, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert 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. What?

Come on out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown.

If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.